I want to talk about racism.
Mainly because I just feel like I need to get this information off my chest, and explain my personal findings that it appears to be one giant Causation-Correlation fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_implies_causation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
Whenever I try to discuss racism with people, I end up trying to make this point to them. It is not easy to make or explain, nor have I gotten it from anywhere else. I came to it entirely from my own knowledge of logic and what I've observed about racism.
Anyway, racism is, of course, the belief that a certain ethnic group is naturally better (or worse) than others. And, very often, the desire to separate yourself from people of that group or to separate the ethnic groups as a whole.
It's a hard issue, because when you take a quick look at the world around you...it SEEMS like some groups are less capable than others.
The problem of course, is when you assume these differences are BECAUSE of the ethnic make-up of people and not because of other factors. They assume that the race itself has some better or worse genetic characteristic instead of looking at other factors. This leads to the desire to "get away" from those people or "purify" your own ethnic group by keeping them away from you.
This is of course, damaging and barbaric, and equally importantly, logically wrong.
That's because whenever you look deeper into the apparent differences among ethnic groups, you will always, in my experience, find other causes for those differences that are not based on race, ethnicity, or their genetic characteristics. But for various reasons, like the way we've treated each other for centuries, based on our ethnic differences, they happen to be found alongside ethnic characteristics in many places. But it's those outside causes, the more specific groups that are defined by things other than race, that we need to control, "stop" or "separate" ourselves from.
__________________________
Let me use some common examples. Ignoring for a moment, that the idea of "black," or "white" is hard to define in the first place.
1. Black people seem more athletic than white people. White people seem more intelligent than Black people.
While it CERTAINLY SEEMS to be the case, to say that "black men are more athletic" than white men is not really a correct statement.
The correct statement would be "a group of people who perform hard physical labor for centuries" will tend to be more athletic than a group of people that does not. Regardless of ethnicity.
If we take ANY group of people, make it illegal to educate them, separate families, and force them and their children to perform hard manual labor, what do you expect the results to be in that group after 30 generations of this?
Easy. They'll be uncommonly good at physical activity, not as good at mental activity, and they won't have as good a family structure.
If we look at descendants of slaves as a group (in America or wherever else it has happened), you'll notice that those characteristics describe their current situation very well.
But if we look at 'black' or African people as a group. Those characteristics do not match up. Modern African people do not dominate strength-and-speed sports to near the same level as African-American (note that I'm saying this to differentiate Africans from Africans who are descendants of American slaves, not necessarily to be politically correct) people. Likewise, African-American people do not dominate Endurance sports to the same level that Kenyans or any other people from high mountainous areas do.
You must also consider that sports where African-American people predominate are a common part of the culture. Basketball is a common activity among African-American people in the same way that Hockey is a national pasttime among Canadians, and Soccer is a national pasttime among Brazilians. And Canadians dominate hockey and Brazilians dominate soccer in the same way despite never showing any apparent genetic special abilities.
_______________________________________
Another example...
2. Black people get diseases like Sickle-Cell Anemia, White people get diseases like Skin Cancer...and there are many other "race-specific diseases."
People love to tell me that if race doesn't have these strong genetic advantages, then why are black people commonly victims of Sickle-Cell, and white people common victims of Skin Cancer and so on.
I checked into this myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle-cell_anemia
What I found is that Sickle-Cell is a disease common in descendants of West Africans. Not East Africans or South Africans, though they are of course also 'black.' That makes it a regional genetic disorder that is also commonly linked with Malaria.
Diseases do occur commonly based on region. After all, if you've been to a foreign country, you know not to drink the water there because the bacteria in it are different.
But it would be wrong and idiotic not to drink your water because it's from the house of your black or Mexican neighbor. Region is common for dividing people and people are segregated or quarantined due to region very often. Race is not appropriate for this, which is why we do not accept segregating people by race and it is a stupid idea.
Likewise, skin cancer is common with people who don't have much Melanin in their skin. That might correlate to black and white people because black people tend to have more melanin, but being 'black' or 'white' doesn't cause it. There are black people without much melanin in their skin who are susceptible to skin cancer, and darker-skinned 'white' people who aren't.
______________________________________________
Second to Last one.
3. Black people are scary and dangerous.
I'm sure it seems that way to a lot of people. A lot of people lock their doors when in a bad part of town. Believe it or not, I'll let you off the hook and tell you that that doesn't make you a racist.
Ask yourself this:
If Oprah Winfrey or Michael Jordan drove past you in a limousine, would you lock your doors? Would you be afraid? Of course not.
