Racism today in modern world

[King112]

oh alright.

Sorry , misunderstood you.

[Vioh]

Here's my two cents:

Is stereotyping racism? I personally think that it is not, because I define racism as stereotyping plus discrimination. So for example, suppose that a person claiming things like "Muslims are loud" or "Asians are short", or "Blonds are dumb" (hypothetically, of course), would you call that racist? because I certainly wouldn't. It's just something that we usually do - which is to make generalization. And that, in some sense, is genetically built in us (as we are a pattern-seeking species). However, on the other hand, if somebody (like Per Wahlberg of SD party in Sweden) claims something like "Black Africans are genetically programmed to rape children", then that's just pure racism, because that shows hatred/discrimination towards the blacks. So my point is that it's alright to stereotype things because it's in some sense built in us. It's only when stereotypes go too far that it reaches the level of discrimination, then it should be stopped.

[RSells32]

In the US the problem isn't race for the most part. Its class. If you see someone, whether they are white or black, and they dress professionally, are clean, etc. then you'll get vastly less people looking down on them. However, if you see someone dressing like a stereotypical "thug" then of course you're going to associate negative thoughts with them because the way the dress brings about negative connotations. Of course, the issue is that a lot of Africans in the US are disproportionately in the lower classes and in order to tackle the symptom of racism we need to address the bigger concern of income inequality and social mobility.

[OMGIBISFUN]

To reiterate previous points, I agree that a lot of racism is rooted in ignorance and discomfort in the 'unfamiliar'. 

 

Prehistoric humans used to live in tribes, smaller scale version of societies today. I think much like other animals, humans were territorial and had every interest in forming tribal culture, which includes the mentality of 'us vs. them'. 

 

I think this 'us vs. them' mentality is very much present in society still today, even though it is not necessary or acceptable by modern standards. Nowadays it is expressed in various forms of discriminatory behaviour, not only limited to race. It is at the root of patriotism, nationalism, racism and discrimination based on religion as well. 

 

It's quite easy to see in all areas of human culture, even seemingly harmless places. Think of sports, people vehemently support their favourite team and despise the opposing team and its fans, leading to violent fighting in some instances. Same goes for religious groups, and the various conflicts that arise from exactly this "us vs. them" mentality. Also, think of modern politics, the U.K election as an example. People support different parties with different agendas. This biases peoples' objectivity on matters, i.e. seeing actions by your party as positive, and subsequently vilifying the actions of the other parties and their supporters. I'm sure some of you read about the violence and aggression against non-SNP supporters that occurred prior to the general election in Scotland. 

 

It's just instinctive behaviour, humans are social and like to 'belong'. Hatred of 'the other' is something that often intensifies and brings a group together, not saying it's a good thing but it's true. Rivalry can lead to greater progress and innovation, the question is where to draw the line. 

 

To bring it back to racism, I think education and experience are key. If you have lived in an environment of people of only your own skin colour and culture, something different might seem foreign and threatening. It's easy to be prejudicial, I think we all use stereotypes, even subconsciously. Humans compartmentalise to facilitate comprehension of the world. What is problematic is when people use these stereotypes as infallible descriptions of society, that's just unviable and leads to discrimination and conflict. Open-mindedness is key. 

 

If you have neighbours or friends or live in a diverse society, your opinions are indeed likely to be more open-minded. Same goes for say gay people in modern society, many people have negative opinions until they find out a dear friend or a family member is gay. No one understands the deep effects discrimination can have, until they have been at the receiving end of it, or been affected by it in some way. 

 

I think progress is made on a continual basis, and will happen incrementally over generations. For a tolerant society to exist, people have to learn to embrace our differences, rather than divide and discriminate members of society based on them. We're all different in our own ways, regardless of skin colour, background, or religion.