EPTAm i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"?
That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do.
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m4ini
4215 Posts
Am i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"? That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do. | ||
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Uldridge
Belgium5148 Posts
It's been said before: people are complex; societies are more complex. I don't appreciate being called racist or to have "racist tendencies", just because I do something that you don't agree with in a vacuum. It's all more nuanced than that. Different situations exist, different attitudes exist. Not everyone should be following a, b and c virtue to be voided from the label. This is not targeted towards the person who posted the chart, per se, but more towards the general moral high horses in this thread. Vile things happen, we need to combat these. I would love to live in a world where people can make jokes about someone's skin color or gender or whatever and NOT be offended by it. Because we'd live in a perfectly equal world where the people with different skin color make jokes about my skin color and they make fun of my gender and my sexuality and my hair and my nose and my toes. Everyone should be able to laugh at everything, because that should be a sign of a society that's comfortable instead of one that's going to be judged and divided. | ||
KwarK
United States43980 Posts
On August 30 2017 09:44 m4ini wrote: I'll just throw in a question. Am i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"? That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do. Good question. I do it too. | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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TheYango
United States47024 Posts
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ChristianS
United States3304 Posts
On August 30 2017 09:44 m4ini wrote: I'll just throw in a question. Am i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"? That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do. A little confused by your question, but if I'm understanding correctly, you're talking about seeing news of a truck running into some people, or a knife attack somewhere, and your first thought is to assume it's Islamic terrorism? Since "racism" is so tricky to define, I'll avoid the term and say sure, it's subconscious bias, but contrary to the usual caricature of liberal views on race, you don't need to hate yourself for it. Just recognize that's what it is, and try not to act based on subconscious biases if you can help it. | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
On August 30 2017 09:48 Plansix wrote: Nah, I do the same thing. Being aware of the prejudice impulse, no matter how valid, is part of how people avoid being racist. I actually might disagree. It certainly is a "racist" impulse. It's one step away from racial profiling. I said before, after the mass sexual assault in NYE 2015 in cologne, the police specifically had an eye on these people (north africans etc) on NYE 2016, which was heavily criticised by politicians. Was that racist? I'm not trying to be fe..citeous? No idea how it's spelled. Genuinely interested. A little confused by your question, but if I'm understanding correctly, you're talking about seeing news of a truck running into some people, or a knife attack somewhere, and your first thought is to assume it's Islamic terrorism? Correct. edit: but that's my point. Racism is "tricky" to define. It actually is near impossible to catch the finest nuances of it, imho. So what i'm going after is pretty much, what is the actual, generally agreed upon "first sign" of proper racism. Because the "not again" impulse is certainly not rare. | ||
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Biff The Understudy
France8078 Posts
On August 30 2017 09:44 m4ini wrote: I'll just throw in a question. Am i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"? That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do. No you are not. Islamic terrorism is the most virulent one at the moment because terrorism is a systematic strategy amongst islamist extremist groups. It's good to remember though that it's not always been the case; in late XIXth century, anarchists were planting bombs everywhere and assassinating people right and left, and in the 30's, far right terrorists were, well, a terror in many places. It's also always worth remembering that right wing terrorism has done more damage in the US than any other ideology. Extremist muslim terrorists have gained a lot of notoriety with 9/11, and are probably overcovered by the media as far as attacks in the US are concerned, but there is a reality, which is that altogether and especially if you start counting attacks in arab countries, they are doing a shitload of damage. Now, I live in Norway, and the big traumatism here is a racist christian fascist cunt who performed one of the most horrifying attacks in european history in his crusade against "cultural marxism" and other bullshit that would make Stormfront, and actually Breitbart, proud. So as much as there is no reason to minimize the extent of islamist terrorism, muslim nutcases don't have the monopoly of abjection. | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
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Uldridge
Belgium5148 Posts
Edit: yes, what Brevik did was horrifying. I think he had a grenade launcher or something like that, right? It was stunning for me that this could happen in Norway. But then again, we had Kim De Gelder that attacked a nursery, stabbing literal babies to death. It wasn't nearly as horrifying as what he did, but still, nutcases exist in your country and they will show up sooner or later. | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
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TheYango
United States47024 Posts
For my part, I don't think about this in terms of "I'm being self-reflective because I'm trying not to be racist", but rather that being constantly self-reflective and re-evaluating the validity of my thoughts and behaviors is just a part of being a rational human being. | ||
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Aquanim
Australia2849 Posts
On August 30 2017 09:44 m4ini wrote: I'll just throw in a question. Am i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"? That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do. As far as I'm concerned it's perfectly okay to be prejudiced against "Islamic terrorists". Where it becomes not okay in my book is unreasonable transference of that prejudice to Muslims in general, or retention of that prejudice if and when evidence comes to light that some other group was behind the attack. On August 30 2017 09:54 m4ini wrote:... I'm not trying to be fe..citeous? No idea how it's spelled. Genuinely interested. ... facetious | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
I do not try to not be racist. I'm just not a racist, it's hard to explain what i mean. I generally have a certain amount of base respect to everything, even if i make fun of things. I don't have the thought that a black man somehow is worth less than a white man, it simply doesn't occur to me that way. Certainly, i have prejudices sometimes, but generally i'm aware that i actually shouldn't have them, because they're too broad of a sweep. Like with islam itself. As far as I'm concerned it's perfectly okay to be prejudiced against "Islamic terrorists". Where it becomes not okay in my book is unreasonable transference of that prejudice to Muslims in general, or retention of that prejudice if and when evidence comes to light that some other group was behind the attack. If you mean, do i think that every moslem is a potential terrorist, no. Yet my first thought generally is that i expect something like this from a moslem first. facetiousp Cheers, one of those words which i'd have forgotten tomorrow again though. | ||
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy_logic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype_theory | ||
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Uldridge
Belgium5148 Posts
Trauma can easily make that happen for instance. | ||
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348484-mattis-halts-trump-transgender-policy-pending-study | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
On August 30 2017 10:07 ticklishmusic wrote: Mattis puts a freeze on the transgender ban, pending evaluation by the Pentagon http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348484-mattis-halts-trump-transgender-policy-pending-study That's politspeech for "not gonna happen". I think, anyway. | ||
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OuchyDathurts
United States4588 Posts
On August 30 2017 10:07 Uldridge wrote: Maybe people become racist because they've been in enough situations that have confirmed their prejudices that they can't disregard them any longer. Trauma can easily make that happen for instance. What about rural folks who have never met 1 Muslim in their entire life and less than a handful of any minority, black, brown, gay, trans, etc. They're often absurdly racist but there's no way they've had enough situations to confirm anything. Racists don't come to a reasonable well founded conclusions. | ||
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
On August 30 2017 09:44 m4ini wrote: I'll just throw in a question. Am i racist because the first thought after seeing a truck running into a shopping mile, knife attacks etc is "not again (islamic terror)"? That's genuinely something i wonder, because it certainly is something that i do. While it's more religionist than "racist"; I'd say that qualifies as something, but something very minor, like a .03 racist; admittedly unless you've tracked other numbers I use that doens't mean much to you. To put it in more typical words; I'd guess "very slightly" | ||
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