I have given my incendiary opinion on racism here on this board before so I'll skip that here. But a few thoughts:
If a person is considered a rapist or murderer or thief or liar, they would have to have to actually committed an action which constitutes the title. But racist is a title given to people who only have thoughts that coincide with racism, without ever putting a single thought into action. If that were the case with a title like murderer and rapist, then nearly every human being would be considered a murderer or rapist. Surely most people have had thoughts along both lines. And the fact that you can be labeled a racist merely by your thoughts is something the people running this lecture take full advantage of. I am curious as to what their full and actual agenda was. Where did they receive their funding and what ends were they trying to accomplish?
Of course almost anybody can be considered a racist. Certainly it is very rare for one to not see themselves separate and different from others. And by different, I mean superior or inferior to others. Either type of thinking is the basis for racism. As human consciousness exist, it is a quite common mode of looking at the world for most people.
And, by the way, technically speaking being prejudiced against an over-weight person is not really racism. It is a different type of prejudice altogether. Not better or worse per say, just different.
Discussion Topic
Are you a racist persn and not aware that you are?
Posted on 07/19/09, 09:03 pm
I attended a lecture not too long ago about racism and I found the topic to be quite interesting. The whole concept of the this lecture was to get you to look at yourself and your behavior towards other races and determine if indeed you yourself might be a bit racist and not even know it. Many questions were presented to the group. One man who is a CEO of a company expressed he would not hire specifically black people to work in his company. He said it wasn't because he didn't think they could do the job it was because he strongly felt that if he felt a white person or any other race that worked in his company got promoted or moved up the ladder so to speak the first people to complain would be the black people saying they have been discriminated against and would be quick to try and sue the company. He was point blank told he was being a racist with this type of behavior. What do you think? Some of the Latino people said they would not hire a white person because they felt they would cause trouble and demand higher pay as they felt a lot of white people feel they are above average and deserve more. They were told they were racist. What do you think?
Another question that was presented was if you were walking down a street and saw a group of people that were a different race would you continue to walk by them or find another route to take? On that question I said if they looked liked people that might try to rob me or up to no good I would fear for my safety and find another route and I also put it could be a group that was the same race as me but if they looked liked shady characters I would still find another route to take. Well that was my answer and how I felt but I was told I was being a bit racist lol. Well perhaps I might be a bit racist if I see gang members on a street corner as I do not like people who take advantage of others and rule the streets with violence but I am not so sure that makes me racist.
The next question was about different states that have Indian reservations should the people who live on them be allowed to have the same rights from our government such as qualifying for medical assistance and other benefits from our government when they have their own set of laws and regulations on their reservation and our government has no control on these reservations. Are you being racist if you do not hire them or offer them the same benefits? I answered that I would hire them and pay benefits if they were not already getting benefits from the reservation but if they already were getting benefits heck no I am not going give them additional benefits as that costs the tax payers more money and it is going to someone who does not need it. I was told I was being racist with that answer as well lol.
The next question was if you owned a fitness club would you hire an overweight person to work for you or would you feel that would give the impression your company is not successful because overweight people work there? My answer was yes indeed I would hire an overweight person because I like to see companies or any type of business have a variety of people working there as that makes me feel more comfortable not to mention that seeing an overweight person working there might be the incentive to get more people that are overweight to come in. Finally I answered a question they felt was right and I was told you are not racist lol.
Of course there were a dozen more questions asked and they totaled your score at the end and it turned out I was a bit racist according to their set up and studies.
Another question was are you more comfortable living in a community surrounded by your own race or would you be just a comfortable living in a community surrounded by a completely different race? I said to me it would all depend on the behavior of the people in the community if they were kind and good neighbors I wouldn't mind living in that community regardless of their race. However quite a few people did put down it would make them uneasy and bit uncomfortable and they of course were considered racist.
And of course the biggest question of them all was How do you feel about different races running the country. I said I had no problem with different races in America I just felt it was time to weed out crooked politicians regardless of what race they are. Anyway I thought it was an interesting lecture to attend and I was quite interested on the thoughts of the many people that attended. I don't know that I agree with their perception of me but I can see some points they were trying to get across. I just know that I like to be treated the way I treat others and if someone is not so nice to me I don't categorize the whole race based on individual behavior. What are your thoughts and experiences?
Another question that was presented was if you were walking down a street and saw a group of people that were a different race would you continue to walk by them or find another route to take? On that question I said if they looked liked people that might try to rob me or up to no good I would fear for my safety and find another route and I also put it could be a group that was the same race as me but if they looked liked shady characters I would still find another route to take. Well that was my answer and how I felt but I was told I was being a bit racist lol. Well perhaps I might be a bit racist if I see gang members on a street corner as I do not like people who take advantage of others and rule the streets with violence but I am not so sure that makes me racist.
