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United States22883 Posts
On June 05 2010 22:48 phosphorylation wrote: you are just arguing semantics it is our instinct to do things that will maximize our survival we learn to do this by taking in knowledge (conditioned, if you really want to say) It's not knowledge. It's perception. Perceptions are often wrong.
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just get a gun...or a water melon
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On June 05 2010 23:07 meegrean wrote: I would be careful of any guy from any race walking around at midnight. If you feel threatened in any way at all, it's better to take a safer course of action. This has a lot more to do with feeling safe than feeling racist.
Yah, but if I was to walk past an Asian guy at 3:00am I'd feel a lot safer than walking past a Black guy.
It has to do with me feeling safe, but you can't deny that this is inherently racist and I don't believe our society will change any time soon.
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On June 05 2010 23:12 Jibba wrote:Show nested quote +On June 05 2010 22:48 phosphorylation wrote: you are just arguing semantics it is our instinct to do things that will maximize our survival we learn to do this by taking in knowledge (conditioned, if you really want to say) It's not knowledge. It's perception. Perceptions are often wrong. perception is based on knowledge, what are you talking about i am not saying perception = truth of course perceptions are wrong sometimes, but perceptions exist for a reason; because they are often more correct than wrong
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watch the movie "crash", EXACT same scenerio in that movie. it got A LOT of rewards and is all about prejudice / racism in this world, trust me if this got you buggin... this movie will blow your mind - highly recommended
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On June 05 2010 23:15 pshych0 wrote: just get a gun...or a water melon
not cool.
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Here's a test:
If you see two white/asian/hispanic dudes dressed exactly the same way in that situation, would you run?
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How is it being an "instinct" justifies the behavior? I can agree to an extent that "racism" in this form is incurable; but simply following your "instinct" only makes you less human more animal. We have many "natural instincts" that we cannot obey in modern society, so this being an instinct doesn't justify it. Just be honest with yourself.
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On June 05 2010 23:52 illu wrote: Here's a test:
If you see two white/asian/hispanic dudes dressed exactly the same way in that situation, would you run? im asian, but if I were to live in the same suburb as in the movie 'Gran Torino', and walked by gangster asians, then yea i would definitely run. It's less about the way they look and more about the way they dress and the environment you live in.
If I were to see a black guy, well dressed, no baggy pants, no oversized tshirts, to me he would definitely be a lot more approachable.
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Let's see you're in a shitty neighborhood late late at night and you see to thuggish looking men walking down the street.
It's not racism, it's profiling but that's not as harmful. Racism imo implies malice in the thought.
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On June 05 2010 23:15 pshych0 wrote: just get a gun...or a water melon winner, but no i dont think its racist at all
everyone here would have did the same thing dont even let them try to lie
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The OP: -Followed his instincts. -Reflected on them afterwards.
Well done.
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On June 05 2010 23:52 illu wrote: Here's a test:
If you see two white/asian/hispanic dudes dressed exactly the same way in that situation, would you run?
In some ghetto neighborhood (like mine :[) I would totally run. What the OP did is not racist at all!
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I think that its not the colour of their skin, but the ghetto dress that makes people react =p
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On June 06 2010 02:44 Severedevil wrote: The OP: -Followed his instincts. -Reflected on them afterwards.
Well done. I agree.
I really don't know what to say. Most people are arguing that it's justified because inherently he was fundamentally trying to protect his girlfriend and himself from any possible threat. Therefore arguing that it was merely a survival instinct.
However, others argue that it was inherently wrong because it was a conditioned response to a supposed "dangerous" situation. Therefore being a case of racial profiling. However, I don't think the OP was at fault, but society and more specifically the media to be responsible for how he acted. They are the entity portraying minorities from impoverished areas as threats.
I honestly would of done the same thing, regardless of skin color.
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Maybe not racism but sure as hell it's prejudice. But hey, even if the black dudes noticed you, no one in your white boi's club is gonna think any less of you.
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racist, yes. but its always better to be on the save side and be cautious. some people will go at you for merely looking at them... unless you can take on most of these people better be careful and avoid confrontation.
maybe they were nice guys and all, but theres no way to be sure until it would be too late.
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I think the "ghetto looking" probably has more to do with it than being black. If it's 3 AM and I come across someone of any skin colour with saggy pants and a backwards hat, especially in a ghetto area, I'm gonna be afraid.
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IF you had based your reaction SOLELY on the color of their skin, then you are racist. All you have to do to answer your own question is to imagine yourself in slightly modified contexts (or actually put yourself in them, then reflect again later as you did here) to see if this is true, i.e. different clothing, different time of day, different neighborhood/area, two white guys dressed exactly the same in the exact same situation, two women instead of men, etc etc. It's pretty simple actually, you shouldn't be that bothered by the question of whether you're racist or not; the possibility of the answer being "yes" is whats actually troubling you. Don't mix the two up and make it more difficult for yourself.
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On June 05 2010 20:33 Sadistx wrote:Show nested quote +On June 05 2010 20:18 Liquid`Nazgul wrote: I like how people first try to see if something is understandable/acceptable and then assume once this is the case that it should never be called racism, as some sort of self protection so they never have to live with the thought of being partially racist.
Racism in most cases is bad but in some cases good. If 20 big black guys scare you more than 20 white grannies then that's racism based on common sense. And there's nothing wrong with that. You should look up what racism actually means, as should everyone in this thread. Stereotyping people by the color of their skin, based on the available data isn't racism. [...] yes it is. any kind of stereotyping is discrimination. any kind of judgement you reach based on appearance, in this case color of skin, is racism. after all the colour of skin has nothing to do with the character of a person. even if 99% of black people were living in unforgiving, lawless ghettos it would still be racism to treat them all as if they disregard laws until you confirmed the history or character of that one individual you are dealing with.
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