Why do people cling so tightly to racism?

[Nereid]

hitssquad: Here, the U.K. seems to be using the word ethnic in its racial sense. Providing further indication that the word ethnic can legitimately be used to mean race, the Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary 3.0 can be observed to use the word race in that dictionary's first sense of the word ethnology

Our friends across the pond (or in the antipodes, depends on your POV), also have their own dictionary of the language they speak (I think they call it 'English'). Perhaps one of our many PF members could enlighten us as to whether they *really* mean 'race' every time they use the words 'ethnic group'.

 

[Monique]

Originally posted by hitssquad
One might suppose that the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands would differentiate between Turkish Turks and Kurdish Turks to the point that the CIA's listing of ethnic Turks consists only of Ethnic Turks and not of Kurdish Turks.

People immigrate each year, the government keeps track which countries people are immigrating from. If people immigrate from Belgium, should they be asked whether they are from the French or Dutch part? If people immigrate from the UK, should they be asked whether they are Welsh or not? No, they come from either the Belgian or the UK rule.

In the US when I applied for a social security card, I had to give my ethnicity -caucasian-. I've never ever been asked or have ever heard of that question here.

 

[Nereid]

hitssquad: Indonesia may appear similarly mixed at first glance, but the apparent mixture might be reduceable to mainly a relatively homogenous Malay population and a relatively homogenous Han Chinese population, as the Microsoft Encarta 2002 entry for Indonesia migt seem to suggest:

Indonesia has ~6,000 inhabited islands, a population only a little smaller than that of the US, and a long and rich history. Surely at least as a challenge to understand as the US.

How many years have you lived there hitssquad?

 

[hitssquad]

The racial profile of Indonesia

Originally posted by Nereid

hitssquad:
Indonesia may appear similarly mixed at first glance, but the apparent mixture might be reduceable to mainly a relatively homogenous Malay population and a relatively homogenous Han Chinese population, as the Microsoft Encarta 2002 entry for Indonesia migt seem to suggest:

Indonesia has ~6,000 inhabited islands, a population only a little smaller than that of the US, and a long and rich history. Surely at least as a challenge to understand as the US.

--
Although the islands are home to more than 100 ethnic groups, most Indonesians are of mixed Malay origins...
--
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. Entry: Indonesia.




-Chris

 

[Kerrie]

Originally posted by NateTG
So there's a problem because professional sports are dominated by people between 15 and 35, and it's legal discrimination that infants are not allowed to drive, and that there is an age of consent at all?

Why not throw beauty on that list while you're at it? Beautiful people typically have an easier time in life, getting jobs and so on.

While it's easy to point at a disparity in our society, and claim that that disparity is a problem, it's not always as easy to show what the root cause of the problem.

For example, I can claim it's a problem that there is a disproportionate underrepresentation of blind people with driver's licences which indicates that the DMV discriminates against blind people. While this is obviously a straw man, it illustrates that there is a need to distinguish between reasonable and unreasonable discrimination at some level.

I'm not claiming that there is necessarily a correlation between 'race' and performance, or that such correlation, if it exists, is not purely the result of social discrimination, but if that type of correlation exists, then some level of 'racial' discrimination is reasonable.

Even if there is reasonable justification for racial discrimination, it does not demonstrate that there is not a social or political race-related problem that should be discussed or adressed.

This, of course, leads to a reason to 'cling' to racism - pragmatism. For many notions of race, it is easy to observe, and if race has reasonable performance predicting value, racial discrimination can be beneficial.

Similarly, a 'white' person in a predominantly 'black' neighborhood, a latino person in a predominantly 'asian' neighborhood or anyone else whose 'race' makes them stand out is likely to be an outsider, and will consequently receive different treatment than people who are perceived to be locals.

For things like 'police profiling' the question is usually not whether race is a factor in decisionmaking, but whether race affects decisionmaking disproportionately with its predictive value.

whoa, hold on! i think you took my words a little too far...

when i was referring to these various things, i should have put something to the effect of using common sense when "picking and choosing"...common sense would obviously rule out an infant being allowed to drive, the elderly wanting to be allowed to play in the NFL etc...this is where ability comes into play, which is an individual basis over something such as color, age, and gender-which is obviously beyond our individual control...

and what's this about beautiful people having it easier in life? can i also say that beautful women have a better chance of getting raped too because they are typically more desirable? i think this statement results from your opinion rather then common sense and true facts...

i certainly did not mean to imply that everything should be open to everyone otherwise it's considered discrimination...common sense and ground rules for particular activities are in play for a reason.

 

[NateTG]

Originally posted by Kerrie
i certainly did not mean to imply that everything should be open to everyone otherwise it's considered discrimination common sense and ground rules for particular activities are in play for a reason.

Right, but as soon as it starts being a question of where to draw the line, instead of whether to draw the line, it's not nearly as simple.

 

[quantumcarl]

What do you call those transparent beings? They are people of no colour?

I've tried copulating with them but my genes instinctively stopped any co-mingling of genetic material. That brought to mind that there might be a genetic barrier separating certain combinations of the various ethnic groups.

It is most likely a psychological barrier, mind you.