What's a "Racist", anyway?

[maxsolomon]

My dictionary says that "Racism" is "any program or practice based of racial discrimination, segregation, persecution, and domination based on Racialism".

Racialism is "a doctrine or teaching, without scientific support, that claims to find racial differences in character, intelligence, etc., that asserts the superiority of one race over another, and that seeks to maintain the supposed purity of a race or the races".

It's my impression that "Racist" gets slung around far too frequently in Amurkin debate, when what's really meant is Bigot (think Archie Bunker), or Predjudiced. Everyone has predjudical beliefs rooted in experience or ignorance - asians can't drive, black people don't tip, white people can't dance, etc., but they don't amount to Racism.

Nazis were Racists. The Klan and the Aryan Nation are Racists. Hell, the Hutus and the Tutsis were Racists.

There's a difference, and it's not trivial.

[thereismore]

1. I know a racist when he opens his mouth on the subject. nt

[maxsolomon]

5. interesting take.

so one does not broach a subject unless one is guilty of the offense?

[thereismore]

21. No. It's how he speaks about it. nt

[N7255Q]

7. Oddly, most Democrats found Potter Stewart to be an imbecile for using that phrase

re obscenity.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. So you're saying Archie Bunker wasn't racist.

"If your spics and your spades want their rightful share of the American dream, let 'em get out there and hustle for it like I done," isn't racist.

OK.

[maxsolomon]

3. Ignorant Bigot isn't bad enough?

I don't want to be in defending the bigotry of a fictional character, but, no, I don't believe his fictional predjudices rose to the level of the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis. You do? In your quote, after all, Archie allows that "spics and spades" have a right to American Dream.

Murkins just love to call each other Racist. My point is that "Racist" is a word that shouldn't be slung about with such casualness. If I say that "white people can't dance", that doesn't make me a Racist.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Why the false dichotomy?

Is Archie Bunker and people like him any better than the KKK?

[maxsolomon]

10. "better"?

i'm saying Racism is not the same as Bigotry. they are certainly related, as in "all Racists are Bigots".

Is someone who says "Jews control the banking industry" "better" than Hitler? or are they equivalent?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Well, they'd both be anti-semites.

Or is it not really anti-semitism when a regular real American does it?

[N7255Q]

6. Avoiding the accusation is way harder than walking on eggs

(without breaking any - egos are far more fragile).

I see posters get called racist for daring to criticize the wrong person. Or the right one.

[Orsino]

8. Simple: a racist is a bigot with a work ethic.

:eyes:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. A racist is a bigot when it comes to race.

As opposed to a sexist, who is a bigot when it comes to gender.

Honestly, what a stupid discussion.

[LatteLibertine]

9. I get what you mean

some people may be ignorant bigots and not racists. Racists are usually willful in their ignorance and hatred.

Historically, the big difference between white bigots and minority bigots, is that white bigots have had real power to control and oppress the other groups.

I don't care for bigots or racists regardless of what group they belong to.

[Spike89]

12. Not sure it's a huge distinction, but I agree

I do see a difference between an ignorant ass and a hateful one. To me, Archie Bunker was funny because he was incredibly ignorant in many ways, but for the most part he wasn't hateful. There is a difference between never really taking the time to understand/emphasize with another cultural/race and exhibiting hatred toward that race.

However, it isn't easy to tell the difference in casual encounters (probably why so many were offended by All in the Family). And it is never really OK to be ignorant. If being called a racist bugs a bigot, well, I can't really be spared an tear.

[lunatica]

14. I say a racist is one who hates people because they are different

One who sees any black person and instantly hates that person based solely on the color of his/her skin (the same applies to brown skin or yellow skin). He's a bigot if he hates people based on their religion, nationality or sexual preference, or sex. He's an ageist if he hates old people, and there are probably other sub bigotry terms like misogynist, etc.

[Obamanaut]

15. Or if one who sees any white person. Surely you don't mean only

white people can be racists?

"One who sees any black person and instantly hates that person based solely on the color of his/her skin (the same applies to brown skin or yellow skin)"

[lunatica]

16. I stand corrected.

Of course, you're right. BI was thinking in terms of white people historically having most of the power in our country. Specifically white men, and the treatment that they've visited on Native Americans, women and people of all other races. But yes, you're right

[retread]

17. I suggest you toss your dictionary!

1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race 2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

"any action, practice, or belief that reflects the racial worldview—the ideology that humans are divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called "races," that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural behavioral features, and that some races are innately superior to others"
Britannica Online Encyclopedia

1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Dictionary.com

One more from my pocket Merriam-Webster
"a belief that some races are by nature superior to others: also- discrimination based on such a belief."

I don't find a requirement that one must "seek to maintain ...purity ..."

[omega minimo]

18. That's a racist Original Post

Does that answer your question?

[subsuelo]

19. From The Anti-Racist Cookbook

"There is a difference between being hurt by prejudice and discrimination, and being oppressed by racism. Prejudice and discrimination are carried out by individuals; racism is carried out by institutions (courts, schools, businesses, etc.) that reflect the dominant culture … Reverse racism is a misnomer because it presumes that racism is the same as prejudice and discrimination."

http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Racist-Cookbook-Robin-Parker/dp/0971901767/

[ColbertWatcher]

20. A person who can ONLY see race.

Unlike Stephen who can't see race at all!