MAGA brats mock Native American with "build the wall" chants

[Mycroft]

No, and you're not the only one who's wrong about this. Words mean things, and the expansion of this particular one into near-meaninglessness is counter-productive.



It really isn't.

How indirect does the effect need to be for the cause to stop being racist? If I buy an appartment building and demolish it to build a train station, and as a result down the line fewer locals can find places to live, and they happen to be black, was my purchase racist? If not, what's the cut-off?

That's why the actual definition is useful and clear: if you generall think another 'race' is inferior or worthy of contemp or violence, then you're a racist. Racism is not the same as bias, and it's not the same as negative effects on specific groups.

Your argument boils down to, "It's not complex because if you use any criteria other than the one I want, it becomes too complex. Therefore we have to use the criteria I like."

 

[Craig4]

Did you vote for Hillary? If so that makes you a lying bitch with a big ass.

At least I'm still a patriotic, loyal American, unlike some dirty Trump supporter.

 

[mgidm86]

At least I'm still a patriotic, loyal American, unlike some dirty Trump supporter.

I'm sure you think you are as do the conservatives who voted for Trump. I personally see no connection between Hillary and patriotism. Besides, I was always told by liberals here that patriotism is bad.

I'm calling voting for Trump racist regardless of the motivation. Even if I'm being unfair (which I'm not) why do you care? They're just Trump supporters.

And that makes about as much sense as my "fat ass" comment. Nobody should care what you or I think, this is a skeptics site.

 

[Craig4]

Oh, I thought you realized that this is the politics section.

 

[Roboramma]

Not necessarily. Something can be racist if its effect is to promote racism. Motivation doesn't need to enter into it.

I think it makes much more sense to say that things that are racist are racist and things that promote racism... promote racism.

For example, when my sister announced her engagement to someone who wasn't white, my grandmother opposed the marriage and cried for days over it. She wasn't motivated by hatred of non-white people, her concern was for how people would treat my sister and her children. The effect is still racist even though her motivation wasn't.

That's not racism. It may be that she should be more concerned with defeating the problem of racism than with the potential effects on the wellbeing of her child (that you say she was worried about), but even that's not straightforward to me.

[quote[In this case if someone acknowledges Trump's racism but votes for him because he's going to stack a Supreme Court to overturn Roe V Wade (or whatever reason) they're essentially their issue, whatever it may be, is more important to them than racism.[/QUOTE]

Yes. But that doesn't make them racist. I think racism is a very important concern. But if, for instance, we had two candidates, one who was as racist as Trump and another who wanted to start a nuclear war, I'd vote for the racist, because avoiding nuclear war is more important to me than preventing racism.

You might claim that those who care more about their issue than about racism are selfish, but racism is a different thing.

It's possible that they'd be less selfish if the people who stood to be harmed weren't people of colour, but were instead white, in which case I'd say that is racism, given that they'd be attributing more worth the people of one race than another based only on that quality (if someone values their friends or family members more than strangers, that's not racism).

 

[Baylor]

Yes. But that doesn't make them racist. I think racism is a very important concern. But if, for instance, we had two candidates, one who was as racist as Trump and another who wanted to start a nuclear war, I'd vote for the racist, because avoiding nuclear war is more important to me than preventing racism.

Not everyone agrees with you. There are people in the world who think racism is worse than nuclear annihilation. If you think I'm joking you can listen for yourself.

 

[Stacyhs]

Originally Posted by mgidm86
Did you vote for Hillary? If so that makes you a lying bitch with a big ass.

Voting for Trump doesn't make you an adulterous, pathological lying narcissist with a bad comb over and a fake tan. It just makes you gullible and none too bright.

 

[TofuFighter]

... Besides, I was always told by liberals here that patriotism is bad.

Can you direct me to those posts, please?

 

[Belz...]

Your argument boils down to, "It's not complex because if you use any criteria other than the one I want, it becomes too complex. Therefore we have to use the criteria I like."

How about you address the argument as I've made it, rather than some fantasy version you've made up?

The word 'racism' is not about consequences, or unconscious bias, but about how one views other ethnic groups.

This has nothing to do with complexity. It's about your use of the word being wrong.

 

[Armitage72]

Can you direct me to those posts, please?

It wasn't here, but I've seen people elsewhere who view patriotism and jingoism as indistinguishable and inseparable. I don't agree with them, but the opinion is out there.
But as you said, the post said "here".

 

[Roboramma]

How about you address the argument as I've made it, rather than some fantasy version you've made up?

The word 'racism' is not about consequences, or unconscious bias, but about how one views other ethnic groups.

This has nothing to do with complexity. It's about your use of the word being wrong.

I agree. I'd also like to add (I think you'll agree), that the complexities of the issue are certainly relevant and meaningful, but folding them into the word "racism" actually makes the complexities less rather than more clear.

 

[Belz...]

I agree. I'd also like to add (I think you'll agree), that the complexities of the issue are certainly relevant and meaningful, but folding them into the word "racism" actually makes the complexities less rather than more clear.

Precisely.

 

[Mumbles]

Hey, you do you.

