Discussion Racism? What exactly is it?

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by Msuuuuuu, Jul 13, 2020.

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  1. Msuuuuuu

    Msuuuuuu Active Member

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    From my understanding and observations, racism to me is just tribalism where the discrimination is on the basis of skin color. Since we have established that, tribalism can have many different forms. It's can be in the form of ideology, family, dialect, religion, skintone, etc.

    So, there's the saying, "Racism is learnt" or something to that effect.

    This implies that mankind has no inherent nature to be racist.

    To me, this might not be true at all. As I have said, racism is just a form of tribalism. And tribalism doesn't require to be taught at the most basic level. An example would be, snakes, if you saw it, you might be wary of it and even to kill or maim it though the snake might not necessarily want to inflict harm upon you and vice-versa.

    With this example, we can conclude that our brain would usually lump things together and warn us of dangers so as to ensure that we are not harmed. This seems to be an evolutionary trait. A survival mechanism of some sort.

    I have seen people of the same race kill and hurt each other. Not because of their differences in ideologies, religion, skintone,etc. But because they have different dialect(meaning no outsiders would be able to tell the difference between the two language spoken). Or, they have conflict because they came from different villages or families.

    From my observation of these conflicts, I can conclude that even those who did not actively participate in fighting would usually side with those that have the same dialect or come from the same place as them.

    So, would abolishing racism from its root(tribalism) be possible? And if so, would it be better for the whole of humanity? Or would it have adverse effects on our survival and on our ability to overcome the Great Filter?
     
  2. Harry

    Harry Now you see me

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    Every time I heard racism, I always thought of Hitler
     
  3. UnGrave

    UnGrave ななひ~^^

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    Honestly I think the definition of racism has been diluted over the years as various groups come up with their own ideas as to what it is and then fight everyone who uses the term differently. Somehow it seems that people have decided its a sacred word, so they need to push their understanding of it.

    That being said, their are various political and social issues related to the interactions between ethnic groups, so I dont think its a bad thing to try fixing those. I just don't like how people are using the word to label people as their enemies.
     
  4. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    It is true that racism isn't exactly learnt, it is human nature like greed. It isn't limited to simply the color of ones skin, it can be vs anyone who is different from you or not part of your group.

    That said, just like greed. A person who is greedy can want money but how far would they go for that money? Will they do it honestly, or will they do it through harming others? The same applies to racism. There is a difference between not liking someone, and mistreating someone because they are not part of your group.

    And that is what is learnt. How one treats people who are part of other groups, and to keep their distance from others who are not of their group. Cause even if someone is different, by nature humans are curious and will still interact and eventually welcome people of a different group. What stops that is the barriers that are learnt along the way. And this isn't limited to what you tell kids but your reactions. You'd be surprised how sensitive children can be that even your subtle different behavior instills caution.

    PS I think all humans are of an inferior race and should serve our cat masters of the supreme race as human slaves.
     
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  5. Hashimishi

    Hashimishi Well-Known Member

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    Well, humanity as a whole need to up their game if we want to progress as a civilization, racism is one of the things holding us back, because we are all human in the end
     
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  6. BigBadBoi

    BigBadBoi Well-Known Member

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    Yeah don't post that in any other social media if you don't want to lose your job for wrong think.
     
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  7. Miri-Bell

    Miri-Bell Semi-crazy Magic Cat

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    :blobwoah: This subject gets to meet my ten-foot poll :sushi_hide:
     
  8. Donuts

    Donuts Endless surge of emotions

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    In my opinion racism is one of our deep conscious and racism won't be gone until humanity extinct.
     
  9. aegis062

    aegis062 Chaotic Demon Emperor

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    to me it seems to be deeper instinct for survival that has been ingrained in most animal. humans have inherent fear or wariness towards things that are different or strange and it comes from thousands of years of survival instinct because new strange and different usually means dangerous. humans from ancient era had no real communication when a new human male shows up there would usually be a battle and he would kill or oppress the other male and would take the female as his own. over time such practice would eventually bring prejudices and biases are formed along with hate, fear, greed, and many other emotions which we now include in terms like tribalism and racism. all of it is just a circle of hate, greed, envy and many other factors like nationalism, tribalism in short it's just how humans rationalize enslaving killing and other actions that they may take to ensure their own benefits.
     
