What does it mean to be a racist? If we laugh at a racist joke are we racists? What is the connection between racism and the act of discrimination?
When I look at what I feel makes a person a racist there are many different factors that go into the concept of someone being a racist. This goes beyond just looking at the way people react but instead it points to a set of beliefs that was conceived either by parents, elders, teachers, media or from their own experiences.
If you look into racism it would seem that it affects everyday life for all of people. Subconscious even at times it takes preconceived notions about others and projects them onto people that the person sees. This happens based on race only because of visual differences and the tendency of humans to judge just about everything by its appearance, Just how people try to understand animals by making judgments about them based on the group as a whole and not as an individual animal.
If someone laughs at a racist joke it does not mean that they are racist. A joke is…. Just that a joke and is never meant to be taken too seriously. Just because you may laugh at a joke with an overweight person doesn’t mean that you don’t like people that are overweight. At the same time there is another side such as when a joke is meant have an explicit malicious message that is meant to hurt I feel like that’s where the line should be drawn.
The connection between racism and discrimination is simply put. A person may use an opinion of a race or culture and use it against them in a negative manner. The person uses this reasoning as a reason to treat the group that is different to treat them differently from others. Racism is ammunition to discriminate against all races in our everyday lives.
All in all racism and discrimination seems omnipresent in our society to this day. Is it human nature to judge each other based on visual differences? Sadly it seems there is no fast track to eradication of racism from our lives.
I agree with you that racism is composed of many different factors including ideas instilled into a person’s mind. It’s sad that certain families are in a long line of racism because that’s what their parents have taught them. The comparison with animals is good because most people think the pit bulls are horrible dogs because of the stereotyping of them, but really it’s just the way that they are raised. Your last paragraph is very well said too!
ReplyDelete(I agree with Staci's comment too!) In addition, I also agreed with your comments about how there is two types of joking, one that is malicious and one that is not really so. I think your beginning paragraph and the one about the connection between discrimination and racism could have been a little more clear but all in all great post; I especially liked the last paragraph!
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