Should there be a difference between hate racism and ignorance racism?

[Taverner]

Say the difference between someone who "hates minority x" and someone who says something stupid out of a lack of knowlege, like "I just love Chinese girls."

Whaddya think?

[d_b]

1. what's wrong with Chinese girls?

[burythehatchet]

2. Especially if they make chinese food

:shrug:

[d_b]

12. qft

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

3. I think at some level, all racism stems from ignorance

[JuniperLea]

4. Agreed... eom

[NoQuarter]

5. Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner!

[LostinVA]

31. I don't -- I think it just gives sociopaths an "excuse"

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. Hate racism is just ignorance racism as practiced by assholes. n/t

[spookytooth]

7. The latter comment (Chinese lover) is merely preference, is it not?

If someone says they love blondes, is that somehow negative towards others of differing hair colors?

[Taverner]

9. Ah but Blondes are not a race

merely a characteristic

[Gwendolyn]

13. I don't get it either though. How is it racism if you are attracted to people different from you?

Light skinned people are frequently attracted to dark and the opposite is true as well. Lots of Caucasians are attracted to Asians and immerse themselves in the culture. How is that something to deplore?

[Taverner]

14. But that's based on characteristics

I have an attraction to the olive-to-reddish brown color of skin myself. That's just a trait.

Saying "Asian" means something loaded.

[Gwendolyn]

15. So it's just semantics?

If I'm a light-skinned blonde but am attracted to men who range from pirate swarthy to very dark skinned, as long as I don't say it aloud, it's okay?

I've always thought that people who have a preference for "types" were perhaps guilty of being shallow, or overly concerned with sexual attraction, but racist? Not so much.

[Taverner]

16. Well I mean come on - some people just like brown eyes

After all, when you talk to someone you're looking in their eyes, right?

Brown eyes are a requirement for me.

[Gwendolyn]

17. Well, I hope it's their eyes you're looking at.

:P

But that's what I mean. People are attracted to certain looks. If someone says they love Chinese girls, or Indian boys, or whatever, it's a sexual preference. Like preferring strawberries over blueberries is a matter of taste. I would think that those who are truly comfortable with other people, enjoy acknowledging who they are.

[Taverner]

18. Yes - but that's the distinction

Do you have your preferences based on race or characteristic?

[Gwendolyn]

19. Many characteristics are a part and parcel of one's race.

Some affinity is based on cultural preferences, which may be related to race, as well.

[Taverner]

23. But not always

I'm just saying its the frame of reference that can lead one to think one is racist...

[Gwendolyn]

26. And there's a point where refusing to acknowledge who a person is...

... is racism as well, because you're implying that person might feel shame or hurt if their race is mentioned. It implies that you're so conscious of it, that you'll go out of your way to avoid referencing race, even if the comment is complimentary, as in, "I love Chinese girls."

Spookytooth and uppityperson have nailed it I'd say.

[Taverner]

27. It's all context

Spookytooth and uppityperson are reinforcing that

[spookytooth]

20. Doesn't matter...Some men like a particular look, like Asian or Black (African)

Racism refers to how we view the worth of another culture, I thought.

[uppityperson]

24. Prefering a look over viewing the worth of a group. 1 is preference, 2 is racism.

I am agreeing with your post.

[Winterblues]

30. Are Japanese a different "race" than Chinese or how about Koreans

Or Mongols, or Indonesian.. Are they all different "races" and if so what "races" are they?

[caty]

8. Acknowledging a difference

in people because of their culture or race is not racism. We all have differences even between different regions of the U.S.A. Different yet equal is what is important. To me racism is when you think someone is less than you because of their race. Of course, this could go the other way also. Thinking that someone is better than you because of their race could also be considered racism. I hope there comes a day when we stop referring to ourselves as _____________Americans and just refer to ourselves as Americans.

[Athens30603]

10. Racism is...

A belief in the genetic superiority of one race over other races. I think a lot of the "racism" we see is not really racism but cultural prejudice. That can be similar to racism in its effects but, technically, it wouldn't be racism.

[murielm99]

11. Ignorance is no excuse.

My community is lily-white. Almost 98% of my county is Caucasian. I don't get the chance, on a daily basis, to be in contact with minorities and people from other cultures. That does not give me the right to be ignorant.

I have always tried to learn about and have some contact with the other cultures and races who share our country. I have sought that for my children, too.

Rather than making stupid remarks about Chinese girls or Arab men, I try to listen or to ask questions in a polite manner. The bottom line is recognizing the humanity of the other, even if we are still far from understanding or knowing them. I think anyone can do that, or be taught to do that.

[rucky]

21. In this day and age, there's no excuse.

People choose to be ignorant on this issue. It's not like the truth is elusive.

Do you know any smoker that is ignorant about its dangers?

[Stinky The Clown]

22. It seems to me you're overthinking things

Racism, it seems to me, has to have the element of hatred, at least, in it.

In fact, to call anything that makes any distinction based on race a matter of 'racism' devalues the word when it is used by more serious people.

For a person in a white sheet who means what he says to say "Hang the N*****r" is a VERY different matter than a driver using that word on another driver after one cuts off the other on the way home from work.

Yes, I can understand how free use of the word can also desensitize and cause one to lean toward wider and more hateful beliefs. But there is a line there someplace. One has to consciously cross that line before one is a racist.

To say that one "likes Chinese girls" is almost certainly a different thought pattern than that employed by the monsters who perpetrated this.

[hfojvt]

25. What are you trying to do?

Understand or educate someone, or just claim your moral superiority because you yourself are free of all hatred and all ignorance and are therefore perfectly justified in villifying the a$$holes and ignoramuses who foul the universe with their continued existence?

Presumably, ignorance can be educated away, whereas hatred cannot be, but if ignorance leads to a heinous action (vs. a merely stupid statement) then it's kinda hard to say "forgive them, they know not what they have done."

I am a combination of amused and disgusted when some people act like they can hurl verbal stones as if they are without their own imperfections, completely free of all ignorance and hatred except, of course, of their justified hatred of the intolerant.

[Terran]

28. I agree there is a distinction...

although not as you described it with your examples. Since moving to rural MO from California years ago I've run across a lot of people who aren't racist but still have some very backward ideas about race (example: thinking that the archaic term "Chinaman" is the way to refer to all Asians). Those people are very teachable.

But those are racist out of hate are fundamentally irrational. A few of them are teachable too, but you have to get down in the mud and wrestle for their souls.

[TexasObserver]

29. Yes, although there's nothing racist in saying "I love Chinese girls."

Personal preferences do not equal racism.

[LostinVA]

32. Yes, there's a huge difference

There's a huge difference between someone who, say, is against interracial marriage, and someone who drags a black man to death behind a pickup truck. I have some of the former in my extended family. I KNOW ignorance makes them the way they are -- often, willful ignorance. But, not one of them would deny employment to someone because of their race, let alone taking a life.

It's still wrong, but I feel there is a big difference.

[plaintiff]

33. I don't know but I love Chinese boys.

:D

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. I think your example is bad.

Racism is "the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

"I just love Chinese girls" does not by itself indicate racism. What you describe as "ignorance racism" is simply insensitive stereotyping.

Confusing the two diminishes the danger of real racism.