  10. PotatoZero

    PotatoZero Well-known Potato

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    A kid is not instinctively afraid of snakes
     
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  11. XenoRaku

    XenoRaku 「Punished Lolicon」「Ugly Bastard」「Haunted」「NEET」

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  12. Msuuuuuu

    Msuuuuuu Active Member

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    That's true. But, human have an inherent nature to be wary of new things and things that have harmed them before.

    The premise of my argument is, are people racist because of their experience in which their survival instinct made them lump things together. And if so, would destroying lumping of things together be better for mankind or worse? And if that would actually be possible?
     
  13. Msuuuuuu

    Msuuuuuu Active Member

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    True, but my question is, racism is just a form of tribalism. So, would destroying tribalism be possible? And if it is possible, would it have a better and worse outcome for our actual survival in the galactic race?

    If destroying that tribalistic nature is nor possible, can we use that tribalistic nature in a more positive way like how capitalism exploits the greed of human nature and make them compete for the advancement of society? As it is well documented that competition breeds better results.
     
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  14. Ha-Ha

    Ha-Ha A chance to love you, protect you, Shen Anxin.

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    Just another sideline character here, no need to bother with me.

    Since u did decide to continue reading this, fine then.

    DISCLAIMER: Eveything here is what I believe to be true. I ain’t forcing or saying you MUST follow these , so no hate on me okay.:blobexpressionless::blobexpressionless:

    That being said, just be decent to each other, avoid assholes and if u absolutely must interact with one— two cases:
    1- you care enough to at least broaden their mindset and help them learn how to mind their own fucking business and not bother others alongside. That’s the most an asshole can do for now. I’m not taking further character development into account currently.

    2- just punch them and be done with it.

    And last but not least, speak up for someone willing to accept your help.

    Life will be a lot more peaceful and fun this way IMHO.
     
  15. Liyus

    Liyus Laksha's Desu~ Cat

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    Racism is how minority of racist people call other that don't take a side....for example, a dude come and ask another what do he think about "colour" skin people and when the other answer "i don't give a fuck about that" is automaticaly labeled as racist because he didn't take a side...
     
  16. 0000000

    0000000 I B SMILING!

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    In my own opinion, which has been heavily influenced by my own experience, from family (no friends), surrounding and media, racism to me is just another word for a group to put themselves in the moral high ground, which does not exist as I personally believe that most if not all humans are scum, only using ideas and objects to serve their purposes. It is just how humans work from history till now, in the past we have crusades to "purge the infidels", to border vs border fights ranging from just households to households to scales of nations. It is impossible to remove racism in the first place, as its sole existense is for humans to express aggression and humans have loads of those, it can be a bad day, deeming something unfair (which is an irony as nothing is fair because it is subjective, never is it objective) or just a split second dark thought that ultimately rots the mood.

    The whole notion of not picking a side is always a joke, because even if you are not planning to join the fight, someone will sign you up for it, be it coaxing or bullying, and once you go down to their level, they will blame you for it for sure. Because the fight is not just for material loots, but rather the self satisfaction that one is achieving something, which is true in a sense if one can delude oneself.

    You can choose to run away from the conflict and pick a defensive method, but ultimately the crowd will force you to show hand, unless you want to get bullied to death or getting maimed.
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2020
  17. Soosoo

    Soosoo Well-Known Member

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    In my opinion racism is not inherited, the main point is that human would choose to interact with similar people (whether it is ideas, principles or appearance) because if you have more things in common then you have less disagreements and that of course is more comfortable.

    Humans are wary by nature but also curious which makes a balance of a kind. And like you said if they got harmed by something then they learn to be careful of it (and what looks similar like if something sharp injured you you'll be more careful around sharp objects) and teach their children to do the same.

    In the same sense if someone harm you you'll need to be more wary and rise your guard, some people would choose to be more cautious like avoiding the whole cause of their pain (as example the place where that happened, any person who looks similar to the one who hurt them or have similar ideas or principles) then again they teach their children the same thing which leads to bigger misunderstandings most of the time, just because it's easier to lapel a whole group of people instead of judging them individually.

