It seems a little silly to say race is a myth, no? You can’t fight real prejudice by telling people to ignore the obvious.
[quote]Sloth wrote:
It seems a little silly to say race is a myth, no? You can’t fight real prejudice by telling people to ignore the obvious.[/quote]
"Celera Genomics was the only major private corporation in the quest to map the human genome. In February 2001, Celera’s CEO, Craig Venter, touched off a minor firestorm when he commented that "race is not a scientific concept."1 He knew that it wasn’t possible to distinguish people who were ethnically African American, Chinese, Hispanic, or white at the genome level. Celera’s sequencing of the human genome showed that the average pair of human beings who are not close relatives differ by 2.1 million genetic letters out of those 3 billion, yet only a few thousand of those differences account for the biological differences between individuals.
Venter argued that we all are essentially identical twins at the level of the genome. Celera used DNA extracted from five volunteers, three women and two men, who were ethnically African American, Chinese American, Hispanic, and Europeon American. Their results showed that at the DNA level you could clearly tell the females from the males (due to the genetic differences in the X and Y chromosomes), but you could not identify the race of the individual from the DNA."
http://www.enotalone.com/article/5044.html
Race is, in fact, a myth. A popular myth, but a myth nonetheless.
[quote]Sloth wrote:
It seems a little silly to say race is a myth, no? You can’t fight real prejudice by telling people to ignore the obvious.[/quote]
Yeah you’re right, but I have to go apply for my white male scholarships…oh wait…
Joking aside I just looked up white male scholarships, and I found out that white people have to be accepted at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And that HBCU is LOOKING for white people to come to their colleges under the Civil Rights Act
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[/quote]
Your best post yet.
Thanks,
JeffR
[quote]
BostonBarrister wrote:
That said, I’m likely culturally biased in that I am more inclined to attribute racism to Japanese society generally than to American society generally because of what I’ve heard and read about Japanese society compared to what I’ve witnessed living in American society. That’s my own subjective filter.
Professor X wrote:
Interesting. Your bias against Japan based on perceived racism is more concrete based on what you’ve heard and read…yet all that you have heard and read about racism in this country is dismissed for the most part aside from some general assessment that it exists but isn’t that much of an issue. In both cases, you have experienced very little (if any) of this as a minority yourself, yet you feel like those who have in this country somehow recognize it with LESS efficiency and accuracy than yourself.
All signs point to cultural arrogance.[/quote]
Maybe cultural arrogance would be an apt description. I do think the U.S. does a lot of things right.
But really, my comparison is what I’ve read and heard about Japan versus what I’ve experienced and observed in the U.S. Maybe that’s more personal arrogance… But it’s also irrelevant to my point, which was that you can’t assume causation and then have that be “proof”. My second point was that assuming racism as a causation is generally bad for society. My third point was that we should avoid having the government promote policies that encourage people to assume racism (or race) is the cause of their observations.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Sloth wrote:
It seems a little silly to say race is a myth, no? You can’t fight real prejudice by telling people to ignore the obvious.
"Celera Genomics was the only major private corporation in the quest to map the human genome. In February 2001, Celera’s CEO, Craig Venter, touched off a minor firestorm when he commented that "race is not a scientific concept."1 He knew that it wasn’t possible to distinguish people who were ethnically African American, Chinese, Hispanic, or white at the genome level. Celera’s sequencing of the human genome showed that the average pair of human beings who are not close relatives differ by 2.1 million genetic letters out of those 3 billion, yet only a few thousand of those differences account for the biological differences between individuals.
Venter argued that we all are essentially identical twins at the level of the genome. Celera used DNA extracted from five volunteers, three women and two men, who were ethnically African American, Chinese American, Hispanic, and Europeon American. Their results showed that at the DNA level you could clearly tell the females from the males (due to the genetic differences in the X and Y chromosomes), but you could not identify the race of the individual from the DNA."
http://www.enotalone.com/article/5044.html
Race is, in fact, a myth. A popular myth, but a myth nonetheless.
[/quote]
Well, no, because I can view the real world and see that race is in fact an issue within my sphere of observation. In utopia land, race may be a myth. And even under a microscope, there may or may not be something to it. But, I assure you, that out in the real world, and as shown on this thread, race is alive and well.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Race is, in fact, a myth. A popular myth, but a myth nonetheless.
[/quote]
It both is, and isn’t.
