March 1, 2007
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Racism
I was reading a post by http://www.xanga.com/bigman_91984 about racism. Here is his post:
“I have a question and I would like your opinion?
Does ignorance justify racism? Basically, the reason I’m asking is that my boss’s secretary will occasionally point out stereotypes and uses those to pigeonhole people. She is perfectly well-intentioned, but some of the things she say just sound racist. She is a bit older, so she would have been raised in a more segregationist time.
So, does ignorance justify racism?”I want to ask the question differently based on his post:
Does a person’s background and raising justify a certain amount of racism in their life?
Comments (99)
It doesn’t “justify” it, no.
Our pasts do influence our thoughts towards people. However, it does not justify being a racist. I am accountable for myself and my opinions, not how I was influenced as a child.
I think it can a little. For example, if you are a white child who lives in a predominantly white area and are constantly being told, “black people are stupid”, you would grow up believing that and not have any chance to learn differently.
Maybe a little
It explains it, but it doesnt really justify it. Even if she grew up in that enviornment, she should be working towards modernizing her thoughts for today’s more open enviornment.
justify? no.
make more understandable? yes.
nothing justifies racism.
and people can be educated.
they should be, by now, jeez.
top 10?
It doesn’t justify it, but it does help to explain it. Knowing why a person feels the way they do can help the rest of us to show them the truth in a way that they will identify with.
Sure! We generally are what we are raised as. As if that is the way we are raised than it’s going to come out. Doesn’t make it right, but it will definitely happen.
-Josh
Where/when you grow up, who you hang out with, and how you are raised will influence you a lot when it comes to racism. Just like most of these people said, it doesn’t justify it, but it does make it more understandable. She should work to be more open these days.
I’m sure we’re all influenced by our pasts, but ulitmately we’re all responsible for ourselves.
Hey thats me!!
I don’t think that it makes it better, but I think it makes it a little bit more forgivable. I.E–using the word nigger because that is what you heard grandpa call black people vs. using the word nigger because you want to use a demeaning word.
One thing that is important, is that once you realize that what you’ve been saying is wrong, you need to correct it, you can’t just keep going on with it
/smacks Anthawanth
explains, yes.
Justify?
NO.
Nothing justifies racism.
Define “justify”
Dude, I come from a Jewsih family, and I loathe my kind.
ChrissRusso is justified.
You can’t justify being racist. Your background and the way you were raised heavily influence you, but ultimately you are responsible for how you think and treat others. It might be somewhat more difficult for someone who grew up to be racist to not be racist, but that still doesn’t justify being racist.
Racism
Is ripe
With disbelief
In the ability
of sameness.
“They’re different definitely”
because they
look different
act different
seem different
But difference is okay.
No one’s the same.
Duh.
Nothing justifies racism.
However, someone’s background upbringing may explain it a little.
To judge by race is to hurry in haste
Get to know, and who knows what it will show.
If you always assume,
you will start to believe before it happens.
And when it happens once or twice that you’re “right”
(based soley on your already ill-conceived notions and double-standards)
You decide it must be.
Your mind is no longer free.
A slave to slaughter.
You lose out.
You must face differences on any given day.
You cannot chase it away.
It’s here to stay.
Our pasts do influence our thoughts towards people. However, it does not justify being a racist. I am accountable for myself and my opinions, not how I was influenced as a child.
Posted 3/1/2007 1:43 PM by IssyMae
It doesn’t justify it, but helps explain it.
i dont think so.
Justify is not the right word.
Our past cannot justify racism. It can explain to a degree why we have those opinions but it cannot justify it.
Ignorance of the law is not accepted as an excuse for breaking it and ignorance of racism isn’t an excuse either.
No. What a poor excuse for racism.
Education undoes racism.
explains, yes.
Justify?
NO.
Posted 3/1/2007 1:54 PM by PacifismPlease
I agree.
Ignorance neither excuses nor justifies something that is wrong. Ignorance will not justify a murderer or a molestor or a thief. It should not justify a racist either.
Does it justify? No. Racism was just as wrong when they were being brought up as it is now. To give different times different standards of morality is to succumb to subjectivism, making you unable to criticize anyone’s actions as immoral or unjust.
Does it make me understand slightly more why they could think the way they do? Absolutely. Does that make me less harsh in criticizing them? Maybe for the first three or four times, until any rational person would know not to say those kinds of things around me.
Did someone say, “Define ignorance”?
Racism is NEVER right in my opinion… No matter what justification you have.
No. Racism was bad then, and it is bad now.
