[Verv]

I go with Erik H. Erikson's main idea:

Humans are composed with two identities: Personal and cultural.

In modern society, people feel increasingly deprived of cultural identity as we have become overly individualized. In looking for an identity they cannot look to that many contemporary cultural practices.

This problem is most distinct amongst modern caucasians and african-Americans. Modern caucasians because we do not celebrate much besides religious traditions, and modern african-americans because they were taken out of Africa and any attempt to celebrate African cultures seems fundamentally contrived as they have no idea even if they came from that cultural group or not.

Thus, people resort to inflating a sense of cultural identity through whatever means they can.

This is also why you see people who are primarily Irish-American or Jewish-American or Russian-American with affinities for their heritages -- they do have something more concrete to cling onto. And one can note, none of these groups have been associated with racial oppression but rather the victims of it, thus making them safe to be. Whereas, being proud to be a German-American or a German immediately makes people throw up red flags...

This, alone, would not necessarily produce a racist.

What goes on next is a feeling of persecution, real or imaginary, that causes a person to now embrace racism.

I once saw a German heritage program in North Dakota (locally produced), and it seemed like the majority of the programming had to be prefaced with giant apologies to all of the world... It detracted from the program, and it seemed to hammer home this idea: The only way you can be proud to be a German American is if you preface it with an apology and a sense of guilt.

MOreover, blacks do experience racism. Naturally, not from every non-black, but from enough that it becomes a problem in their lives. As someone who has experienced racism I would say the dirtiest part about it is that it produces a sense of hatred at the people who are racist towards you.

I do not remember every person on the street that walks by, uncaring, or every person who demonstrates curiosity in me in a positive way -- but I do remember everyone who purposefully bumps into me or who glares at me. These feelings make me feel like the system is stacked against me when, in reality, I do know that if I work hard I can overcome. But, when feeling bitter and hateful towards those who try to be my stumbling blocks, I become distracted and prone to extremist thoughts.

A part of racism that also exists for natives of a population is the concept of their own cultural heritage disappearing and being replaced with other things, or the feeling that only the foreign and alien is celebrated. There is also the concept of the native population being victimized by foreign crimes. This is a huge contributor.

There are lengthy articles almost monthly documenting crimes committed by foreigners in Korea. However, no one ever bothers to bring up statistics which suggest we are statistically less likely to commit most crimes.It's fuel for the fire.

The basic idea is that people are not satisfied with their individual identities; they want to feel like they are a part of something. Everyone seeks group approval to some extent as we are all social creatures. We achieve it through any number of ways -- but when one feels victimized because of their race, they seek identity within race or ethnicity.

This often produces only ethnic-nationalists that are portrayed as racists. The quickest way to see proof of this is to read the English Defence League's statements and compare them with the reaction that native British have of them: they are all racists versus their words. Rather than confronting the actual issues the EDL tries to bring up, they poison the well.

Now, of course, there are those who consider themselves 'racial realists' and purely 'scientific' about that. I have no doubt some of these people are purely intellectual racists but this is probably a very small category of people trying to extrapolate incomplete or bias data.

This is partly why I view the concept of 'white guilt' as dangerous.

There is no quicker way to disenfranchise youth than to take away a huge part of what they think their cultural identity is. Not only that, but then it calls into question the very identity of a nation -- one now has to divorce the concept of a native of a nation as being 'good,' because that native has used their nation as a tool of oppression. It makes it so someone feels like they must even sever their own connection with their homeland to feel a sense of pride.

The crimes of history, the crimes of genocide and enslavement, are not anyone's fault and to teach history from a perspective of the whites victimizing the world is dishonest and distasteful.

This is also why I believe immigration should be limited to Korea, Japan and other nations that are now seeing upswings in racism, and the limitation of affirmative action type programs in Malaysia, Indonesia and India.

Mass immigration will only agitate nationalists -- especially when mass immigration takes away jobs and creates large pockets of foreigners that alter the local culture. It gives real or imaginary destruction of native heritage.

AA type programs produce resentment amongst those left out from benefits. It also furthers racism against the minority groups as they are now perceived as not succeeding because of their own efforts but succeeding only because of the help given to them by the government, lowering everyone's views further.

The real solution would be scholarships offered independently to them, not by the government.

Thoughts?

[Fasces]

As usual, you have provided us with an intriguing read. I am, for the most part, in agreement with your premise that human beings are collective creatures who strive to belong to a group - in the basest terms, their nation. I also agree with your position on the knee-jerk reaction to nationalist groups being labeled as racist.

That is what is most curious to me, of course. If we accept the premise that human beings are social creature, it would seem correct to say that in modern days political identity has replaced national identity as the primary source for this group identity we see. While traveling abroad, I found it much more common for individuals to describe themselves based on their political background and identity, rather than their national or religious identity. This is almost universally true - even the right-wing is now preoccupied with globalism.

[millie_(A)TCK]

Interesting read. You really should ponder professional writing. You could be the Hunter Thompson of S.Korea. It was rather insightful for me as I am not a group person and cannot at all identify with feeling culturally threatened. Cultural traditions to me are often inane.