If a white person dressed in gang-attire walked up to you in the middle of the night, would you get worried? Probably yes.
Because it is generally not the skin that is bothering you. Unfortunately, due to lingering effects of lack of education and other factors, a lot (not all by any stretch of the imagination) of black people live in 'bad parts' of the country. It is because of the lack of education or trouble (or their own fault) not finding a job that they are there, not because of their ethnicity or characteristics caused by their ethnicity.
It's being in a bad part of town and seeing a person who might be dangerous that bothers you. Unfortunately, 'race' happens to correlate to this for right now in society, so we pick up a tendency to get worried about that as well. But if Oprah Winfrey wouldn't scare you, then 'race' isn't the cause.
_______________________________
4. White people have to feel guilty about slavery.
While the lingering effects of slavery cause most of the correlation between race and negative things in America, I don't think that if you're a 'white' person you need to feel guilty about it.
Slavery was of course barbaric and stupid and horrible. It is one of many things in history that we all should be embarrassed about, and the people who participated in it at the time should be ashamed.
But slavery is not the only thing barbaric and stupid and shameful and horrible that people have done. Every group of people, racial or otherwise, does stupid and bad things. African leaders enslaved each other and sold some of their own 'prisoners' from other tribes into slavery. Europeans tortured each other to death in the Inquisition. South American people made human sacrifices out of little girls.
And let me add that fear of the "new" person is a common cause of this. Irish and Italian people were both refused service and made victims of stereotyping when they first immigrated to America in large numbers. But as the cultures merge and people adapt and learn about each other, the reasons for these stereotypes disappear...and thus the stereotypes themselves fade out. Black and Hispanic people on average LOOK physically different, so the assimilation process takes longer, but rest assured it is happening. Why do you think "black" music and culture are mixing so much with "white" culture...especially among young white people who listen to rap and young black people who skateboard?
Anyway, the point on this one is that everyone is their own person. While what our great-great-great grandfathers did DOES have a BIG effect on our circumstances today, if we do what we can to learn from it, and try and make-up for it, even in small ways...we shouldn't feel ashamed.
And the more we look at racism with an honest eye and a knowledge of logic, the more I think we can see just why society has deemed it wrong. It's not just because it makes people feel good, it's logically and scientifically unsound.
Alright, I'm done. Flame away.
Mainly because I just feel like I need to get this information off my chest, and explain my personal findings that it appears to be one giant Causation-Correlation fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_implies_causation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
Whenever I try to discuss racism with people, I end up trying to make this point to them. It is not easy to make or explain, nor have I gotten it from anywhere else. I came to it entirely from my own knowledge of logic and what I've observed about racism.
Anyway, racism is, of course, the belief that a certain ethnic group is naturally better (or worse) than others. And, very often, the desire to separate yourself from people of that group or to separate the ethnic groups as a whole.
It's a hard issue, because when you take a quick look at the world around you...it SEEMS like some groups are less capable than others.
The problem of course, is when you assume these differences are BECAUSE of the ethnic make-up of people and not because of other factors. They assume that the race itself has some better or worse genetic characteristic instead of looking at other factors. This leads to the desire to "get away" from those people or "purify" your own ethnic group by keeping them away from you.
This is of course, damaging and barbaric, and equally importantly, logically wrong.
That's because whenever you look deeper into the apparent differences among ethnic groups, you will always, in my experience, find other causes for those differences that are not based on race, ethnicity, or their genetic characteristics. But for various reasons, like the way we've treated each other for centuries, based on our ethnic differences, they happen to be found alongside ethnic characteristics in many places. But it's those outside causes, the more specific groups that are defined by things other than race, that we need to control, "stop" or "separate" ourselves from.
__________________________
Let me use some common examples. Ignoring for a moment, that the idea of "black," or "white" is hard to define in the first place.
1. Black people seem more athletic than white people. White people seem more intelligent than Black people.
While it CERTAINLY SEEMS to be the case, to say that "black men are more athletic" than white men is not really a correct statement.
The correct statement would be "a group of people who perform hard physical labor for centuries" will tend to be more athletic than a group of people that does not. Regardless of ethnicity.
If we take ANY group of people, make it illegal to educate them, separate families, and force them and their children to perform hard manual labor, what do you expect the results to be in that group after 30 generations of this?
Easy. They'll be uncommonly good at physical activity, not as good at mental activity, and they won't have as good a family structure.
If we look at descendants of slaves as a group (in America or wherever else it has happened), you'll notice that those characteristics describe their current situation very well.
