What Is Racism?

Incredible that I got the boot from Joe for being a "racist." A racist is someone who doesn't believe in equal rights and opportunity for all races. I certainly do. Simply for agreeing with Nobel Prize-winning biologist Dr. Watson and objective scientific intelligence tests that prove different races possess different mental capacities, I get censored.

I guess this forum isn't about the recognition of truth, so I'm gone...

Post 1

Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 7:43pm

No, sir, that’s not what racism, is.

I believe that what racism is was quite eloquently summed up by a Ayn Rand, and she said:

"Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's genetic lineage -- the notion that a man's intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors.

Racism claims that the content of a man's mind (not his cognitive apparatus, but its content) is inherited; that a man's convictions, values and character are determined before he is born, by physical forces beyond his control. This is the caveman's version of the doctrine of innate ideas -- or of inherited knowledge -- which has been thoroughly refuted by philosophy and science. Racism is a doctrine of, by and for brutes. It is a barnyard or stock-farm version of collectivism, appropriate to a mentality that differentiates between various breeds of animals, but not between animals and men.

Even if it were proved -- which it is not -- that the incidence of men of potentially superior brain power is greater among the members of certain races than among the members of others, it would still tell us nothing about any given individual and it would be irrelevant to one's judgment of him. A genius is a genius, regardless of the number of morons who belong to the same race -- and a moron is a moron, regardless of the number of geniuses who share his racial origin. "

K

(Edited by Karyn Daniels on 11/11, 8:43pm)

Post 2

Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 8:19pm

"Incredible that I got the boot from Joe for being a 'racist.' "

"Getting the boot" is a metaphor that generally refers to being fired or excluded in some way. Yet here we have another instance of you getting the facts wrong. Joe said he was restricting you to the dissent area, not preventing you from posting at all.

Post 3

Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 8:52pm

Your definition of a racist is incorrect. A racist is someone who judges an individual based on his race. If you say, "You must be a good basketball player, because you are black" or "You must be an intellectual, because you are Jewish", you're a racist. Nobody could say it better than Rand, in the quote that Karyn posted. Racial stereotypes do not help us to correctly judge individuals!
(Edited by Laure Chipman on 11/11, 8:53pm)

Post 4

Monday, November 12, 2007 - 2:54am

Racism is a word with several distinct meanings. Dictionary.com gives three :

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.

And note that (1) actually covers two different ideas. I'm sure careful analysis would reveal other subtleties.

Now, James Watson is a racist in the sense of the first half of definition (1). He is not, as far as I'm aware, a racist in any of the other senses of the word. (Maybe he is, but there is no evidence of it.)

Personally, I think that unless someone is clearly a racist in every sense of the word (such as, for example, the KKK, or certain black racists), the term should be avoided or used only with caveats. I would not say "James Watson is a racist", even though in a sense he is, precisely because that groups him with the KKK, which, quite apart from anything else, is being far too kind to the KKK.

Post 5

Monday, November 12, 2007 - 10:29am

Jeremy, all you have demonstrated is that there are different subsets to racist thinking. But I'm having a hard time understanding why I should give a damn as there are different subsets to Marxist thinking, but it's still Marxism.

Post 6

Monday, November 12, 2007 - 10:56am

The point is that "racism" can mean (at least) three entirely seperate things. I mean, completely different phenomena, not just different aspects of the same thing.

Now of course I realise that the different phenomena called "racism" often go together in practice. Theories of innate differences between races tend to be used to justify discrimination and to rationalise personal dislike. Personal dislike motivates discrimination. Etc. But the point is that they don't always go together and in fact quite often don't.

Watson, as I said, believes black people to be less intelligent but (so far as we know) doesn't dislike them or support discriminatory policies. I'm sure there were plenty of whites, say in apartheid South Africa, who supported discrimination just because they personally benefited from it rather than because they saw blacks as inferior or unpleasant. They were racists in the sense that they supported racial discrimination, but only in that sense. And so on.

This is not just an academic question. Imagine that tommorrow, some geneticists were to prove, beyond any doubt, that black people really are a few IQ points less intelligent than whites. (Maybe this will actually happen, although I doubt it.) Now if you see the theory of racial IQ differences as just one variety or aspect of generic "racism", well, those scientists would have just proven racism to be valid - so why not bring back apartheid, Jim Crow Laws or slavery? They were all racist institutions and we've just proven racism to be true! Someone find a cross and some kerosene!

Of course this logic doesn't hold up at all. That's my point. It doesn't hold up because the word "racism" has several different, really seperate meanings.

Post 7

Monday, November 12, 2007 - 4:57pm

Intelligence is a measure of ability to achieve goals in circumstances.

Post 8

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 6:47am

Racism is blind missinterpritation of the truth, much like many other things. Your enemys become your allys once you get to know them. No race is superior. In fact no one is superior. People only seem superior on the grounds that they know how to use their physical and mental limits to there advantage. However anyone can do this. Skin in other countrys is do to temprature and climate. Not inteligance and intelect. If you are a racist you are completely ignorant and unaware that in being a racist you are only degrading yourself.

Post 9

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 2:47pm