why do people still stoop to racism?

Question

I think it's rediculous, is there any VALID/LOGICAL reason why people hate races other than their own? I really don't understand it.

example: a friend's boyfriend once called me a dirty Jew because my surname is Jewish (it isn't even my original surname). This guy believes that the English are the best in the world...even though he's half Scottish himself. He votes for the BNP, and thinks "pakis" (as he puts it) should be either kicked out of the country or shot.

Answer 1

Fear of the different perhaps. Peoples languages, and manners can be very different. When I was in primary school a bosnian refuge came to the school and he had never been taught to queue, which the british do all the time, a lot of people saw him as rude and were horrible. Some cultures dont have the same sort of pleases and thankyous.
Maybe our brains just notice when a different race does something more than ours ie, maybe you register the black man who cuts you up in traffic that way whereas a white man you might just register as a person cutting you up.
Maybe its an evolved response designed to encourage genetic diversity by slowing interbreeding were there is a noticable difference.
Maybe people are automatically on the defensive with other races assuming the other race is too.
All of the above? none of them? Its hard to say.
PS that guy sounds like an ignorant ****head

Answer 2

Racism is always based on stupidity, no thought is ever put into it.

It's going along with other people's views in their family or peer group, but never based on their own experience or thoughts.

An example to really show stupid racist people are;

The guys who were arrested and accused of the murder of Stephen Lawerence .... although this was never proved the fact that they are serious racists was proved time and time again. Two of these men were recently involved in smuggling illegal immigrants into the country.....so when money was involved they were quite happy to bring people into the country even though they had a strong hatred for anyone from other countries.

The problem with a lot of racism is it's based solely on colour. A lot of white people in this country are not british but a lot of people with different skin colours are british. This means nothing to racists.

There is never a logical or valid reason for racism, even if people have had a bad experience with a particular person from a particular race doesn't mean you can make a decision about a whole group of people.

It will always continue though because it's human nature to make pre-judgements about everything, we base most of our decisions based on what we see visually. There will always be 'isms' and I think we are all guilty of some form of 'ism' eg. sexism, racism, age-ism, homophobia, reglionism, etc etc.

We as individuals need to think more in advance of our pre-judgements and try hard to think more about individuals not groups. As you meet more and more people of different backgrounds this will help you.

Answer 3

Interesting question.

I wish it was as simple as "they are ignorant and uneducated" but check out the House of Lords - full of bigots and racists - attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting - same problem. It's more covert today - but its still there.

It seems to be a nationalist thing - but the same racists are quick to travel the world where they are still racist. Then racisim is not exclusive to white people. Asians in Birmingham in fighting race wars with Afro Carrabean people.

Sectarianism (religious conflict) is really just another form of racism - in Northern Ireland catholics see protestants as invaders - which 400 years ago they were. In Serbia ethnic cleansing was undertaken by lifetime friends against each other. Do we have reason to fear other religions - unfortunately yes we do - the history of the Abrahamic religions is a history of extreme violence and oppression. The Orange Marches in Northern Ireland celebrate protestants winning battles against Catholics - both the same religion - different branches. A lot of the violence in Iraq is muslim against muislim.

It seems that its based on tribal roots - from the days when tribes fought each other for survival (and in some parts of the world still do) - throughout history we have embarked on ethnic and religious wars and it is ingrained in our evolution - only a shift to a truely spiritual basis of being can change this. That means acknowledging that no religion or race is right or better.

We are a long way from that when men still think that women are subordinate to them. If we can't get men and women to accept each other as equals how on earth are we going to accept other cultures.

The only way forward is for those of us who are spiritually advanced to live without discrimination in our lives and whenever possible to challenge bigotry and discrimination whenever and wherever we see it.

Huggs
Rikki

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Answer 4

People who are saying that people who stoop to racism are unintelligent, ignorant and stupid people are simply showing why the problem still exists. Racism still exists because people simply do not understand the underlying problems to the issues that bring these feelings to the surface, such as economic hardships, joblessness and crime. It is also a basic human trait that will probably never leave our genetic make up, and now that the world has shrunk because of the internet and global news networks, it is easy to place these visions in our heads. We see and hear about gang violence and picture black men and women fighting, we hear about the iraq war and see muslims killing each other and it is impossible not to have these feelings come to mind. You would be lying to yourself if these thoughts do not enter your mind for even a second. The key is to educate each other to the differences between ourselves and try to realize that we really aren't that different.

Answer 5

A lot of these people don't know any better, I have a lot of friends from different ethnic origins and they don't even get upset with them. If some one has been brought up with there parents saying this and that (what ever this and that is) about blacks,Muslims or asians then it is bread in to them, they have never taken the time to actually get to know some one from that pacific origin then they are ignorant to the culture(if different)
So my answer is ignorance and lack of lifes education!

Answer 6

I always think that the term 'racism' is used wrongly.Hitler was a racist.The hatred of another race because of looks,colour,physical characteristics.

I think that most people are not racist,but a lot of people are 'culturalists'.What they actually object to is another culture.Different standards,different,religions,different clothes,food,manners,way of speaking etc.

It's not what colour you are,it's how you act.Certain cultures are viewed as barbaric by some and superior by others.That's what it all boils down to.People don't like things that are different to them...they never have and they never will.

Answer 7

I hate it when my friends are racially abused, when patients call them "Niggers" or "Black Bastards". I am white - well pinkish - but I do not get called 'Whitey' or any similar name. It must be a deep rooted insecurity inherent in the Caucasians that makes it necessary to insult races of a different hue using their colour as the lever.
And as to the xenophobic attitude to anyone who comes from outside of our 'village' it is probably due to us being an island race and having been successful in repelling invaders for several hundreds of years, we are now suffering the consequences of inbreeding!!!!

Answer 8

Good for you!! I agree, but until the next 2 generations die, we will still have to put up with it. The trick is to not turn a blind eye to it when it jumps up, you must speak out.
Big Bear Ron and his partner would understand the depths of some problems. Personally, my wife is half Japanese and we catch some stuff now and then too!!............Thanks

Answer 9

becuase deep inside men just cant accept that all people were created equal...so therefore they search and hunt to find and put up barriers that they think make them better than others,
when i was in college i was told that my race was inferior by an article and i went and ask the professor...

why?can one race do something so superior that another race cant?!! can they walk on water...avoid sickness and disease?mend the hole in the ozone layer?live forever? are all their kids well mannered and behaved? are none of their people in jail or hurting or starving? what makes them so superior?
Dont we all shed blood?liquid tears? bring up babies? pass away when our time is up?
what makes someone or even a race so much better?can they read dreams? interpret prohesies?..

no ..its restlessness ...always our restlessness and inability to settle that makes us want to think were better...
people who cant even control life and death...

so far as am concerned...we are all created equal..

Answer 10

There absolutely no logical reason why they do it. Its down to being very ignorant and small minded. I think any racist should b shot!