    The biggest reason I think it's not inherited is because if you looked carefully you'll notice that children don't lesson to their parents advice usually, they are more curious than to listen, but when they get themselves in trouble they start to think "ok, my parents were right, I should listen to them" and this acutely vary depending on everyone's personal experience. If you had disobeyed thim and nothing happened or faced a situation were they were wrong, you'll know they are like you, humans who make mistakes sometimes. If they always wrong, you'll lose your trust in them. And if their advice was right every time, then of course your trust in them will be unmatched.

    Just my opinion~ think about it and decide yourself~
     
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  18. Vanidor

    Vanidor Well-Known Member

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    Racism isn't inherited, it's a way to simplify the world around you to make sense, and often to make yourself feel better. "I'm poor because those people took my job", "Those types are criminals unlike me". You group a bunch of people up by some, usually visible but not always, method and say 'all those people' have some undesirable trait. It's mostly about the individual against that entire other group.

    Msuuuuuu above mentioned it's similar to tribalism. I'd say kind of. Usually racism assigns negative traits to all of another group, but doesn't always assign good traits to their own. As in a person who thinks "All those people are stupid and lazy" while also thinking their neighbor who fits in the persons group is also stupid and lazy. If they are super conscious about it though it happens, or when they want to gather allies "All those people are lazy, but our type are super energetic go getters". People doing that are basically trying to preach a message to create a tribe.

    Classism is also somewhat similar, "All rich people want to do is make us into sheep", "People are poor because they are lazy and don't learn a useful skill".

    You see a lot of people automatically creating groups of their enemies and pretending that the individual in front of them is all the worst parts of that group they created.

    All of it has degrees and for the most part it's is fairly harmless(harmless doesn't mean good, a mosquito is generally harmless but perhaps not good when sucking my freaking blood out) if no action is taken. Someone sitting at home ranting about "Those people" they see on TV isn't good but it's when that person can hire/fire, reject a bank loan, or beat someone, that it makes a difference in innocent people's lives. That doesn't mean you shouldn't reconsider your instinct to group people you don't know in general, you should.

    Edit: A lot of people toss around loose terms, redefine it as widely as possible(especially political labels), and then use it as an insult because it's connected to something else. I don't think that's helpful most of the time, but it makes them feel good for a bit.

    I've argued with people I actually consider racist online, currently in one argument stretching for days on YouTube. Why? Because I'm semi retired and like getting into arguments when I'm bored.
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2020
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  19. pass1478

    pass1478 I'm in Despair!

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    Conflict based on race. That's my basic understanding of it, I don't try to dive too deep into it 'cause it usually has a blurred definition where we can't draw a line on what is or isn't racist.
     
  20. Hashimishi

    Hashimishi Well-Known Member

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    Destroying tribalism as a whole wouldn't be wise as human build on feeling and interaction with their community ( wich might lead to racism depending on the community), human or not ( cat lady's tribe are mainly cat), and being part of a tribe make you happy. What would be needed is to introduce early on the "main" tribe, Humanity. A tribe that wouldn't teach fear of the unknown but to seek knowledge and learn to accept, as human are bound to hurt themselves and other in the process of learning. A good way to do that would be to create a common language teached to everyone (mathematical language gave the scientist community a real edge for example), wich is obviously an utopia right now, so that people can communicate between themselves clearly. Racism is overall based on: the lack of understanding, the lack of knowledge ( for example blackface, people didn't even know it was a thing) and being selfish ( I'm like that so everyone should be like me, people that aren't like me are inferior to me).
    Sadly, I can't say myself I'm not racist because the knowledge needed to avoid that is insane, and the only way not to be is to always ask yourself: is this racist ? And if someone point it out, to ask for an explanation.
    Where we to destroy tribalism, there would be no interaction between people, and this would largely reduce the advancement speed of humanity as a whole in my opinion. Human need support to thrive forward, be it for their loved one or tribe. This is what dictate our mind as whole in our life, eat or die, etc.. but being alone can lead to depression and suicide. A way to destroy tribalism could be to introduce an AI as a sole life companion and cutting all direct interaction with the rest of humanity, as inhuman as it would seem. The question now come to this, what would make a lone human and is AI companion thrive forward ?
     
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