Hello all, been a while since my last social experiment, took some time to cook this one up.
[spoiler]I hope this one will not invoke the hate that my religious ones have, but still support a sufficient debate. If successful, I will keep trying to move away from religion with future social experiments. Most religious threads on the Flood are arguably shit, however they tend to get the most attention. People tend to like these experiments, and I do them because I personally like to observe perceptions and convictions other than my own. Anyways, onward to my usual extrapolation of the title question, and some food for thought. [/spoiler]
[b]Does racism have to exist in human society, and what is your point of view behind your answer?[/b]
For those of you who say yes, [b]is this is a fundamental problem because of human psychology, or rather a fundamental problem in societal functionality?[/b]
For those of you who say no, [b]what, as individuals in this complex society, can we do to extinguish the existence of racism? Is it possible to overcome what could be a problem with human society itself, or even human psychology?[/b]
Also, by "racism" I am implying prejudice and stereotyping by race, a personal or interpersonal conviction that makes one people out to be "better" than another.
So, why no? Why yes?
[spoiler]
Well, you could be answering no from the simple complexity of human psychology and sociology, that as a species, we can "evolve ourselves" in a sense to end negative opinions of another race. In recent times, we have done so much, end slavery, equalize women's rights for the majority, make it politically incorrect to be racist, distinguish false stereotypes by opening up our minds, etc.
You also be answering yes from the simple complexity of human psychology and sociology, that as a species, we are too tied to our more homely opinions on others, people who grow up in a racist paradigm, or have bad experiences with peoples of another race may always form convictions, and as such racism will never go away completely.
[/spoiler]
Please, comment and argue your point, if I am able to think of a logical contradiction, I will argue you back, or merely ask you a question to clarify, and I suggest others do the same. I hope this can be a medium of non-racist debate about racism. I apologize for any Asians/Pacific Islanders/Indonesians, I am only allotted 7 choices, please, comment your answer. Also, every time you vote in a poll and do not comment, a cop shoots an adorable kitten because it's black.
/ohIwentthere
[u]TL;DR: [b]Does racism have to exist in human society, and what is your point of view behind your answer?[/b][/u]
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Humans are afraid of what is different, also we are intolerant towards those who aren't the same as us. Religion, race, appearance, taste in music, down to trivial things such as haircut. Race just happens to be one that a lot of people focus on, also when racism can be used to win an argument or incriminate another person, then you have a very very serious problem. So no, racism will never go away as long as different races exist.
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Racism doesn't have to exist.. Humans don't even have to exist. The world would be better off without us.
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Hitler is inevitable
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Judgement day is
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Racism will always exist. Humans like to put things into catagories and stick with those most like themselves. Animals in the wild do this as well.
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We categorize everything, it just happens
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Edited by VolcanicScarab1: 12/28/2014 8:58:23 AMThe term racism is a pretty loose term. If I were to state that African Americans are at a higher risk of heart disease I might be called racist by some people. But if we are using the term pertaining to prejudice against a persons skin color then my answer is no it doesn't need to exist. Unfounded opinions and unjust behavior baised on superficial qualities are learned behaviors that has served survival for along time, but these prejudices towards a persons ethnicity can hopefully be extinguished in this modern era. The best cure for irrationality is rationality.
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There will always be dickheads in the world and we can't change that.
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I'm not a racist person by any means, I can't remember the last time I ran a race actually .-.
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Of course it will always exist.
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Does racism have to exist in human society, and what is your point of view behind your answer? No, but only in due time. Once humanity as a whole achieves a certain nirvana and decides to expand their horizons. For those of you who say no, what, as individuals in this complex society, can we do to extinguish the existence of racism? Focus on bigger problems. Is it possible to overcome what could be a problem with human society itself, or even human psychology? It's psychology, not society. Society isn't helping though. But alas, it can be overcome. Just not right now. So, why no? Why yes? No, as there was a time when it didn't.
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There is only one race, that is the human race until alien are discovered or robots achieve sentient to the degree to be considered a race. Now there are many ethnic groups that make up the human [u]race.[/u]
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As long as there are distinguishable races, it will be inevitable. Most people will automatically believe their upbringing is better than others. My school once did a social experiment where there would be a primitive society, and you would be able to give them everyday items in modern society. Most people decided to give them technological advancements that modernized their life, even if the people were opposed to it. It proves that most people will think fondly of their own upbringing, and that their life is superior to others.