To the extent someone wants to use it as a concept that we are so different as to be “different species” or something, or to try to use it to classify each individual according to some template, then yes, it’s a myth.
To the extent it’s a proxy for some genetic differences, including looking different, then it’s not. It’s both a useful, and problematic, generalization. There are too many diseases (sickle-cell anemia and Tay-Sachs, for example) that have genetic components that attack different racial groups with hugely different frequencies for it to be cavalierly dismissed as a useless concept. At the same time, its use has obviously caused a lot of problems throughout history.
It’s particularly confusing to people when race is used as a proxy when culture is really the important factor. Given how humans have evolved to categorize and group, it really is quite tragic that people have such stark visual cues by which differentiate “us” and “them.”
Why would anyone have a discussion of race with dentist x aka captain hammerstrength? Pox is the biggest piece of shit racist on the entire board. Read some of his old posts on race, like “getting back” at his racist dentist school classmates for some examples.
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Race is, in fact, a myth. A popular myth, but a myth nonetheless.
It both is, and isn’t.
To the extent someone wants to use it as a concept that we are so different as to be “different species” or something, or to try to use it to classify each individual according to some template, then yes, it’s a myth.
To the extent it’s a proxy for some genetic differences, including looking different, then it’s not. It’s both a useful, and problematic, generalization. There are too many diseases (sickle-cell anemia and Tay-Sachs, for example) that have genetic components that attack different racial groups with hugely different frequencies for it to be cavalierly dismissed as a useless concept. At the same time, its use has obviously caused a lot of problems throughout history.
It’s particularly confusing to people when race is used as a proxy when culture is really the important factor. Given how humans have evolved to categorize and group, it really is quite tragic that people have such stark visual cues by which differentiate “us” and “them.”[/quote]
No doubt. Culture is the important factor. The black conservative is much more “my tribe” than the white liberal, if you want to think in those terms. I owe my loyalty to a black fellow American before some, I don’t know, white guy in the UK.
[quote]ChuckyT wrote:
Why would anyone have a discussion of race with dentist x aka captain hammerstrength? Pox is the biggest piece of shit racist on the entire board. Read some of his old posts on race, like “getting back” at his racist dentist school classmates for some examples.[/quote]
Hey, Jeffr, friendly advice: When you post as ChuckyT, try not to use “Pox” to refer to ProfX… it gives you away.
Better yet, grow some balls and just say what you want to say as JeffR.
[quote]pookie wrote:
ChuckyT wrote:
Why would anyone have a discussion of race with dentist x aka captain hammerstrength? Pox is the biggest piece of shit racist on the entire board. Read some of his old posts on race, like “getting back” at his racist dentist school classmates for some examples.
Hey, Jeffr, friendly advice: When you post as ChuckyT, try not to use “Pox” to refer to ProfX… it gives you away.
Better yet, grow some balls and just say what you want to say as JeffR.
[/quote]
Uh, oh. A classic forum board identity challenge in the making. I’m getting the popcorn ready for this one.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Congnitive dissonance. Most succintly put when someone (I think Mel Brooks) said “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall in an open sewer and die.”
He’ll explain away the bad examples in his culture, but doesn’t feel the need to for their culture. Its ok for them to be bad, but not him.
Which isnt even to say that being white and living in a racist pro-white society makes someone racist, but its a concept most dont really consider. They assume that, if they do live in a pro-white racist society, they must be racist themselves. So, as a defense, they find ways to reason that they can’t live in such a society.
[/quote]
Eh, I missed this before. But I didn’t miss much. What a load of horse puckey. I’m going to skip the 5-cent insights from Lucy the Psychologist (except maybe ridiculousness of Lucy speaking about what “they” consider, as if he’s an impartial observer outside of society - that’s just too rich), and just note that his premises are fallacious.
I will, however, dispute your conclusion hidden as a premise: that this is a pro-white racist society. If anything, the law in our society for at least our generation has been pro-minority. And the cultural attitude is anti-racist - just about the only unforgivable social faux pas anymore is to express a racist sentiment. No doubt there are still individual racists. But the fact of the matter is that to the extent there are rules and cultural practices that overtly discriminate, they discriminate in favor of minorities.
So we’re left with the “institutional racism” argument - that there is this undercurrent of racism that can’t be measured or proved but that we should just accept as the cause for any claimed slight someone perceives - or any real slight he experiences. One needs to make two separate leaps of faith to accept that argument: 1) that the institutional racism is a viable force; and 2) that it is in fact the specific cause in the specific case (assuming there is an actual incident and not just a perception).
