[NoRapture]

1. As a human species we are all racists. Without exception. It is biological. We love, trust, and empathize with those who are like ourselves. We irrationally fear, misunderstand, and dislike other humans who display great differences from ourselves. This is instinctual in all mammals.

2. Because of our instinctive tendencies toward racism we are susceptible as human beings toward bigotry. This is when we act on those irrational instinctive mammalian fears, misunderstandings, and dislike for humans who are different from us. And we ostracize, punish, or overpower others simply on the basis of skin pigmentation, smell, voice sound, and mannerisms.

3. As members of the human race we should not feel embarrassed or guilty about our irrational feelings toward those who are different from us. Feelings about other races. We are only behaving as the animals we are. But denial and dishonesty about these powerful, irrational feelings usually leads to bigotry. And, contrary to the teachings of people like David Duke or other misguided individuals, bigotry is bad. Bad, bad, bad. It leads to crimes and unhappiness. Coupled with irrational feelings about deities and flags it leads to epochal wars and struggles that can last a thousand years. Try to avoid bigotry if you can.

[Dr House]

RACIST!!1

[Dave]

I agree with all three points, which leads me to believe we're missing something here...

[NoRapture]

No you!

[Zyx]

This is quite notable. Screenshot-worthy, in fact.

Hmm.

I wonder what Dave's computer skill's are and I apologize for everything in advance of finding out.

[Potemkin]

NoRapture has actually said something sensible and thoughtful. Could this be a sign of the End Times...?

[Zyx]

How is that sensi . . . meh, maybe I've lost it.

[QatzelOk]

It is biological.

No, it's socially constructed using biology as a social justification.

The rest of NoRapture's "argument" falls apart because of this. It slides off the bone of his assumptions, like boiled pig meat.

[Shayn]

Yawn. I'll make this quick.

According to your logic, someone with two distinct racial backgrounds (such as myself) would therefore be racist to all but those two. Or, I would only be non-racist to mutes like me. Is this true? Of course not - it's been proven time and again, that this is social. You can take a multi-racial person and make them prejudiced against one of their backgrounds. You can take a pure-blooded African and make them a white supremacist.

This is also despite the fact that the majority of us are multi-racial, just with one genetic set being more predominant because it was introduced into our family line at a later date. There is more genetic differences between the ethnic groups in South Africa and, say, the Ivory Coast than those from Britain and Greece. Are you telling me there would be more genetic based hatred of these Africans towards each other than what's found between Europeans? No, it's social.

[url]As members of the human race we should not feel embarrassed or guilty about our irrational feelings toward those who are different from us[/url]

I greatly agree with you on this, however.

If this is biological, why is it so easy to socially change them?

[NoRapture]

According to your logic, someone with two distinct racial backgrounds (such as myself) would therefore be racist to all but those two.

Now we're getting into the niceties and complexities of genetics and clinical science. All you need do is observe dogs, cats, monkeys, or basically any other mammal to see the innitial hostile reactions between breeds and genus's. It is fundamental. In the same way individual, single celled entities repel each other. What is not instinctive is the ability to abstractly see beyond these natural inclinations and recognize the value of the other, and not just the immediate danger. The only true "social construct" is this reasoning ability. It is possessed by all humans if they choose to use it. Many, many human beings do not. They are bigots. Most other unevolved mammals are also bigots. But then the term means little because the reasoning skills are not there in animals to begin with.

Racism is not a social construct. It is very obviously instinctive. Although the separation by race for various purposes might be. The ability to shut it off and accept one another on abstract faith is the social construct. And it is what separates human civilization from the wolf pack or a reptile cage. Animals cannot stop or control their racial memories long enough to avoid killing or attacking out of some darwinian survival impulse. Men can. But only after milleniums of their own civil evolution. To deny your own racism is to deny your own animal vulnerabilities to use those impulses and become a bigot yourself, or worse. Much worse. Wolf packs don't have inter-ballistic nuclear weaponry.

My reasoning may fall off the bone like pig meat for Qatz but I've heard his ideas about the minds of the Jews and their "tribes" and so forth. So it is no surprise that he fails to recognize his own compulsions. Unless we recognize and guard against them constantly we will be at each others throats in ever growing and more insane numbers as the world shrinks by the second.

[JRS1]

Where does this instinct come from though, biology or social conditioning? To cloud the issue further - it could be down to social conditioning that is so deeply ingrained it is some kind of inherited knowledge, some might call that biological. I would have thought there would be experimental / empirical evidence to say which is the most likley.

It probably doesnt matter if you have a common recognition of the problem and the desired outcome (i.e. reducing bigotry).

[Godstud]

The dominant racist theory of the early nineteenth century was a biblical argument, grounded in religion; the dominant racist theory of the period from about 1850 to 1950 was a biological argument, grounded in natural science. The racist theory of today is mainly a historical argument, grounded in the idea of culture history or simply culture. Today's racism is a cultural racism.
This is an out-dated theory.

Racism & bigotry are learned behaviors. Trying to excuse them as part of our biology is a cop-out.
Humans already operate outside of our instincts by virtue of our intelligence.

[Dr House]

Racism & bigotry are learned behaviors. Trying to excuse them as part of our biology is a cop-out.

The most commonly used argument against racism is that it's irrational (and it is). How can an irrational behavior possibly be learned?

Humans already operate outside of our instincts by virtue of our intelligence.

This I believe any serious scientist would call bullshit on. Source?

[grassroots1]

NoRapture: Race itself is a social construct, it is a name we give to the differences in appearance, especially in skin color, between people. Surely we can all accept that race is a real thing, that we deal with its effects on a daily basis, but it also can't be denied that the concept of different races, and, therefore, racism, only exists in our minds. Can you really say that an African who lives in one village is a member of the same 'race' as another one a village over? When a black man first saw a white man, he didn't automatically conceive of that person as part of a different 'race.' He merely looked different. With race, we always have the problems about where the lines can be drawn, and the only conclusion that can be arrived at is that the boundaries are permanently fuzzy and blended, with individuals always in the borderlands.

So while the differences that exist between people, in their skin color, their bone structure, their height, their weight all exist unquestionably, 'race' is just a word we use to draw boundaries, and racism is an extension of that, it is the effect of clashing cultures.

[Paradigm]

The most commonly used argument against racism is that it's irrational (and it is). How can an irrational behavior possibly be learned?

Female genital mutilation: Instinctual or learned?

Seriously, House. That has to be the dumbest question you've ever asked.

[canadiancapitalist]

Your views on race are very interesting. Please continue to elaborate and expand.

[Shayn]

That has to be the dumbest question you've ever asked.

Christ, you can actually quantify that? I humbly bow to your superior intellect, good sir.

[Dave]

Female genital mutilation is not irrational, it functions as a form of population control in primitive societies.

Racism has a biological root (kin selection/genetic similarity) with cultural factors piled on top.

Shayn's argument that most people are multiracial is simply not true, unless you take it to mean the complete absence of admixture (racial purity). The only place where multiracial makeup is the norm is in Latin America.

[Godstud]

How can an irrational behavior possibly be learned?

You're kidding, right?

This I believe any serious scientist would call bullshit on. Source?

If you feel horny do you instantly mate with a nearby woman you think is attractive? No.

Animals act on instinct. Humans can choose not to. Why do I need to provide scientific proof for something that's so self-evident?

[Dave]

If you feel horny do you instantly mate with a nearby woman you think is attractive? No.

Speak for yourself