This is the most difficult subject I've ever had to face.
Is the difference between races only skin deep?
If I believe that the difference between races is more than skin deep, then am I a racist?
I don't hate anyone for being different but I can't help but observe differences.
It is wrong to point out differences between races?
I know hate is wrong, and in fact I don't hate someone because they are different.
I only hate stupidity, I hate ignorance, I hate duplicity.
I don't consider any one race to be superior to another but I don't think all three races (Caucasian, Asian and Negro) have an equal allocation of physical and mental attributes.
I still don't think I'm a racist.
After all we applaud individuality, we honor excellence in sport, we reward those with beauty, we discriminate unconsciously against the ugly, we reward those with higher intelligence with better education and a career that lifts them above the average person.
For all these traits, we celebrate difference.
And yet, we bury our heads in the sand and refuse to accept that there are differences that go beyond skin color when it comes to race.
I am perplexed.
14 comments:
Racism occurs when you automatically hate or discount someone based on their ethnic or racial background and wish to do them harm because of it. Some things cause a visceral reaction (for me, for instance, a woman wearing a burka will do it everytime) but I don't hate the person, just the symbol.
I think we all have a little racist in us but most of us manage to have enough commonsense to recognize it and work to remove it from our daily lives and actions.
It is definitely not racist to want your life and your way of life to survive and thrive which is the sense I get from reading your blog.
southfield, thank for your comment. It's not easy to confess a personal revulsion towards something and not end up being called racist.
Discrimination is a very comlext subject to deal with.
Kirsten, I think that is is complex because we associate it with hate.
I agree with you. Of course each race will have more general characteristics than skin and hair and eyes etc. After all, families have inherited traits - music, math skills, verbal and literary skills - etc. It would only make sense that races would also have strengths and weaknesses based on their genetics.
But I understand your hesitation to bring it up. I have dropped comments alluding to the same thing and got the hairy eyeball numerous times. I don't get that reaction at all - I'm not judging, just stating an observation.
However, in regard to measuring intelligence, we'd have to be careful - because so much of the testing is culturally slanted. Also, learning can increase results, and certain cultures push heavily at learning while others do not. How do you measure the intelligence of someone who is illiterate but has amazing survival skills in the wild against someone who has never been out of the city but has spent a lifetime in academia?
I agree with you Lex. Some races are prone to have higher numbers of those that make us appear racist.
I started another blog by the way, to serve a certain purpose.
Jeannie, I've seen IQ tests and they don't look culturally biased to me. They are usually a mixture of numeric, logic, and verbal skills. It wouldn't be entirely impossible to construct an entirely unbiased IQ test. Maybe it has already been done.I wonder if anyone is brave enough to take on the challenge.
Anyonymous, I don't know why only whites can be called racist. I was going to include a reference to the Japanese but thought to leave it out. I suggest anyone interested should read Rising Sun by Michael Crichton.
little lamb, I think everybody harbors some degree of racism inside them. I don't think that racism automatically implies hate.The problem lies with trying to understand and accept that races are different without generating hate.
Lex:
Did you know that, if the nuclear holocaust should come, and only the Xhosa people of southern Africa survived, then the human race would still retain 88% of its genetic variance?
Racial differences are literally skin deep; cultural differences are another matter entirely.
Michael, the genetic difference between humans and chimps is 2%. We are closer to chimps than our fellow human beings according to statistics.
Thank you Lex...racism and hate are not mutually exclusive. I don't wish to do harm to anyone because of their race...I would like everyone to take responsibility for their own lives and not expect others to fund them. I'd like to know exactly what is really the goal: Equality or Diversity? Why does an idiot like Al Sharpton think he speaks for his entire race? Why is he invited to the white house and given one iota of credibility after the countless scams he has pulled over the years promoting himself shamelessly? Division of the races is caused by imbeciles like Sharpton being allowed air time to foul up careers and spew his own blatant racism. Don't get me started...I can go for days on this subject.
Lex:
I think you had a small misunderstanding: Yes, the genetic difference between humans and chimps is about 2%, but all genetic diversity within humans occurs within that 2%. And just the Xhosa people of S Africa contain about 88% of human genetic diversity.
So people are really much of a muchness.
There is actually more genetic difference within human races than between human races.
The late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote a very good essay on the subject of racial equality:
"Human Equality is Contingent Fact of History," The Flamingo's Smile, Norton, 1985
Also see his book The Mismeasure of Man for excellent discussions on the misuse of intelligence testing to classify races.
Michael, thanks for the reference. I have a lot of respect for Stephen Jay Gould. I will look up this article.
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