The next question was about different states that have Indian reservations should the people who live on them be allowed to have the same rights from our government such as qualifying for medical assistance and other benefits from our government when they have their own set of laws and regulations on their reservation and our government has no control on these reservations. Are you being racist if you do not hire them or offer them the same benefits? I answered that I would hire them and pay benefits if they were not already getting benefits from the reservation but if they already were getting benefits heck no I am not going give them additional benefits as that costs the tax payers more money and it is going to someone who does not need it. I was told I was being racist with that answer as well lol.
The next question was if you owned a fitness club would you hire an overweight person to work for you or would you feel that would give the impression your company is not successful because overweight people work there? My answer was yes indeed I would hire an overweight person because I like to see companies or any type of business have a variety of people working there as that makes me feel more comfortable not to mention that seeing an overweight person working there might be the incentive to get more people that are overweight to come in. Finally I answered a question they felt was right and I was told you are not racist lol.
Of course there were a dozen more questions asked and they totaled your score at the end and it turned out I was a bit racist according to their set up and studies.
Another question was are you more comfortable living in a community surrounded by your own race or would you be just a comfortable living in a community surrounded by a completely different race? I said to me it would all depend on the behavior of the people in the community if they were kind and good neighbors I wouldn't mind living in that community regardless of their race. However quite a few people did put down it would make them uneasy and bit uncomfortable and they of course were considered racist.
And of course the biggest question of them all was How do you feel about different races running the country. I said I had no problem with different races in America I just felt it was time to weed out crooked politicians regardless of what race they are. Anyway I thought it was an interesting lecture to attend and I was quite interested on the thoughts of the many people that attended. I don't know that I agree with their perception of me but I can see some points they were trying to get across. I just know that I like to be treated the way I treat others and if someone is not so nice to me I don't categorize the whole race based on individual behavior. What are your thoughts and experiences?
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Reply #1 07/21/09 10:10am
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Reply #2 07/21/09 6:57pm
To answer your question Schmanek regarding the full agenda and how these groups were funded to my knowledge it is group of different business's located throughout several different cities that came together to discuss and improve running all types of companies throughout the US. Each company contributes money to the organization. Mind you this was only one of the lectures involved as there were many more including how to start your own business and run it.
From what I read about this lecture before attending it they claimed it was based on racism and discrimination in the workplace and society and although I don't agree with a lot of what they said I expect it was like any other organization trying to encourage people to see things the way they do. Personally I didn't agree with a lot of what they said on this particular topic. In some ways I think they were trying to say discrimination and racism are the same thing. -
Reply #3 07/28/09 5:27am
i think you could consider some of thos things as racist but, i think you could also put these situations under the heading of stereotypes too. take your example of finding a different route its may be racist but it may be that they look stereotypically dodgy, i think its natural for everyone to have misperceptions of people, we may have had a bad experience with someone with a posh voice and dont know anyone else with a posh voice and now all posh voice sounding people leave a bad feeling with the person holding a bad experience, this person probably will share this expereince too, i think we try not to be racist and try not to have prejudices but i think its quite close to impossible, its good to be aware of them as we can educate ourselves, what i love about our department at uni is that i have met people from so many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds
i also think fear and trust comes into this alot, when we see a stranger in our personal space we take in as much info to see if they are a threat the only thing we can go on is looks at the moment and our own knowledge, unless you can go against basic instinct, its part of our nature well thats what i think -
Reply #4 07/28/09 10:36am
Personally I know I do some stereotyping...will automatically speak a little louder when talking to a senior citizen, will have an automatic thought that a group of rowdy teens late at night are probably up to no good. All I can do at this point, is try to be conscious when I'm doing this, and adjust...retrain the brain so to speak.
My daughter came to visit a couple months ago...she is nervous in my neighborhood, which is a bit run down and has a bad reputation. Anyway, she decided to get her run in and headed out. When she came back she said that down the block, the 'typical, creepy van' turned the corner. By this she meant a full-sized, windowless, beat up van. She experienced that automatic thought, maybe she should turn around. She resisted. Well, the van turned into a drive in front of her...a very cute preschooler came bursting out the front door yelling, "Daddy's home!" -
Reply #5 08/01/09 12:54am
I do not consider myself a racist, but I hate assholes in every color. I live in an extremely racist area, and it is so disheartening to listen to these morons degrade other races, minorities, etc. Great topic. -
Reply #6 08/10/09 5:28pm
i dont think im racist at all. :] i agree with tinderhart -
Reply #7 08/11/09 4:02pm
I'm white, living in a predominantly mexican city. There are businesses here that won't hire whites because we "can't handle the hard work"
Everyone is racist, it's in out DNA, a "we - not we" thinking.
What we do about it & how we overcome it is another matter. -
Reply #8 10/06/09 8:16pm
I am not a racist-I hate everyone equally.... -
Reply #9 10/20/09 8:18am
I am not a racist. The skin color has never mattered to me. I take EACH person as an individual.
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