Nothing justifies racism, but it does seem that racism can occur with the same family. Ignorance is inexcusable.
explain, yes. justify, no.
we will all always have limited experience of other people, and therefore of other cultures. open-mindedness and education only carry a person so far, and often we will generalize (in fact it is in our nature and arguably our best interest that we are able to) about people. as long as one is willing to admit that their knowledge in fact IS limited in those regards, and that what they say is subject both to interpretation and refutation, that is hardly racism.
B_A_M beat me to it. That’s exactly–not necessarily word for word–what I was going to say. No justification, but definitely explains.
Reflect? Yes. Justify? No.
I echo the many who say that it may explain it, but it doesn’t justify it. However, I urge forbearance towards those who are, to any degree, racist. Being angry at them will probably not change their minds.
racism is never justified no matter what
hmm. no
There is no justification for ignorance, and therefore no justification for racism.
Nothing justifies racism.
It doesn’t justify it, but explains why.
I’ve always felt that racism basically is ignorance. But I don’t know everything.
I’ve wondered the same thing about my grandma. She was raised in a time when it was acceptable to look down on non-white people, and she’s made comments in the past like (to my brother): “You can marry whoever you want as long as it’s not one of those black girls” or she’ll point out in public how fat someone is. The last one is not racist of course, but you get the idea. Does how she was raised justify her comments? As one poster said, no, but it explains them. I don’t think she’s deliberately racist or cruel, that’s just the way she grew up. Just to clarify, I’m not ok with it, but she’s in her late 80s; I really don’t think she’s going to change any time soon.
One’s raising doesn’t “justify” anything. It does influence our thoughts though. But one can grow out of it when they learn that how they were raised doesn’t have to affect anything.
um… I think that people are responsible for keeping up with the rest of the world. So even if they were raised differently n’ everything, as soon as they can see the people around them and what’s going on around them, they need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Explain, yes, justify, no. I’m actually writing a research paper on racial stereotypes right now… anyone who wants to come to my site and help me out with some examples or things I haven’t thought of, be my guest.
No it does not Justify it. It just validates why they are the way they are.
it would explain why somewhat. but no racism is justified.
granted, there are differences among races, but to judge whether one is better then the other is wrong
No. We all have biases to overcome.
I think it makes things a bit more understandable but it doesn’t justify it.
Like, my mom for instance, grew up in South Korea and didn’t move to the U.S. until she was like 23. So typically, she wasn’t raised around African Americans. Now, I’m not saying that my mom HATES African Americans, I’m just saying that my mom sometimes thinks they’re a bit … strange, as she likes to put it. Again, she doesn’t hate them so please don’t find any of what I said … offensive.
But as I said, it makes things more understandable but it doesn’t justify it.
Now if you just hate a particular race for no apparent reason, it’s not right. I think you need to be flooded.
it doesn’t justify it but it does tend to help you understand where its coming from.
I have a lot of opinions on this matter but first and formost, concerning your last entry:
What the hell do you mean “whether you agree with global warming or not”? You don’t “agree” with global warming. You either care that the earth will be a pile of shit in 50 years, or you don’t. There’s no “agreeing” with it involved. Please word things more carefully as to avoid coming off ignorant.
Comment regarding that AND this post:
Once an error has been pointed out, ignorance is no longer justified.
No, nothing justifies racism.
I wouldn’t exactly say justify, but as a private citizen, I let it go when my boyfriend’s grandma says slightly racist things. Basically, I don’t think she’s going to change, and I don’t think it matters too much in her case, so while I wouldn’t say it’s okay for her to feel that way, I’m not going to make a stink about it.
Then again, my parents are senior citizens- white, straight, and not very racist (well, everyone’s a little racist, but you know what I mean) at all.
Justify, no… explain, maybe. But only to a certain extent. If a little kid says something racist and his father is a huge bigot its understandable but at a certain point (grown women have passed that point, men too of course) we have to take resposibility for our own actions.
I’m sure we’re all influenced by our pasts, but ulitmately we’re all responsible for ourselves.
Posted 3/1/2007 1:51 PM by Anothermadhousewife
I agree with this
No, but it might help someone who is affected by it understand. Dealing with the imprints that society and our parents put on us can be very difficult.
In a word — “no.” Its still inexcusable.
As a black womyn, I think so…
It explains it.
I used to know an old man who’ld tell me stories about the ‘Ol’ Sun Down Town’ we both lived in at the time. Back in the 50′s or 60′s he had helped to hang a black man in a big oak tree by the river because he was there after dark. He told me once that ‘I was just raised racist. I don’t know why, but I just am. They ain’t never done anything to me. I just don’t like [African-Americans]. And I ain’t young and I ain’t gonna change my mind.’
Knee jerk PCism only pushes national consciousness poison down, but it festers.
I prefer people be openly as ignorant as they really are all the time.
I wont hire or promote them.
