Is racism morally wrong?

[Ivor the Engineer]

I know what you mean - I have Welsh relatives!

I'm sorry.

 

[Darat]

If your mother was white and father black, what do you do?

Assuming neither of them were Welsh, save my father, statistically he will earn more in his lifetime and die earlier than my mother so I stand to inherit more and sooner (especially if I saved his life).

 

[Marquis de Carabas]

If I saw a Swede and an Arab drowning, and could only save one, I would work out the moral implications of each choice carefully, noting not only their race, but sex and any other piece of information I could gather about them. Fully assured of making a firm moral choice, I would look up to find they both drowned while I dallied.

Then, I take their wallets.

 

[AvalonXQ]

If one of them was a child or a woman would that change who you would save?

If we're talking about what I personally would do, I doubt race would make a difference. And, yes, I would save a child first, then a woman, and a man last.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Swim over and ask them where they come from before you decide who to save.

Reach
Throw
Row
Go

 

[AvalonXQ]

Assuming neither of them were Welsh, save my father, statistically he will earn more in his lifetime and die earlier than my mother so I stand to inherit more and sooner (especially if I saved his life).

I find your reason faulty. If you save either of them, the other will probably blame you for not letting them drown and saving the other, and you'll inherit nothing.
Instead, act like you saw nothing, move on, and collect sooner from both.

 

[Darat]

Assuming neither of them were Welsh, save my father, statistically he will earn more in his lifetime and die earlier than my mother so I stand to inherit more and sooner (especially if I saved his life).

Actually I think I'm taking too much of a simplistic approach to this moral quandary.

My father is likely to have much better life insurance than my mother, probably multiple policies as well as one from his job, as well as a better pension therefore my mother is likely to inherit a considerable amount, tax free, when he dies. So thinking this through, and given the current tax situation I think it would be more tax efficient for me to inherit from my mother now, rather than wait for whatever my father hasn't squandered over the rest of his life. With that in mind I would wait until they had both drowned, then jump in and drag my mother's dead body out of the water so I can claim that she died after my father.

 

[Megalodon]

If your mother was white and father black, what do you do?

I'm terribly sorry, but I can't parse this sentence, specially as a reply to the post you quoted, or in light of my previous contributions to this thread.

 

[Darat]

I find your reason faulty. If you save either of them, the other will probably blame you for not letting them drown and saving the other, and you'll inherit nothing.
Instead, act like you saw nothing, move on, and collect sooner from both.

My parents are divorced.....

 

[AvalonXQ]

Actually I think I'm taking too much of a simplistic approach to this moral quandary.

My father is likely to have much better life insurance than my mother, probably multiple policies as well as one from his job, as well as a better pension therefore my mother is likely to inherit a considerable amount, tax free, when he dies. So thinking this through, and given the current tax situation I think it would be more tax efficient for me to inherit from my mother now, rather than wait for whatever my father hasn't squandered over the rest of his life. With that in mind I would wait until they had both drowned, then jump in and drag my mother's dead body out of the water so I can claim that she died after my father.

Many jurisdictions now have a rule that if two people die within so many days of each other (usually 48 or 120 hours), the deaths are considered simultaneous, and each is considered to have died first when determining who inherits from the other.

 

[AvalonXQ]

My parents are divorced.....

Your hypothetical heteroracial parents are divorced? Man, you have a depressing imagination.

 

[Darat]

Your hypothetical heteroracial parents are divorced? Man, you have a depressing imagination.

Not only that they had both had gender re-assignment before getting married...

 

[Darat]

Many jurisdictions now have a rule that if two people die within so many days of each other (usually 48 or 120 hours), the deaths are considered simultaneous, and each is considered to have died first when determining who inherits from the other.

Bloody hell these moral dilemmas really are tricky!

 

[KingMerv00]

Perhaps, but at least not in this thought experiment.

I just wanted to point it out because it shows you confuse genetics with culture.

Please explain how you came to that conclusion.

It is immoral to treat people differently based on factors they have no control over and have no bearing on the current situation.

It is stupid because you are treating people differently without rational cause.

 

[KingMerv00]

No i say, in fact i would argue that i acted an extremely moral way.
In the same way that i am willing to save my family from a burning house while letting yours burn to cinders,
i am willing to save a stranger from death while letting someone else perish simply because he was of the same ethnicity as my self.

I don't treat my family better than other people because we are genetically related. I try to treat them better beause they have done good by me in the past.

 

[Cleon]

Hrm.

You have the choice, save the smoking-hot brown chick in order to (maybe) score with her, thus passing on your genes, or save the white, ugly, obnoxious dude.

Is it morally wrong to save the hot brown chick?

 

[Thunder]

i am willing to save a stranger from death while letting someone else perish simply because he was of the same ethnicity as my self.

if you choose to let someone die just because he does not look like you, that is indeed racist.

you are putting more value on someone's life just because of the color of their skin. that is racism. and that is wrong.

 

[Sledge]

I can't swim. Problem solved.

 

[cwalner]

Hrm.

You have the choice, save the smoking-hot brown chick in order to (maybe) score with her, thus passing on your genes, or save the white, ugly, obnoxious dude.

Is it morally wrong to save the hot brown chick?

Of course it is. You live in America and therefore any decision motivated by sex is immoral.

 

[Skeptic]

I instinctively rush to save the Swede, and in the process allowing the Arab to drown.

Would i be acting immorally in saving the Swede's life by the single fact that he is Swedish?

In the theoretical case which you presented, no. Because we have more duties to our countrymen than we have to people in general.

You would similarly probably save someone of your extended family over a random Swede, and your daughter over your great-niece, etc.

But such issues are not what racism is about. It is not about having more duties to one's kins than to strangers. It is about stereotyping and hating strangers because they are different than you.

Not at all the same thing.