Scientific or not?
http://www.leavingcal.com/mess.html
On this message board about California politics.
http://www.leavingcal.com/mess.html
On this message board about California politics.
Racism
- Thread starter prozak
- Start date
Prepare to be Boarded
Since I couldn't find anything related directly to both racism and science on that site, I'm going to commandeer this thread and piece together a reasonable topic.
On this (the California one, not sciforums) discussion board, I ran across a post by a white supremacist. Strangely enough, though I live in the Bible Belt of the United States, I have never encountered one of these before (thought I am supposedly related to many). I read his(/her) admission to being a racist and his(/yeah, I'll just say "his") disdain for accusations that assume he hates other races. The distinction, he said, involves his intellectual superiority over non-whites and his desire to live in a white nation, free of non-white influence, versus his lack of actual hatred for non-whites.
I was somewhat appalled, given my inexperience with white supremacists, but unfortunately that is all I was. I couldn't point out an immediate inconsistency. This troubles me.
As I've pointed out in other threads, I believe that the best way for humanity to be is with universal empathy for one another. Obviously, this precludes racism and even feelings of superiority. (Even more obviously, it's not an actual possibility, just something to approach.) It would be impossible for me to hold this view and be a racist and be logical. I like to think I'm logical.
But, there is the messy fact that races have some sort of differences. They may be as insignificant as a few alleles, or they may be at the subspecies level of bifurcation, or they may (though, again, I don't believe this at all) be vastly different intellectually and physically. There was a brief discussion here, but the results seemed inconclusive. Racism belongs more in General Philosophy, really, but rather than let this thread go to waste, I think I'll raise a series of questions based on all of the above:
Since I couldn't find anything related directly to both racism and science on that site, I'm going to commandeer this thread and piece together a reasonable topic.
On this (the California one, not sciforums) discussion board, I ran across a post by a white supremacist. Strangely enough, though I live in the Bible Belt of the United States, I have never encountered one of these before (thought I am supposedly related to many). I read his(/her) admission to being a racist and his(/yeah, I'll just say "his") disdain for accusations that assume he hates other races. The distinction, he said, involves his intellectual superiority over non-whites and his desire to live in a white nation, free of non-white influence, versus his lack of actual hatred for non-whites.
I was somewhat appalled, given my inexperience with white supremacists, but unfortunately that is all I was. I couldn't point out an immediate inconsistency. This troubles me.
As I've pointed out in other threads, I believe that the best way for humanity to be is with universal empathy for one another. Obviously, this precludes racism and even feelings of superiority. (Even more obviously, it's not an actual possibility, just something to approach.) It would be impossible for me to hold this view and be a racist and be logical. I like to think I'm logical.
But, there is the messy fact that races have some sort of differences. They may be as insignificant as a few alleles, or they may be at the subspecies level of bifurcation, or they may (though, again, I don't believe this at all) be vastly different intellectually and physically. There was a brief discussion here, but the results seemed inconclusive. Racism belongs more in General Philosophy, really, but rather than let this thread go to waste, I think I'll raise a series of questions based on all of the above:
- What constitutes a race? Keep in mind, the definition need not be biological.
- What constitutes racism? Is it ethical? Is it useful?
- Can racism ever be avoided? How?
- Since the biological reasons for racism are relatively obvious, what will be the eventual biological effect of racism in the present? Of non-discrimination? This opens up a huge amount of complexity (human evolution in modern times, which may or may not even occur). Ah well, had to put biology in there somewhere.
Great post!
"I believe that the best way for humanity to be is with universal empathy for one another. Obviously, this precludes racism and even feelings of superiority."
Why?
Empathy means recognizing differences and still caring about the other, but it doesn't mean you try to get your dog to fly and your bird to walk on a leash.
"I believe that the best way for humanity to be is with universal empathy for one another. Obviously, this precludes racism and even feelings of superiority."
Why?
Empathy means recognizing differences and still caring about the other, but it doesn't mean you try to get your dog to fly and your bird to walk on a leash.
SimCar
Feelings of superiority are caused by a perception that one human can be valued more than another. This is okay to an extent, but when it falls along racial boundaries rather than family-nonfamily or friend-nonfriend divisions, it becomes a non-empathetic stereotype. One can only pity inferiors, and empathy has far different (more positive) effects than pity.
As to whether a dog flies or a bird walks on a leash, that just means that some can do things that others can't. It doesn't mean one is superior to the other.
Thank you.
I'm assuming you mean why it precludes racism/superiority. Well, it precludes racism if racism requires hate. Hate tends to prevent empathy. Racism is (usually) a subset of superiority, so all that really needs to be shown is why empathy precludes superiority.
Feelings of superiority are caused by a perception that one human can be valued more than another. This is okay to an extent, but when it falls along racial boundaries rather than family-nonfamily or friend-nonfriend divisions, it becomes a non-empathetic stereotype. One can only pity inferiors, and empathy has far different (more positive) effects than pity.
As to whether a dog flies or a bird walks on a leash, that just means that some can do things that others can't. It doesn't mean one is superior to the other.
Racism is unwarranted and stupid. People are variable and not all people of a race can be placed in the same categories of thought and behavior. You cannot accurately predict someone’s behavior and Intelligence by their race and there for racist beliefs are simple ignorance.
Guess what race I am?
Guess what race I am?
Nop not Asian try again!
you're human WellCookedFetus...now what do i win?
A ball of lint will be shipped to you in 4-6 weeks.
pumpkinsaren'torange
Registered Senior Member
nonsense.
pumpkinsaren'torange
Registered Senior Member
:bugeye: no...you nonsense.:m: 
No I agree with him.
"We all got through about nine mouth parasite phase in our development."
So I’m more like a expelled tape worm or Fluke… cooked to perfection
If we are going to continue this argument lets do it here http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16966
"We all got through about nine mouth parasite phase in our development."
So I’m more like a expelled tape worm or Fluke… cooked to perfection
If we are going to continue this argument lets do it here http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16966
Looser
Here is a photo of Prozak with his friends...funny, they don't look very white to me...neither does Prozak really.
Here is a photo of Prozak with his friends...funny, they don't look very white to me...neither does Prozak really.
NERD
...and what's wrong with your neck & face?
...and what's wrong with your neck & face?