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Author
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Topic: Ok let's try this again
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silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted September 08, 2004 11:11 PM
 
 Are there any "racists" that would like to share? I will tell you why I am asking. I wanted to know if the people here have any feelings or thoughts on their own rascism (if any). And even if anyone would admit to it. I ask here because I have respect for this sight and I am curious to see what the people who would come to this sight would have to say about it. I also think that it is a good question for a place like this because I think that anyone can be a rascist and I think that people here would be more honest for their reasons if any. When I say "rascism", I mean any negative thoughts about other races and I really don't expect specifics, you could talk in the third person or talk about views that you held in the past and how you changed them or how you are working to change them and why.Obviously this thread would require a lot of tolerance and understanding and as little judgementality (is that a word?) as possible. ------------------
Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
Suzume
Knowflake Posts: 199
From: Australia
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted September 09, 2004 12:20 AM
Hey,I personally dont descriminate on race. I dont like to think that we are difefrent because of that sort of thing. But one thing does bother me, and I dont think it's because I'm racist. When I went to highschool they would split up white from black. I just hated how aboriginal people could get away with basically anything at skool, and when they did somethig wrong and were about to get in trouble for it they just would bring up thier race. I dont know if I'm wording this correctly, but it seems to me as aboriginals get more. Aparently our government isn't racist. If that is true then why arn't white and black people getting exactly the same treatment. If you ask me people are more racist then it seems. Please dont hurt me for my views.  IP: Logged |
aqua
Knowflake Posts: 2805
From: dreamland
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted September 09, 2004 06:52 AM
i never do discrimination for whatever is considered.IP: Logged |
Suzume
Knowflake Posts: 199
From: Australia
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted September 09, 2004 08:35 AM
Okay, I still dont know if my meaning is clear. In my argument I'm not saying I hate black people. Far from it. I'm trying to say that by us treating them special or nicer because they are black, it's exactly the same as treating them worse because they are black. Isn't it still discrimination if we are nicer to black people then people or our own race? Even if it is out of fear of being called "racist???" ? IP: Logged |
silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted September 09, 2004 09:44 PM
Hi Suzume,
Do you think that the "unfair" treatment makes you feel resentment? I don't know, I heard that Australia was really racist toward aborigenes. Maybe things are about to balance out though cause when the scales are tipped in one direction for a while and then all a sudden, a balance is attempted the scales dip and sway alot before things are completely equal you know? (my libra analogy for the day) What I just said is all well and good philosophically and detatchedly but that situation is kind of crapy man, I think that it's could inspire more hatred, where there was little to none at all.
Anyway, does it make you feel hateful (even if you don't directly hate the race?Another reason why I wanted to know what the knowflakes thought about this is because I spent/am spending a while being "racist". Which is weird for me because I date the different races (including and especially the race that I have a problem with) and I have friends of different races and I was wondering why all of a sudden had I developed a disgust for that particular race. ------------------
Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
Suzume
Knowflake Posts: 199
From: Australia
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted September 09, 2004 09:52 PM
No I dont feel resentment at all. And I definetly wouldn't call australia a racist country, Specially since we are known as the big pot.Thatmeans that allow and accept alot of different nations into our country. I think because of how we treated aboriginals way back, we feel guilty for it, so are trying to make things better for them. In school I know that you never talked back to an aboriginal kid. That was because if you did you would have the whole mod onto you and you were in trouble. I was the exception to that case, and for some reason was never in a fight with them? I think white people are trying to make up for how our ancestors treated them, and they are cleary milking it for what it's worth. I dont think it's a disgust for a race, I think it's an un-happiness for how we view each other. Why cant we all be the same? It would make everyone else alot happier. IP: Logged |
silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted September 09, 2004 10:03 PM
Hey,
I was thinking about the overcompensation too (with what you were saying).
About the disgust though, in my case I was thinking that perhaps it was because I had a lot of bad experiences with guys of that race and I felt rejected so I rejected back. My very first boyfriend was of that race and I loved him to death and beyond and I couldn't hate anything that was a part of him so I knew that there was more to that "racism" than met the eye.