But pointing that out just means “they” can’t handle it. Horse puckey.
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Congnitive dissonance. Most succintly put when someone (I think Mel Brooks) said “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall in an open sewer and die.”
He’ll explain away the bad examples in his culture, but doesn’t feel the need to for their culture. Its ok for them to be bad, but not him.
Which isnt even to say that being white and living in a racist pro-white society makes someone racist, but its a concept most dont really consider. They assume that, if they do live in a pro-white racist society, they must be racist themselves. So, as a defense, they find ways to reason that they can’t live in such a society.
Eh, I missed this before. But I didn’t miss much. What a load of horse puckey. I’m going to skip the 5-cent insights from Lucy the Psychologist (except maybe ridiculousness of Lucy speaking about what “they” consider, as if he’s an impartial observer outside of society - that’s just too rich), and just note that his premises are fallacious.
I will, however, dispute your conclusion hidden as a premise: that this is a pro-white racist society. If anything, the law in our society for at least our generation has been pro-minority. And the cultural attitude is anti-racist - just about the only unforgivable social faux pas anymore is to express a racist sentiment. No doubt there are still individual racists. But the fact of the matter is that to the extent there are rules and cultural practices that overtly discriminate, they discriminate in favor of minorities.
So we’re left with the “institutional racism” argument - that there is this undercurrent of racism that can’t be measured or proved but that we should just accept as the cause for any claimed slight someone perceives - or any real slight he experiences. One needs to make two separate leaps of faith to accept that argument: 1) that the institutional racism is a viable force; and 2) that it is in fact the specific cause in the specific case (assuming there is an actual incident and not just a perception).
But pointing that out just means “they” can’t handle it. Horse puckey.[/quote]
I’m sorry, I don’t think I ordered the “typical white guy who doesn’t get it” response.
[quote]
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Congnitive dissonance. Most succintly put when someone (I think Mel Brooks) said “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall in an open sewer and die.”
He’ll explain away the bad examples in his culture, but doesn’t feel the need to for their culture. Its ok for them to be bad, but not him.
Which isnt even to say that being white and living in a racist pro-white society makes someone racist, but its a concept most dont really consider. They assume that, if they do live in a pro-white racist society, they must be racist themselves. So, as a defense, they find ways to reason that they can’t live in such a society.
BostonBarrister wrote:
Eh, I missed this before. But I didn’t miss much. What a load of horse puckey. I’m going to skip the 5-cent insights from Lucy the Psychologist (except maybe ridiculousness of Lucy speaking about what “they” consider, as if he’s an impartial observer outside of society - that’s just too rich), and just note that his premises are fallacious.
I will, however, dispute your conclusion hidden as a premise: that this is a pro-white racist society. If anything, the law in our society for at least our generation has been pro-minority. And the cultural attitude is anti-racist - just about the only unforgivable social faux pas anymore is to express a racist sentiment. No doubt there are still individual racists. But the fact of the matter is that to the extent there are rules and cultural practices that overtly discriminate, they discriminate in favor of minorities.
So we’re left with the “institutional racism” argument - that there is this undercurrent of racism that can’t be measured or proved but that we should just accept as the cause for any claimed slight someone perceives - or any real slight he experiences. One needs to make two separate leaps of faith to accept that argument: 1) that the institutional racism is a viable force; and 2) that it is in fact the specific cause in the specific case (assuming there is an actual incident and not just a perception).
But pointing that out just means “they” can’t handle it. Horse puckey.
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
I’m sorry, I don’t think I ordered the “typical white guy who doesn’t get it” response. [/quote]
That’s OK, I didn’t order the comically pseudointellectual and farcically morally superior response, but apparently the waitress brought yours anyway. I’m taking that into consideration w/r/t the tip…
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Congnitive dissonance. Most succintly put when someone (I think Mel Brooks) said “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall in an open sewer and die.”
He’ll explain away the bad examples in his culture, but doesn’t feel the need to for their culture. Its ok for them to be bad, but not him.
Which isnt even to say that being white and living in a racist pro-white society makes someone racist, but its a concept most dont really consider. They assume that, if they do live in a pro-white racist society, they must be racist themselves. So, as a defense, they find ways to reason that they can’t live in such a society.