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"There is no such thing as race. None. There's just the human race; scientifically, anthropologically... 'rac[i]ism[/i]' is a construct - a social construct, and it has benefits: money can be made off of it, people who don't like themselves can feel better because of it, it can 'describe' certain kinds of behavior that are wrong or misleading. So it has a social function - 'rac[i]ism[/i].' But [i]race[/i] can only be defined as a human being." - Toni Morrison The race discussion starts at 3:15 in the video I think this is a great explanation of racism. She points out that we are all really the same, but she doesn't say this to ignore the fact that racism is real and harmful (as many people in the past have). Racism is societal. It is learned. Children aren't racist until their parents teach them to be. It is changeable. Racism [i]doesn't[/i] have to exist. But seeing as people tend to be stubborn about changing their ideas, I don't see racism going away any time soon.
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It's possible to eliminate, but such a task would require an entirely new society to be trained to accept difference as commonplace. Which someone would inevitably -blam!- up and turn into the special snowflake society, where anyone who isn't them is scum. So, why bother? Discourage it's practice, encourage discussion about it, and accept that everyone does it.
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Racism is a product of pride and arrogance. We need these two features to advance ourselves.
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It's in human nature to make judgements. If racism did not exist we would no longer be allowed to call ourselves human
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It exists because people are arrogant and rude. It doesn't need to exist.
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Yes, there will always be racism but it doesn't have to be a major factor. Just because a cop shoots somebody of a different race doesn't make it a racial issue, the fact people keep throwing around the race card is the exact reason I don't think it'll ever be gone.
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No, there are reasons why it does but it doesn't have to
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I guess ppl always want to believe they or what they have is better than everyone else. Tribe mentality. Xbox vs playstation. Apple vs Samsung. Nintendo vs Sega. Racism goes deeper than fanboy wars tho
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Racism is inevitable, just as dicks are inevitable. There will always be a-holes in any society
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Edited by John Doe: 12/27/2014 7:26:32 PMNo, Indian/Italian It's an artificial construct of society, created out of our own fear.
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I don't believe it's an inevitable part of Society. In my opinion, influencing factors are the attitudes of the people who raised us, any pre-existing racial intolerance in the community, and what we see/hear in the Media (TV, Radio, Newspaper, online) up until we're 23-25 years old. The party in power at the time can also affect the outlook of everybody under its influence. The "Stop the Boats" campaign in Australia has, from what I have observed, led to a trend of Caucasian people being generally suspicious of foreign (particularly Middle-Eastern) people being "queue jumpers." Channel 7's biased* coverage of Terrorism (which is always quick to point out the religion/country of origin of the perpetrators) doesn't help with this rift between communities in Australia. Of course, there are so many factors that I believe influence the racial outlook of modern society, that it may not be realistically viable to be able to completely eliminate racial bias in a given community, which can in itself prove that racism [b][i][u]is[/u][/i][/b] inevitable. TL;DR: Racism is bred into members of modern society from a young age, and can be prevented by being raised in an atmosphere that encourages racial tolerance. *I feel that Channel 7 is politically biased towards a right-wing point of view, and racially biased against Asylum Seekers, often depicting them in a way that encourages fear/hate.
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Edited by Psilocybertron: 12/27/2014 9:39:00 AMI've found that racism only persists in areas with heavy divide-and-conquer propaganda, usually due to a more wealthy, powerful, and psychologically sophisticated ruling class that has intentions of subduing a population or parts of it. Want to see how racist our own government is? Just look at Margaret Sanger, the woman who started Planned Parenthood - look at the ratios of aborted black babies versus aborted white babies. Bill Gates is a filthy eugenicist as well, with his sterilization programs. The obscenely wealthy despise the lower class, and see us as undeserving of life. They twist our minds through media propaganda, making a poverty issue into a racial one, and then we collapse in on ourselves.
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People will always poke fun at that which is different from the norm; it gives them a false sense of comfort/safety.