asbestosman wrote:Is it still racism if you think black Americans are lazy, but think that black Africans are hard workers?
It's not racism in either case. It's just an opinion or perhaps bigotry, or prejudice if you don't have any extensive experience upon which to base your opinion. It's only racism once you think the entire Black race is inferior to your race for whatever reasons. I think it's weird how people have confused words and their meanings. It muddles up the issue completely.
What's sad is that having legitimate experiences with people of other races, religions, or creeds are summarily dismissed as somehow being one's own shortcoming.
I have strong opinions about Mormons that I formed through extensive contact. Some people get it. Others don't. Some would say I'm a bigot, and others would think I'm reasonable considering what I experienced.
I have strong opinions about Black, White, Brown, and Asian peoples. Why? Because that's a natural response to interacting with others. If we were never able to form an opinion about anything, develop stereotypes, etc.. We wouldn't make it long enough to reproduce. It's not a bad thing to develop opinions about groups. Sometimes it helps to serve and protect your own interests.
The idea that because I'm White I'm a racist or bigoted if I have a negative opinion about a group of people is, in of itself, offensive. You're essentially asking me to remain willfully ignorant of others and how they affect me. I'm not going to do it. That's ridiculous.
asbestosman wrote:Is it still white guilt if you don't think you've done anything wrong to black Americans but you think it's important to go the extra mile to support them in order to build better race relations?
No. That's being retarded. You continue to infantalize an entire segment of the population. They then can't adapt to real-world demands of expediency, professionalism, and conduct in a general sense. It is actually YOUR fault for THEIR shortcoming if you keep giving them a hand up.
in my opinion, make everything equal. Period. Men, women, white, brown... Doesn't matter. Make it equal. No legal discrimination. Promotion through merit, not because you're black, have dick, or whatever. But, you'll never get rid of discrimination. Ever. Even under a system that designed to abolish it, discrimination will find a way. It's human nature. So that leads us to life challenges.
You have to remember, people choose how to react to their circumstances. No one will ever get everything they want, with the handful of exceptions. How one reacts to that reality will determine if they have a meaningful life. No one tells a parent to not educate his or her child. But if the parent has been infantalized his whole life he won't see a reason to rise above his situation because he doesn't need to do it. His needs are being met. It's easier just to chill out and bitch about the lack of "justice". That's BS.