BostonBarrister wrote:
Eh, I missed this before. But I didn’t miss much. What a load of horse puckey. I’m going to skip the 5-cent insights from Lucy the Psychologist (except maybe ridiculousness of Lucy speaking about what “they” consider, as if he’s an impartial observer outside of society - that’s just too rich), and just note that his premises are fallacious.
I will, however, dispute your conclusion hidden as a premise: that this is a pro-white racist society. If anything, the law in our society for at least our generation has been pro-minority. And the cultural attitude is anti-racist - just about the only unforgivable social faux pas anymore is to express a racist sentiment. No doubt there are still individual racists. But the fact of the matter is that to the extent there are rules and cultural practices that overtly discriminate, they discriminate in favor of minorities.
So we’re left with the “institutional racism” argument - that there is this undercurrent of racism that can’t be measured or proved but that we should just accept as the cause for any claimed slight someone perceives - or any real slight he experiences. One needs to make two separate leaps of faith to accept that argument: 1) that the institutional racism is a viable force; and 2) that it is in fact the specific cause in the specific case (assuming there is an actual incident and not just a perception).
But pointing that out just means “they” can’t handle it. Horse puckey.
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
I’m sorry, I don’t think I ordered the “typical white guy who doesn’t get it” response.
That’s OK, I didn’t order the comically pseudointellectual and farcically morally superior response, but apparently the waitress brought yours anyway.[/quote]
Whats that? I couldn’t hear you over over the irony of you, in this very thread, denying real examples of real racism from a real black person, only to assert that the racism in america can neither be “measured” nor “proved”.
Its ok, some day you’ll understand all this stuff. The first clue you may see is that very few, if any, minorities agree with your stance that there is no systemic racism in america. But I guess they’re all just lying because they want a free ride!
Shame people like you dont hear about what its like to be a white person in Asia, maybe getting that perspective would help you see things here more clearl-- no, wait, your ignorance even missed that boat.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Whats that? I couldn’t hear you over over the irony of you, in this very thread, denying real examples of real racism from a real black person, only to assert that the racism in america can neither be “measured” nor “proved”. [/quote]
Do you have a reading comprehension problem? I’ve been abundantly clear. I’m just wondering why you can’t distinguish between the acts of an individual and a claim about society? If there is a true disability I suppose I’ll have to refrain from making fun of you under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Or is English your second language? I don’t wish to be xenophobic, and your reading would actually be pretty good in that case.
Or on the other hand, has your education in logic been so entirely deficient that you think that “real examples of real racism from a real black person” prove some general conclusion about society? We really must do something about the quality of the schools in this country. Vouchers would help…
BTW, side note, I had to laugh at your phrase “a real black person.” Is there a large group of fake black people running around?
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Its ok, some day you’ll understand all this stuff. The first clue you may see is that very few, if any, minorities agree with your stance that there is no systemic racism in america. But I guess they’re all just lying because they want a free ride![/quote]
It’s easy to understand bad logic - the hard part is why you find it convincing. I’ll fall back on blaming bad schools.
Let’s see if you can figure out the ironically named logical fallacy to which you’re appealing as “proof” for your position. Note, the “ironically named” part is a clue.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Shame people like you dont hear about what its like to be a white person in Asia, maybe getting that perspective would help you see things here more clearl-- no, wait, your ignorance even missed that boat.
[/quote]
I can handle bad logic. I can handle ridiculousness. I can handle condescension. What’s hard to handle is the combination of all of them at once. It’s enough to drive a man to drink… though I think that even if I were drunk my logic would be better than the attempts at logic you’ve exhibited.
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Whats that? I couldn’t hear you over over the irony of you, in this very thread, denying real examples of real racism from a real black person, only to assert that the racism in america can neither be “measured” nor “proved”.
Do you have a reading comprehension problem? I’ve been abundantly clear. I’m just wondering why you can’t distinguish between the acts of an individual and a claim about society? [/quote]
Ah yes, the White Guy Who Doesnt Get It runaround: first, claim that racism in america is limited only to some individuals. Then, when presented with information showing that to be untrue, do everything you can to turn even the most general fact into an isolated “personal” incident. When minorities speak up about personal experiences, those cant be reflective of society, those are ONLY personal experiences.
When minorities talk about the general tone people take with them (either treating them to be dangerous or stupid), thats just them being oversensitive and seeing racism where there is none.
