Is this Racist?

Question

I work in the car industry. If I say that German and Japanese engineers are best in the world is this racist? (becasue it implies all other countries and races are worse).

Sorry but the Germans and Japanese are a race also, dont you think?

So can I say the italians are better dressed than africans - or is that racist?

the defintion of racism is considering some race or nationality to be superior to another according to the dictionary - hence i think racism is nonsense as it means you can not admit any country os better or worse than any other, eg the Brazilians must therefore be considered as good as the zimbabweans at football

Answer 1

Absolutely not.

For a start, a racist comment, by nature, has to have a malicious message in it. Yours does not - it's a positive one.

You might be implying that other nationalities don't build cars as well as the Japs and Germans (and I happen to agree with you), but you are not implying they build bad cars, and you aren't making a malicious judgement based on race or nationality.

In other words, it would be racist if you said
"That car won't be any good - it was made in Korea!"

but it would not be racist simply to state that Korean cars aren't any good. You have to attach their race to the reason why they are bad in order to make it racist.

Another example:

Racist: Don't eat that! It was cooked by an Englishman.

Not racist: English cooking is generally considered to be the least appetizing of national cuisines.

Answer 2

The reality is that Germany and Japan put more money
and research into producing talented engineers than,
say, the United States or England. They also get a huge
part of their economy from automobiles.

Its not too surprising that just major forces will produce
such a potent group of individuals.

That being said, there is nothing innate about German
or Japanese blood to make it superior (or inferior) for
engineering.

To imply that one's blood makes one a superior
engineer is probably racist. To notice a trend for
where certain kinds of cars come from is simply an
observation of fact - or at least something that can
be measured and argued over.

Or to put it another way, as an American engineer
with a suitable education, you could go work for a
German or Japanese car manufacturer and be one
of the best in the world too.

Answer 3

It 'might' be viewed as racist, if you were to prejudice someone's buying choice by excluding cars made from certain countries, based on prejudice.

If you made an open evaluation of all cars, which I think companies would have to, if members of the European Union, then this would not be seen as racial prejudice. Eg. You selected the criteria you were judging car tendering by and German or Japanese cars were the most highly scoring and you then went on to purchase from either of these countries. It could be if you didn't allow certain countries to tender equally.

It's a tough one, as there is perhaps too much senstiivity in many areas, concerning this and other prejudice. Prejudice is a vile thing and does need to be constrained as there are many revolting bigots out there.

Good luck! Rob

Answer 4

No - that is not racist at all. You have not implied that everyone else in the world are no good - you are simply saying that the germans and japanese are the best. Problem, is there is always some dogooder out there that will take it that way - chips on their shoulders.

Answer 5

fist off if you work in the car industy you cant say German cars are the best...that would be a lie...you could say that they give the most comfort to the driver of any car but german engineering lacks in quality and have more problems per car that even dodge and i think dodge is crap.....no its not about race........
but had you said africa makes the worst cars you would be a racist in black peoples eyes im sure

Answer 6

No it is not racism, If you had used a specific country to say they are better then, then yes the answer would be yes. When you leave the comment open and less generalised to one country or person then it is a fair question

Answer 7

Yes, considering the question I proposed.

Should we install mandatory requirements in college sports like football and basketball that forces the college to offer proportionately equal scholarships to white players? Considering that whites make up 80% of the USA population and blacks make up 13% (2005 Census) it seems unfair that the football and basketball teams are predominantly black. If we balk at this question then why do we support forcing colleges to hire black coaches?

Another side note that not many reporters had the nerve to report was when Patrick Ewing Jr, in reference to Georgetown's Basketball program, was quoted that "the Princeton offense was mostly associated with white people, not athletes." Why did this not become headline news and a cry from the public about racism? Is it ok to call white people " non-athletes" ?

It appears to me that the USA has started embracing reverse racism and will it eventually make the non-racist white person become racist because of the consistent one sided complaining?

Answer 8

it depends who hears it if some that is above the thought of racism then it will be taken as an opinion but if some one that is racist or has not grown above racism will take it as a racist remark

for me its not its just an opinion

Answer 9

no not at all,some nations really fell in some stereotips,but that doesn't means a nation is better then other,we just have diferent qualities(qualities that most of the peolpe from a country have them totally or partly)like black peolpe are good dancers,japonese make good cars,french make good food,italians are good lovers:)

Answer 10

this was written by a black person

no it just means that they are better not becaues of there race/nationality, but because they are simply good at it!!!

its like me saying you make better cars [you are the white person] then my mum [black person] as you can see its silly and who ever tld you it was racist was probly trying to cover up some prejudist of thier own!