YOu are probably right about the disgust cause I grew up in a very mixed neighborhood and all of a sudden, the people that I grew up with didn't like me the same way anymore like they were to good for me or something. And you just know that it is parental and societal [the above two just synonyms for ADULTS (for the most part)]
I feel bad about it thought, obviously,(my feeling and their alleged feelings).  ------------------
Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
Everlong
Knowflake Posts: 931
From: Southeast Florida
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted September 09, 2004 10:44 PM
It's sort of like Suzume is trying to say. Don't treat anyone special just because of their skin color, it's built on the same priniciple as bigotry. We're all made of the same blood and bones, so stop thinking so carefully about how to treat someone- just be, and let them be, and if you find something that makes you think you could be their buddy, then be their buddy. But don't tip-toe and be so overtly nicey-nice because you're afraid that someone will *shockgasp* think something bad about you. Just be who you are.This is why I also don't agree with affirmative action. ------------------
"Out of your depth or not, it's up to you whether you sink or swim." IP: Logged |
Suzume
Knowflake Posts: 199
From: Australia
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted September 09, 2004 10:54 PM
oh...It's kind of a good thing you could pt my thoughts into words...It also kind of sucks you did it so effeciently. lol thanks IP: Logged |
Everlong
Knowflake Posts: 931
From: Southeast Florida
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted September 09, 2004 11:31 PM
LOL, trust me, I usually have a hard time trying to articulate my views too X).IP: Logged |
Charlotte
Knowflake Posts: 1239
From: USA
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted September 10, 2004 03:06 AM
I really don't buy into the whole race idea...We are the "Human Race". Cultures differ around the world, but people are people. Dark skin or light...blond hair, brown hair, red hair, black hair. Who cares, I love the mixture... We are all spirit anyway! Race is an illusion, as is reality as we think we know it!IP: Logged |
silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted September 10, 2004 08:41 PM
Yes, anthropologically (and some anthropologists don't agree I think)that about 98% of humans of all "races" are the same or something like that, (obviously that is an over-simplification).I read in Star Signs where Linda was talking about the different types of Karma including racial karma but she didn't expound on that too much, if at all. Does anyone have any thoughts/ideas about that whole thing: perhaps, how racial karma is started?
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Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
LittleLadyLeo
Knowflake Posts: 183
From: New Franklin, MO, USA
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted September 12, 2004 03:24 AM
I know this is going to tick a few people off, but please give me a chance here.We're all racist. For that one millisecond after someone comes into our sightline, whether we realize we do it or not, we see the color of skin, how somoene is dressed, how they walk, whatever, and we automatically build a preconceived notion as to what that person is like. Okay, maybe that's not truly racism but bigotry, but whatever you want to call it, we do it. That's human emotion for you. A variance on the fight or flight mode. When we see someone who is different from ourselves we automatically react with something akin to fear. It is human nature to fear that which you do not know, and that which is different from you you do not know. Now the cognisant parts of our brains kick in quite quickly to look past the color of skin, it's just a matter of how you process it. If you have had bad experiences with people of one race in the past those memories are attached to that skin color and will present themselves when you meet someone of the same race. The same applies if you have had good experiences with people of a certain race. Again, it's all a matter of how you process it. Blessings to all  LLL I have to agree with Everlong about affirmative action. It never made sense to me why people who wanted to be seen as equals would support a program that made them special. IP: Logged |
Suzume
Knowflake Posts: 199
From: Australia
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted September 12, 2004 03:50 AM
Rasicm has absolutly nothing to do with the fight or flight notion. trust me, I know all about it, and it has absolutly nothing to do with it.The flight or fight mode is brought on through an adrenaline rush. Thius rush ius ussually brought on by fear. Although you can claim to sub-consiously fear someone on thier skin, I think that is false. A) ussually people who have a problem with the colour of skin is due to experience, NOT mis-understanding. B) a good example of this is to put kids (5-6) in a room together, they will so happily play together. They dont get racist or pre-judgemental. This is most likley because of lack of experience due to age. Unlike us children have no experience. We get smarter through experience, build from experience, change because of experience, and I personally believe people can become racist due to experience. "We are a product of our experiences." IP: Logged |
Everlong
Knowflake Posts: 931
From: Southeast Florida
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted September 12, 2004 02:28 PM
So, on one hand we have LittleLadyLeo who believes in the nature theory and Suzume that believes in the nurture theory. Hmmm =). (Yes, I am taking Psychology, shh!)------------------
"Out of your depth or not, it's up to you whether you sink or swim." IP: Logged |
silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted September 15, 2004 08:14 PM
Yes I have to say that running from "the different" has little if anything at all to do with human nature, in my opinion. Even with animals and reptiles you put them in front of a child and they would be fascinated unless their parents are scared of the creatures (that's what I've noticed). Human nature is always a hard subject to approach I think. There are always things to qualify and to consider.
