10-10-2014, 08:45 PM
True.
I guess the word racist gets used in a lot of ways now, but I think it is useful to go back to its specific meaning.
Racism is the belief that the people of a "race" all share common attributes just by being of that race, by genetics. No matter where they are born or how they are raised, to believe they are defined by the genetic lottery of skin pigment and so forth.
It's a horrible belief that limits people by sticking them in a box they can never raise themselves out of by effort or character.
It's just as much racism to believe that everyone of a race shares the same good qualities automatically.
There's no excuse any more for the ignorance of racism. You don't have to love every person on the planet, but never believe you truly know any person by looking and judging on that simple level. No one is qualified to make sweeping statements about all people of any ethnicity. Furthermore it's lazy, shows you haven't bothered to expand your experience of those who don't look like you or talk like you.
Calling people of European ancestry "no breaths" is racist. Even if the story of origin is true, so what if they were labeled breathless because their culture was different. Yes, when radically different cultures meet for the first time, there are bound to be some off base ideas of the strange people on both sides of the equation. That's fine.
What's not fine is to keep on with the same ignorance of the other people after centuries of co-existence, and to top it off with saying "they all do this, they're all greedy or stupid or whatever. That's racism. Feeling superior is just an unfortunate side effect of the problem. The core problem is failing to see the individuality of people in spite of heritage and DNA.
Kathy
I guess the word racist gets used in a lot of ways now, but I think it is useful to go back to its specific meaning.
Racism is the belief that the people of a "race" all share common attributes just by being of that race, by genetics. No matter where they are born or how they are raised, to believe they are defined by the genetic lottery of skin pigment and so forth.
It's a horrible belief that limits people by sticking them in a box they can never raise themselves out of by effort or character.
It's just as much racism to believe that everyone of a race shares the same good qualities automatically.
There's no excuse any more for the ignorance of racism. You don't have to love every person on the planet, but never believe you truly know any person by looking and judging on that simple level. No one is qualified to make sweeping statements about all people of any ethnicity. Furthermore it's lazy, shows you haven't bothered to expand your experience of those who don't look like you or talk like you.
Calling people of European ancestry "no breaths" is racist. Even if the story of origin is true, so what if they were labeled breathless because their culture was different. Yes, when radically different cultures meet for the first time, there are bound to be some off base ideas of the strange people on both sides of the equation. That's fine.
What's not fine is to keep on with the same ignorance of the other people after centuries of co-existence, and to top it off with saying "they all do this, they're all greedy or stupid or whatever. That's racism. Feeling superior is just an unfortunate side effect of the problem. The core problem is failing to see the individuality of people in spite of heritage and DNA.
Kathy
