I am conducting a poll to in order to find out which of you are racists and which ones are not. I fully realize the PC thing to say is of course, Non-Racist, but that a good many of you would rather not admit to others that you are racist. I ask this because I have heard many accuse with the word, Racist, and I have seen many deny the accusation. My curiosity is simply this: Why do we use the word as a weapon, instead of embracing it as part of our nature? I'll go first. Racist.
I'm not the racist I used to be, but can still succumb to my lower nature in some circumstances, which usually involves someone like Oprah talking like she just got out of the cotton field last week.
I think the word is open for interpretation, as it is loosely worded, and could be better defined. Here's one definition: Racism: the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Many will see this and think that if you see a race as overall superior or inferior, then you are racist. This is what I see> which is that different races do indeed have different characteristics and abilities that are superior or inferior intrinsic to specific outcomes. For example: Inuit people of the far north, in general have thicker facial skin, and are able to pump more blood to their outer extremities, therefor giving them superior characteristics for surviving in extreme cold climates. These are racist views, Are they not? Does this make me an Inuit supremacist? Perhaps this is why there is so much confusion as to who is and who aint being racist.
The definition says that "all" members of a race have..... You said that "in general" intuit..... And there's the rub. I agree with the bell curve that has a generally higher iq for whites than blacks. But i don't believe that all whites have a higher iq than all blacks. By the definition you provided, that would not make me a racist, but the left would say i am one. btw, i don't get all bent out of shape because the bell curve says asians have a higher avg iq than whites.
Nice catch. Here's Webster's Racisim: 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. Now this clearly puts me back into the racist checkbox, as "primary" is in line with "in general". I've often thought our lexicon can stand to have at least a few thousand more words added to help us and others sort out what it is we're trying to say.
A study showing relation of IQ and poverty. Interesting read and may have something to do with the race bell curve you wrote of. Poverty significantly saps our mental abilities say researchers @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23881780
So the researchers are advocating that as an example. A successful intelligent person, even if it's only self proclaimed. Could downsize into say....a camper moored at a mobile home park. And now that he's living in poverty, if only apparent poverty, his mental abilities will be sucked right out of his brain? Given we have a prominent example of that very thing in this forum. I think they may be on to something. LOL
Do I sort of know what to expect from somebody based on their race? Pretty much. Do I want to be as far from Black people as possible? Hell yes, they have the green light on me from the Democrats. A Whitey saying something about Blacks is in for a worse time than a Black that kills a Whitey in a riot. I just don't want the garbage from Blacks/Democrats and I need to keep it to a minimum. Minimum exposure is my policy, I apply it to all obnoxious people essentially and Blacks are sure obnoxious to Whiteys like me... I'm an hour and a half drive from the nearest Inner City Reservation and it's not far enough... I'd say that doesn't make me a racist. I would not go out of my way to give a Black person a bad time or anything like that at all.