If there's Trump supporters who personally aren't racist, at the very least they feel supporting unabashed racism is an acceptable price for getting whatever it is they do want out of him; so honestly "racist, not-racist" becomes more like splitting hairs at this juncture.

I can no longer accept as credible or even reasonable the hypothesis that some Trump supporters are genuinely unaware that he champions racist policies and openly courts the approval of white supremacists.

Ready for a shock?

...

I can totally buy the idea that there are some people that simply don't, or can't, accept the obvious fact that Dolt 45 is plainly a white supremacist.

The reasoning is actually simple. "Well, I know that being a racist is the worst thing you can be. Trump thinks what I think. And if Trump's a white supremacist, then so am I, and that makes me a racist, the worst thing a person can be. But that's crazy! I'm not evil, so I'm not racist, so neither is Trump!"

Simple. Deeply fallacious at every step, but simple.

A large part of this, again, comes down to the fact that many white people simply can't recognize racism, because they aren't taught what it is. They and their families simply don't need to know, so they never really learned anything beyond burning crosses, fire hoses, and "Segregation forever!". White conservatives and reactionaries, in particular, tend to sneer at "Identity Politics" (even as they wallow in it) or "Ethnic Studies", so they're shocked when black people are perfectly fine with Obama having a different accent in front of a black audience than in front of Congress (I've been accused of inventing the term "code-switching" multiple times!). They try to shoehorn other people's theory into their misguided concepts, which is how they get gibberish like the "intersectional pyramid", which has nothing to do with the actual theory of intersectionality.

 

[Mumbles]

I agree. I'd also like to add (I think you'll agree), that the complexities of the issue are certainly relevant and meaningful, but folding them into the word "racism" actually makes the complexities less rather than more clear.

I'm going to go right ahead and disagree. "subconscious bias" is leagues from "white nationalist", but the idea that the former is not a form of racism is false. Yes, the person with such a bias does, in the end, believe that one "race" is somehow superior to the other, and they will act on it, in ways that are generally more damaging than an idiot like Richard Spencer, precisely because the person does not recognize their own underlying beliefs.

 

[Darat]

I'm sure you think you are as do the conservatives who voted for Trump. I personally see no connection between Hillary and patriotism. Besides, I was always told by liberals here that patriotism is bad.









And that makes about as much sense as my "fat ass" comment. Nobody should care what you or I think, this is a skeptics site.

Could you provide evidence for your claim "Besides, I was always told by liberals here that patriotism is bad. "?

 

[Craig4]

If you vote for someone who is a vegetarian, that makes you a vegetarian as well!



Of course you can, since your taxes HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE.

That may be the most naive thing I've ever read. Grow up.

 

[Cabbage]

Nobody should care what you or I think, this is a skeptics site.

Skeptics should absolutely care what others think, at least when a significant portion of them get conned by the right wing propaganda machine or similar nonsense. That level of gullibility is dangerous for a nation and must be addressed in some fashion.

 

[mgidm86]

Could you provide evidence for your claim "Besides, I was always told by liberals here that patriotism is bad. "?

I have time for two examples.

One...

Patriotism in the US is 99% stupid:instead of actually doing something for your country, you attack whoever you think doesn't praise it enough.
And Bonespurs is the archetype of this phenomenon.

Two...not so bad...

Here's some color photos from Nazi Germany. Note the prominent display of flags everywhere.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/color-photos-from-nazi-germany/

As a liberal, I don't "sneer" at excessive patriotism, it just scares me. I fully expect one of these days for there to be a military parade, with il Duce- er, Trump- looking on, stuffed in a bemedaled military uniform.

I do, however, sneer at his idiot supporters, which is about 40% of the country these days.

If you require more let me know, these are both from the same thread. I'm really not inclined to look any harder because this will fall on deaf ears anyways and it really isn't that important to me.

But there ya go - evidence..

 

[xjx388]

Ready for a shock?



...



I can totally buy the idea that there are some people that simply don't, or can't, accept the obvious fact that Dolt 45 is plainly a white supremacist.



The reasoning is actually simple. "Well, I know that being a racist is the worst thing you can be. Trump thinks what I think. And if Trump's a white supremacist, then so am I, and that makes me a racist, the worst thing a person can be. But that's crazy! I'm not evil, so I'm not racist, so neither is Trump!"



Simple. Deeply fallacious at every step, but simple.

Yes, what you just said is deeply fallacious.

I don’t think Trump is a white supremacist. My reasoning does not fall anywhere near along the lines you’ve laughably outlined above. Trump is a 73 year old product of the culture and the time period he was raised in. You can say he’s racist and I won’t argue with you. But to say he’s a white supremacist is to say that he’s espoused a certain world-view that there’s no evidence that he actually has.

A large part of this, again, comes down to the fact that many white people simply can't recognize racism, because they aren't taught what it is. They and their families simply don't need to know, so they never really learned anything beyond burning crosses, fire hoses, and "Segregation forever!".

I’m sure this is true but not universally. I see no need to tar all white people with the same brush.

 

[Craig4]

No, nothing racist about a vote for Trump.