hoops902
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 22, 2010 13:21:29 GMT -5
Posts: 11,978
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Post by hoops902 on Oct 21, 2019 9:30:15 GMT -5
DH is NOT racist. I can't tell you how much money he gave a black friend to try to save their house. He still lost if, but DH never says a word about it. That said, DH's filters are slipping. In the hospital several weeks ago, he said, "Have you noticed black people want to sit with other black people?" On a similar visit, he said, " Have you noticed how great black people are with colors? " Neither comment is inherently offensive, but you don't generalize about other races. So it makes me wonder if we are all racist without realizing it.In order to be racist, there has to be some implication that the generalization you are making places one group as inferior to another. I agree with you that generally, we'd probably prefer people not generalize about large groups of people though. That generalization is prejudice. When prejudice occurs based on the supposed inferiority of another race...that's racism. I think we're probably all prejudiced without realizing it...I think to be racist you probably have to recognize it (at least to the point of recognizing you think another group is inferior, even if in your mind it isn't "racist"). It takes a pretty direct thought process to think groups of other people are inferior to you based solely on the color of their skin. I think part of the issue is that racism is MOSTLY hinged on someone's thinking, and much less often stated outright. For example, I might say "black people are poor" which is certainly prejudiced, but I may not have any thought that being poor equates to inferior. Or I might say "black people are poor" and be thinking "because they're not as good as white people". I think a lot of things have passed into the "that's racist" argument lately which aren't actually racist. Quoting rap lyrics or comedy bits isn't in itself racist, it's not even prejudiced in most cases...it's simply bad judgement and using offensive words. Generalizing about races isn't racist unless it is based on a belief in a race's inferiority. In order to ACTUALLY be racist, the person has to believe the race is inferior. I think that's actually FAR less frequent than instances of "I'm offended by that (and perhaps rightly so) therefore it's racist since it deals with race".
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