Most of the lowest paying jobs in this country are filled by minorities, but thats just because minorities just dont work hard enough or save smart enough.
Whites hold most positions of power/authority because minorities just dont stick with a job long enough.
When, in black neighborhoods, lower quality goods are sold for higher prices… thats just an individual example of those stores.
When studies show white sounding names to get more calls back for job interviews… those are only personal examples about the people making the calls.
When studies show white males to be more likely to get correct medical treatment (when presenting with the same symptoms), those are only individual examples about the nurses/doctors.
When young black children are shown a white doll and a black doll, and they say that the black doll is “bad” and the white doll is “good”… those are just individual examples of that childs racism, or perhaps bad parenting. Not a reflection of racism in society.
When its pointed out that ridiculous whistle blowers like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton are unofficially elected to speak for the entire black community, whereas no one would think any particular white person spoke for all whites in america… no. THERES NO RACISM DAMMIT.
When whites like you ask for examples of racism in our society with the sole intent of finding a way to explain them away as being ANYTHING but racial, or to explain how its just an individual case and does not reflect society as a whole… NO NO NO NO RACISM DAMMIT.
I suppose its easy to believe something isnt there when you’re so well versed at sticking your fingers in your ears and chanting “lalalalalalalal”.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Ah yes, the White Guy Who Doesnt Get It runaround: first, claim that racism in america is limited only to some individuals. Then, when presented with information showing that to be untrue, do everything you can to turn even the most general fact into an isolated “personal” incident. When minorities speak up about personal experiences, those cant be reflective of society, those are ONLY personal experiences.
When minorities talk about the general tone people take with them (either treating them to be dangerous or stupid), thats just them being oversensitive and seeing racism where there is none.
Most of the lowest paying jobs in this country are filled by minorities, but thats just because minorities just dont work hard enough or save smart enough.
Whites hold most positions of power/authority because minorities just dont stick with a job long enough.
When, in black neighborhoods, lower quality goods are sold for higher prices… thats just an individual example of those stores.
When studies show white sounding names to get more calls back for job interviews… those are only personal examples about the people making the calls.
When studies show white males to be more likely to get correct medical treatment (when presenting with the same symptoms), those are only individual examples about the nurses/doctors.
When young black children are shown a white doll and a black doll, and they say that the black doll is “bad” and the white doll is “good”… those are just individual examples of that childs racism, or perhaps bad parenting. Not a reflection of racism in society.
When its pointed out that ridiculous whistle blowers like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton are unofficially elected to speak for the entire black community, whereas no one would think any particular white person spoke for all whites in america… no. THERES NO RACISM DAMMIT.
When whites like you ask for examples of racism in our society with the sole intent of finding a way to explain them away as being ANYTHING but racial, or to explain how its just an individual case and does not reflect society as a whole… NO NO NO NO RACISM DAMMIT.
I suppose its easy to believe something isnt there when you’re so well versed at sticking your fingers in your ears and chanting “lalalalalalalal”.[/quote]
The worst part about all this is that I keep finding it necessary to go over the basics of logic with you, an assumed college graduate. What did you major in, soc?
We’ve (the forums, with input from me, not you and I, though some have been covered already on this particular thread) have had discussions in the past about most, if not all, of your examples, and I shan’t rehash them all here. But here’s your basic layout: X event/measurement, racism is one possible cause, thus racism is proved. It doesn’t quite work that way. I know I’ve explained this to you before, but I taught it in enough LSAT review classes that the marginal cost to me of explaining it again is about 0, so let’s review:
If you have the relationship A causes B, that does not mean that when you find B, you can assume it was caused by A unless A is the only possible cause.
So let’s put one of your examples that cropped up in this thread in that context: Racism could be a cause of a store charging high prices in minority neighorhoods (N.B., I didn’t say “higher” because we’re not necessarily assuming the same owner of different stores offering the same product in a minority neighborhood and in a white neighborhood, though we could do that and it wouldn’t change the example), i.e., the owner could decide he dislikes his customers because they are black and therefore he will charge them more money. However, because there are other possible (and, quite frankly, likely) causes, such as localized monopoly power, higher operational costs (because, guess what: the cost of food isn’t the only cost of operating a store) or different preferences for items from consumers based on the different neighborhoods (e.g., the cost of stocking an item that sits on the shelf longer is higher than the cost of stocking an item that moves quickly because of the opportunity cost involved - by choosing to stock a slower selling item, the store owner is foregoing the opportunity to stock a faster-selling item and making more money).