I love the musical sound of english spoken by someone who uses Asian language grammar. It is such a beautiful tapestry of words. One would never know from my blog posts…
I don’t think it justifies it….though I know those people who were raised in it have an extra hurdle to overcome. I have 2 friends from Mississippi, and they both make racist comments sometimes, and I know they don’t mean harm in their hearts, but I would NEVER say anything of that sort! So, I forgive them b/c they were just raised that way, but just b/c I forgive them doesn’t justify them for saying what they say sometimes.
No, that’s a cop out……
nothing justifies something based on injustice.
duh.
No. Because childhood and life with your parents is merely a starting point in life, and you can either decide to keep onto morals learned from childhood, or dispose of them.
If they choose to hold onto dissatisfying morals, such as racism and ignorance [if you can call those morals] then, technically, they are racists.
And racism, in the long run, is not hate but ignorance of others.
it doesn’t justify it, but it sure can cause it.
not that it justifies it. it’s wrong, but that they were raised in a different time where it was socially expected. so in a way….it excuses it? I’m not a racist…but I’ve seen elderly people say the word “negro” and not mean anything insulting by it. It’s the word that was used then.
It doesn’t justify it.
It explains it, but it doesn’t justify it.
I think a person’s background such as those coming from a segregationist society will EXPLAIN the use of slurs and stereotypes. However, enough time has passed that they will have learned these terms are no longer acceptable in polite company. It no longer EXCUSES their use.
nah, smack em bitches up what what
A little bit.
Since when are stereotypes racism?????? Last time I checked, they were just that: stereotypes. On the flip side, let’s remember that they’re generalizations for a reason, also.
Yes – It’s hard to change your opinions when you were brought up in that kind of environment. You can…….. but it’s hard.
No. You should be able to recognize the bad in people and try to be better than them and overcome it. You should also be able to think for yourself.
Absolutely not. With much over simplification you’re asking if a wrong can ever justify a wrong, which would be a weak moral stance to support.
How are people defining racism, out of curiosity?
no
Nope, we should own our own words.
’nuff said….
Hmm. As many have said before, it does not justify it, but it does a lot to explain it. We all have prejudices about different groups of people based on our backgrounds, how we were raised, our experiences and stereotypes in society. We need to be aware of our own prejudices before we start telling others how wrong their are in theirs.
We live in a society filled with knowledge so using ignorance as an excuse just doesn’t cut it anymore. We are all the same under our skin. We need to look past the outer and worry about what is inside
Nothing should justify racism.
It doesn’t justify it, it just explains it.
I think ignorance and culturalization EXPLAIN racism, but nothing justifies it.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, justifies racism.
justify, not neccessarily, but certainly influence it a great deal…
Absolutely not.
Is alcoholism justified because your father was?
Is it justified to stay in an abusive situation because your mother did?
Is stealing justified because someone has more than U?
How is it that we can justify “ignorance” when we all have the ability to choose?
How we act and think are indications of how we were raised. That does not justify making poor choices when we have been given free will…
Nothing justifies racism….but people who were brought up to have racist beliefs have a bit more experience, homework and stretching to do to get it out of their system. But no, racism is inexcuseable.
Unless she has been on another planet during my lifetime, there is no excuse.
It is hard to overcome what you have been with. I had certain phrases that I thought meant something else, turned out they were bad. I never knew. I do now and I cringe every time I hear them. I also have an older lady who had some events happen in her life in regards to WWII and she can’t get passed what happened. Things stick with people. Doesn’t make it right. We just have to continue educating – gently.
It might justify it a little, but it doesn’t justify the fact that they didn’t change it.
My grandparents are so rascist it isn’t funny. And my parents do the same thing, too, sometimes.
I do not.
My mom grew up with tons of racism, but she is not a racist, and neither am I, so I would say no, racism due to circumstance is something you are personally responsible for.
I always find it amazing that when anyone talks about”racism” they are refering to”white people” but racists come in all colors (other races seem to get a free pass though when it comes to expressing”hate” for another group of people).
Nothing justifies racism.
A bigot is more open with his feelings, while at times racism is hidden. Certain values that a person carries out has to be justified, rationalized or even excused in a court of law. To judge a person carrys a lot of weight, because it is a two way street. If I were to say a person is racist, then it would come back to me on why I judged that person racist and the same terms in which I judged that person has to apply to me, else I would be a hypocrite or lacking integrity on the things I say or judge.
The above post forgets that some of the whites have been accused of racism for lynching and very terrible acts in which is hard to be forgiven. But on the other hand it does not give blacks carte blanche to commit violence. Nonetheless people with lesser morality will not even try to meet the otherside halfway, which in my opinion often degenerates any useful discussions and progress that needs to be made.
well yeah it would explain why they’re racist, but it wouldn’t make it okay.