Study: You may be more racist than you think

[LΩVE]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

My uncle...


The question is whose opinion matters most to you. Is it the people you volunteer with, your classmates, your coworkers, etc? Or is it your family and close friends? You've told us already that you are very close to your family and you don't want to make decisions that will cause them pain.

It wasn't the question. I wasn't asking one. I was having a conversation, or so I thought. I was obviously incorrect. My family in this discussion is irrelevant as they have no racist tendencies and, as I said, we are not all of one ethnic origin anyway. (As I have repeatedly stated). I wasn't asking for help in dealing with some deep, confusing question. I've been very clear about what I think is right and wrong and only considered the people I know in the context of discussing bigots, of which I know several, and once again, they are not my family and friends as I do not have close relationships with people who are racist since I feel so strongly about the issue.

Personally I would much rather have no one respond to me at all than to not read the post and respond to something I wasn't even talking about. It is frustrating to repeat myself over and over.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by LΩVE

It wasn't the question. I wasn't asking one.

I was asking the question.

Personally I would much rather have no one respond to me at all than to not read the post and respond to something I wasn't even talking about.

Welcome to GreekChat. You'll find that people might unintentionally misunderstand what you've written. Sound familiar?

[LΩVE]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

I was asking the question.


Welcome to GreekChat. You'll find that people might unintentionally misunderstand what you've written. Sound familiar?

. No, it doesn't.

I answered your question and repeated all pertinent information. Again. Anything else I can help you with today?

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by LΩVE

. No, it doesn't.

Let me spell it out. You did the same thing to me. Now does it sound familiar?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by LΩVE

I'll just remember in the future not to engage.

Perhaps that would be best, as obviously you haven't posted enough times here to realize when a strong opinion is appropriate, and when it is not. Obviously, racially charged issues are not the threads to have super strong opinions.

Stick to the "racism is bad." That will get you through.

[DrPhil]

"Opinions" have been a theme on GC lately.

Strong opinions are always appropriate.

This doesn't mean that everyone automatically knows what they are talking about. These kinds of topics are widely debated by theorists, researchers, and laypersons alike. The former two simply have a different foundation for their arguments instead of everyone having to hear about "my racist uncle is an uneducated bigot." Taking an historical and contemporary approach to racism and discrimination provides insight into why the longstanding structure of racism is considered to be more than "mean words that hurt feelings." Webster can't tell us all of that because it is designed for the layperson who won't read much beyond that dictionary entry.

Moreover, people have different ways of arriving at similar conclusions. I don't agree with some of AKA Monet's statements in this thread, but she admits that much of this is outside of her field of expertise. And we seem to agree on the outcome.

[agzg]

Hmmm... You're right. It's alright to have an opinion. I guess I'm speaking strong opinions in the sense of "OMG, NO I'M RIGHT, IT'S MY OPINION, DON'T FORCE YOUR OPINION ON ME."

You know, in general, just inflammatory posts, accusing people of believing this that and the other and and OMG how DARE you push your OPINION on me. Especially when the end of every opinion is the same, which would be that "racism is bad."

And, strong opinions that are so strong that you have a general inability to see the other side's point.

Sometimes those are OK. Political stuff, at least it's more appropriate than here. Racially charged issues, and I suppose this is my strong opinion, are not the threads where a white girl should jump in and say how mean someone is for calling her a cracker.

[AOII Angel]

Back to the topic...I think everyone has "racist" tendencies. We are evolutionarily made to suspect "other" and prefer "same." We congregate in groups for safety. Unfortunately, we cannot often control our basic tendencies to show preference, but we have also evolved to use reason to overcome our baser instincts. What I find a sad is that society has been able to ingrain a fear of black people into black people themselves. There have been some very interesting studies that black and white people show the same bias against black faces (they had research subjects hit a button to ascribe good vs evil qualities to words, colors then faces...most people would automatically pick evil for black faces.) We still have more work to do to convince people that they should ignore these ingrained beliefs and TRY to be better. Each generation is improving...