But if we look at 'black' or African people as a group. Those characteristics do not match up. Modern African people do not dominate strength-and-speed sports to near the same level as African-American (note that I'm saying this to differentiate Africans from Africans who are descendants of American slaves, not necessarily to be politically correct) people. Likewise, African-American people do not dominate Endurance sports to the same level that Kenyans or any other people from high mountainous areas do.
You must also consider that sports where African-American people predominate are a common part of the culture. Basketball is a common activity among African-American people in the same way that Hockey is a national pasttime among Canadians, and Soccer is a national pasttime among Brazilians. And Canadians dominate hockey and Brazilians dominate soccer in the same way despite never showing any apparent genetic special abilities.
_______________________________________
Another example...
2. Black people get diseases like Sickle-Cell Anemia, White people get diseases like Skin Cancer...and there are many other "race-specific diseases."
People love to tell me that if race doesn't have these strong genetic advantages, then why are black people commonly victims of Sickle-Cell, and white people common victims of Skin Cancer and so on.
I checked into this myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle-cell_anemia
What I found is that Sickle-Cell is a disease common in descendants of West Africans. Not East Africans or South Africans, though they are of course also 'black.' That makes it a regional genetic disorder that is also commonly linked with Malaria.
Diseases do occur commonly based on region. After all, if you've been to a foreign country, you know not to drink the water there because the bacteria in it are different.
But it would be wrong and idiotic not to drink your water because it's from the house of your black or Mexican neighbor. Region is common for dividing people and people are segregated or quarantined due to region very often. Race is not appropriate for this, which is why we do not accept segregating people by race and it is a stupid idea.
Likewise, skin cancer is common with people who don't have much Melanin in their skin. That might correlate to black and white people because black people tend to have more melanin, but being 'black' or 'white' doesn't cause it. There are black people without much melanin in their skin who are susceptible to skin cancer, and darker-skinned 'white' people who aren't.
______________________________________________
Second to Last one.
3. Black people are scary and dangerous.
I'm sure it seems that way to a lot of people. A lot of people lock their doors when in a bad part of town. Believe it or not, I'll let you off the hook and tell you that that doesn't make you a racist.
Ask yourself this:
If Oprah Winfrey or Michael Jordan drove past you in a limousine, would you lock your doors? Would you be afraid? Of course not.
If a white person dressed in gang-attire walked up to you in the middle of the night, would you get worried? Probably yes.
Because it is generally not the skin that is bothering you. Unfortunately, due to lingering effects of lack of education and other factors, a lot (not all by any stretch of the imagination) of black people live in 'bad parts' of the country. It is because of the lack of education or trouble (or their own fault) not finding a job that they are there, not because of their ethnicity or characteristics caused by their ethnicity.
It's being in a bad part of town and seeing a person who might be dangerous that bothers you. Unfortunately, 'race' happens to correlate to this for right now in society, so we pick up a tendency to get worried about that as well. But if Oprah Winfrey wouldn't scare you, then 'race' isn't the cause.
_______________________________
4. White people have to feel guilty about slavery.
While the lingering effects of slavery cause most of the correlation between race and negative things in America, I don't think that if you're a 'white' person you need to feel guilty about it.
Slavery was of course barbaric and stupid and horrible. It is one of many things in history that we all should be embarrassed about, and the people who participated in it at the time should be ashamed.
But slavery is not the only thing barbaric and stupid and shameful and horrible that people have done. Every group of people, racial or otherwise, does stupid and bad things. African leaders enslaved each other and sold some of their own 'prisoners' from other tribes into slavery. Europeans tortured each other to death in the Inquisition. South American people made human sacrifices out of little girls.
And let me add that fear of the "new" person is a common cause of this. Irish and Italian people were both refused service and made victims of stereotyping when they first immigrated to America in large numbers. But as the cultures merge and people adapt and learn about each other, the reasons for these stereotypes disappear...and thus the stereotypes themselves fade out. Black and Hispanic people on average LOOK physically different, so the assimilation process takes longer, but rest assured it is happening. Why do you think "black" music and culture are mixing so much with "white" culture...especially among young white people who listen to rap and young black people who skateboard?
Anyway, the point on this one is that everyone is their own person. While what our great-great-great grandfathers did DOES have a BIG effect on our circumstances today, if we do what we can to learn from it, and try and make-up for it, even in small ways...we shouldn't feel ashamed.
And the more we look at racism with an honest eye and a knowledge of logic, the more I think we can see just why society has deemed it wrong. It's not just because it makes people feel good, it's logically and scientifically unsound.
Alright, I'm done. Flame away.