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Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
pixelpixie
Knowflake Posts: 5301
From: Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted September 15, 2004 08:33 PM
I like to avoid these things. I know they are a discussion, but I find they breed emotions, simply by their arousing nature... it is a mixture of everything, I believe.
I was raised NOT to see skin colour, but to see people. HOWEVER... culturally, I do see differences. As men and women are different, yet equal. As people raised in different climates wear a parka to school, and they'd stick right out in the Bahamas. Of course we see differences in people. it is biological. We smell different things with different people, we each are a unique snowflake, each with unique viewpoints.
I think bigotry is prevalent in society because of ignorance, but not only ignorance, a sense that people are wrapped up in their own lives.. who really cares about the world at large. About different cultures, a melting pot of skin tones and ethnicities. Dominant and miniscule.
A point was made to me recently. I will make it here. I see it. I feel it.
Recently, horrendous things happened at a school. I am not politically inclined, but I am a feling human being. When I saw it portrayed in the Media, I was sickened not only for the loss of lives, as usual.. ( so jaded, in this world) but at the type of lives lost, the uncaring, the lack of feeling. There was a picture of a child's bloodied hand, curled around a crucifix, the headline stating simply
"MONSTERS"
This was poignant. It played upon fears as a loving human being and a woman with children of her own.
The article went into the horrors of humans, young and old, being terrorized, no food or water, stagnant conditions, watching people around them succumb and be brutalized or killed. I wept. I wept.
I started speaking about this situation I knew nothing truly about.. immediately quoting the headline, as it tugged at my heart.
A very wise and gentle soul who used to be a pharmacist where I work, and now is offering services in another ravaged area of the world, giving aid ( all just as of last week) said...
"You have to wonder what these people went through and are going through to feel forced to go to these lengths. These people have children, mothers, lives..... they feel. They wouldn't go to these lengths unless there was a level of desperation."
You know, for all the compassion I apparently feel, that I would weep for strangers, I feel for people, I understand........ I was so quick to not even consider that viewpoint. I was so quick to label these people Monsters. Like I had read. Now, I am most certainly not disputing that those horrendous acts committed were in any way justifiable or commendable.. but these are all people, incensed to action ( wrong action, very wrong action) in the name of freedom of one type or the other.. and the opposition they all face, and the acts they commit in the name of it all.
My eyes were quite opened to the immediate 'safe labels' we put on everything in the name of comfort. Things are SO not black and white.
So how could I see colour as good or bad when I know it is not colour, it is people and their faults, that label different as wrong.
Or do wrong things to different people.*rant over*
IP: Logged |
Sun_Scorpion
Knowflake Posts: 1768
From: UK
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted September 15, 2004 08:47 PM
Id like to add a little to what PixelPixie insightfully said, that was really interesting by the way- and the Media seem to print things very black and white, but life insn't like that at all, we all need our eyes opened, to be compassionate.
Its easy to consider people who have done bad things monsters, but its more important to see beyond peoples actions, to look for a cause rather than just writing them off.