Thus when you have the effect, high prices in a store in a minority neighborhood, you don’t necessarily have your preferred cause, racism. Non sequiter - it does not follow.
Secondly, you really need to learn how to properly re-state someone’s position. The position isn’t “NO RACISM DAMMIT [sic]”. The position is, you can’t logically assume racism as a cause just because you think it’s the cause (or in your case, want it to be the cause for the purpose of moral preening), and you can’t logically assume constructive, underlying societal racism just because it’s hard to measure causation.
Subpoint, just for you: Society is a useful construct for making generalizations and shorthand for certain points, but society doesn’t do anything. Individuals do. Sometimes you can get a useful measure by seeing what large groups of individuals do - like an election or something of that nature. But even in those, comments about “society” need to be taken with a grain of salt because you’re aggregating across very different subgroups, such as rural Alabamians and residents of the Castro District in San Francisco, and people often take the exact same action for different and/or multiple reasons. Not to mention that “society” includes both its majority and minority members (to the extent that we still have a majority demographic - it won’t be too much longer before we’ll have pluralities). This is actually the exact same type of problem you’re complaining about above w/r/t Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, but with an individual spokesperson instead of the attribution to “society.” BTW, is it racism or laziness to pick two high-profile former presidential candidates in the Democratic party (which for the past several generations has received between 80 to more than 90% of the black vote), who received high percentages of the black votes in the primaries in which they ran? Or some other cause?
You also can’t construct an easy false position to argue against. I believe you know the name of that fallacy. No one is arguing racism doesn’t exist.
You should do some reading on statistical discrimination - it might do you some good. Start with this post, and its links: The Truth Hurts: What Harford Didn't Say About Statistical Discrimination - Econlib Note that the discrimination exists - note the cause isn’t racism.
The biggest issue I have with crap-tastic logic in which you’re engaging is its result. The law of unintended consequences holds large sway here. If you misidentify the cause of the actual problems that are observed, you are sentencing yourself to the fate of not being able to fix it. So, because you’re poorly educated and want to make an easy, fallacious conclusion and morally preen about how sensitive you are compared to all us racist white folks, young black kids are not getting the real causes of their issues identified and addressed. Congratulations.
It’s quite tiresome to argue with you when you’ve obviously been educated beyond your intellectual capacities - but I guess colleges need the tuition money, and I can’t begrudge the market. Though quite frankly it’s people such as yourself who are devaluing a college diploma as a signal to employers that they are getting someone intelligent who has actually learned something useful (thus the need for all graduate degrees to find good jobs of late).
In a hurry, I’ll get back to this later. But, Boston, real quick: when real example A could be racism, and example B could be racism, and example C could be racism, and example E could be racism, when you run out of three letter combinations to code the examples that could be racism, you start to see the something.
Just because, for any particular example, that something else could be the cause, doesnt change the whole picture.
As far as the store example goes, racism isnt just “the store owner doesnt like black people so he charges them more”. The store owner is taking advantage of the fact that most of the people in the area are poor and cannot afford to go elsewhere. Basically, he has them by the balls and can charge (just about) whatever he likes, so naturally he charges as much as he can.
But if you broaden the scope enough to ask the question of why he could do that in a black town and not a white one, its an example of systemic racism: he’s doing something else, benifiting himself, that contributes to black people being disadvantaged.
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
In a hurry, I’ll get back to this later. But, Boston, real quick: when real example A could be racism, and example B could be racism, and example C could be racism, and example E could be racism, when you run out of three letter combinations to code the examples that could be racism, you start to see the something.
Just because, for any particular example, that something else could be the cause, doesnt change the whole picture.
As far as the store example goes, racism isnt just “the store owner doesnt like black people so he charges them more”. The store owner is taking advantage of the fact that most of the people in the area are poor and cannot afford to go elsewhere. Basically, he has them by the balls and can charge (just about) whatever he likes, so naturally he charges as much as he can.
But if you broaden the scope enough to ask the question of why he could do that in a black town and not a white one, its an example of systemic racism: he’s doing something else, benifiting himself, that contributes to black people being disadvantaged.[/quote]
BS, if you shop in a small alpine village it is more expensive than in Vienna-
What is that, alpinism?
Someone opening a store in such an area is giving those people extra choices, instantaneously enriching them.
Where the store not there they could take the bus or starve.