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Back to the topic...I think everyone has "racist" tendencies. We are evolutionarily made to suspect "other" and prefer "same." We congregate in groups for safety. Unfortunately, we cannot often control our basic tendencies to show preference, but we have also evolved to use reason to overcome our baser instincts. What I find a sad is that society has been able to ingrain a fear of black people into black people themselves. There have been some very interesting studies that black and white people show the same bias against black faces (they had research subjects hit a button to ascribe good vs evil qualities to words, colors then faces...most people would automatically pick evil for black faces.) We still have more work to do to convince people that they should ignore these ingrained beliefs and TRY to be better. Each generation is improving...

Prejudice

Racism

Discrimination

Different constructs.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

Hmmm... You're right. It's alright to have an opinion. I guess I'm speaking strong opinions in the sense of "OMG, NO I'M RIGHT, IT'S MY OPINION, DON'T FORCE YOUR OPINION ON ME."

I've railed against this same thing recently, but I think it's even more general than this.

It's fine to have strong opinions - we have some intelligent people on this board, and some half-tards, and expressing opinions helps us not only differentiate between the two, but bridge the gap as well.

The defense mechanism you've noted is the frustrating part - if you express a strong opinion, then you have to be willing to have others judge the logic and utility of that opinion. To put it bluntly, your opinion may be wrong, or poorly formed, or misguided.

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

Sometimes [strong opinions] are OK. Political stuff, at least it's more appropriate than here. Racially charged issues, and I suppose this is my strong opinion, are not the threads where a white girl should jump in and say how mean someone is for calling her a cracker.

Actually, I disagree - the real 'problem' with race-issue threads on GC is that everyone wants to run from them. There's no reason they can't have the same caliber, depth and emotion of discussion that is held in other areas. (Note: yeah, I do understand that there are indeed 'reasons' why these threads devolve, but at least in theory, there aren't any endemic reasons)

Besides this - as my favorite comedian once said, if a friend owes you $200 and won't repay . . . hey, at least it only cost you $200.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Actually, I disagree - the real 'problem' with race-issue threads on GC is that everyone wants to run from them. There's no reason they can't have the same caliber, depth and emotion of discussion that is held in other areas.

Besides this - as my favorite comedian once said, if a friend owes you $200 and won't repay . . . hey, at least it only cost you $200.

Perhaps the reason why people run from them, however, is that either people are posting completely inflammatory remarks, or they dismiss your thoughts because you "just don't understand." This thread, for the first couple of pages, was not the norm. The thoughtfulness of the posters in their responses was actually impressive.

Many threads that get started based on racial issues digress into the shitstorm that we saw between Love, pj, and monet. Someone posts something slightly inflammatory (and I'm not going to go into who that was or why they did it), and let the flaming commence. Name calling, bringing up other threads where the posters have a disagreement, etc.

No one wants to jump in the middle of that. I suppose that's where I base my opinion. It's just amazing to me how sometimes one bad apple (and again, I'm not going to go into who the bad apple is, because depending on what view you have, I could even be the bad apple) can spoil the bunch, and it seems that the bunch gets spoiled more quickly in racially charged threads.

ETA: And for whatever reason, lately, threads regarding Bush. It always seems to be liberals calling other liberals conservatives. I don't even know what any of that is about.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

Let me spell it out. You did the same thing to me. Now does it sound familiar?

Love is a spunky one, eh?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Actually, I disagree - the real 'problem' with race-issue threads on GC is that everyone wants to run from them. There's no reason they can't have the same caliber, depth and emotion of discussion that is held in other areas. (Note: yeah, I do understand that there are indeed 'reasons' why these threads devolve, but at least in theory, there aren't any endemic reasons)

Besides this - as my favorite comedian once said, if a friend owes you $200 and won't repay . . . hey, at least it only cost you $200.

The "type of people" who run from race (and any other socially significant) threads on GC are the type of people who run from them in real life.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

Many threads that get started based on racial issues digress into the shitstorm that we saw between Love, pj, and monet.

I kept waiting for one of those "arguing on the internet" graphics.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Love is a spunky one, eh?

Is that the word for it?