I think we would all be alot better off being less judgemental and close minded.
(Sincerly hope I didnt sound self rightous or anything btw!)
Good topicIP: Logged |
LibraSparkle
Knowflake Posts: 6034
From: Vancouver USA
Registered: May 2004
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posted September 15, 2004 08:51 PM
I believe racist views are something that are passed on through parenting.My children notice people of different persuasions, but it would not occur to them that person is any diffent than they are aside from skin color. Having grown up in the LA area, which is very racially diverse, I've never really been able to fathom racism. There are people in my family that are extremely racist, and I will have nothing to do with them. I can't have those view points passed onto my children. *edit*
Just wanted to add, when I was 14 we moved to Washington. One of my first thoughts when I started school up here was, "Where the hell did all these white people come from?!" LOLOL IP: Logged |
Everlong
Knowflake Posts: 931
From: Southeast Florida
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted September 15, 2004 09:08 PM
I don't think it's exactly fair to say that it's all in the parenting of the child. I think it has a lot to do with television, media, school, etc as well.IP: Logged |
LibraSparkle
Knowflake Posts: 6034
From: Vancouver USA
Registered: May 2004
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posted September 15, 2004 10:19 PM
If you are a decent parent, you know what your kid is getting from the media (hopefully not much)... Same goes for TV.If you have open communication with your kids, you know what's going on at school. If they say anything that sparks your attention, you need to jump on it with damage control. All of the things you listed could really be effected by good parenting. IP: Logged |
Irish Eyes
Knowflake Posts: 461
From: PA,USA
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted September 15, 2004 11:20 PM
I was raised in the Bible Belt, born into a southren family and went to prodominety white schools.I was never taught racism in my home. I was taught that people are people and that a person may be born into another culture which may seem strange to me but they too put their pants on one leg at a time. In fact I have friends of all major religions and of verying skin tones and hair textures. I do not consider myself racisist. This having been said I would like to say that since moving to the Northeast I have encountered racisims directed towards me and my children. We are of European and Native American decent. The people that are shouting nasty venom towards us are from Perto Rico. This came as a supprise to me! I have friends here that are Perto Rician and because of their association with me and other "whites" they too are targets of these hateful people. Believe me it is wide spread here. I find all of this heartbreaking. It is heard to understand why these people "have it in" for me when we have never met. I will leave the Northeast with a new understanding for what racisim is about. -Irish IP: Logged |
Suzume
Knowflake Posts: 199
From: Australia
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted September 15, 2004 11:22 PM
I was trying to say, that racism is due to experience. Not up bringing...The parents are an experience, just as everone else is, and everthing else. Children could have bad experiences in school with aboriginals. Bad bringing up. All sorts of factors. Had to make this short, i'm in class. I just believe this, "We are a product of our experiences." IP: Logged |
silverbells
Knowflake Posts: 1506
From: The second star to the right (which shines in the night for'eer)
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted September 19, 2004 03:04 AM
I agree with you so much pixelpixie, I think that a lack of understanding has a lot to do with most ethnocentric views. Cause if one would say to themself :"What would I do in that situation...honestly?", most of these types of problems would be diminished. I mean you would still have to deal with your own emotions but if your mind is on board then understanding will follow and then other things will follow.Irish Eyes -  What understanding about rascism will you leave the NE with? ------------------
Get some love in your groove, just get hip to forgive... - Michael Franks IP: Logged |
Irish Eyes
Knowflake Posts: 461
From: PA,USA
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted September 19, 2004 09:14 AM
Silverbells-I will leave the Northeast with the understanding that it is not racisim but prejudice that people suffer from. And that ingorance is a learned behavior. I will hope and pray that the experiences that my children have had here will not make them "racist" when they grow up. I will never understand why these people refuse to speak English, it puts a bigger wedge between them and non-spanish speaking people. Above all, the situation makes me sad and wishing that I could leave here sooner to save my children before they begin to feel ashamed of their skin color. -Irish IP: Logged |
Lindaland
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