I think that the discussion was mind-opening. I however have a different view on the relationship between the 2. I agree that they are different but I believe that prejudice may not always be negative. Racism is defined as a majority making a minority feel inferior based on their ethnicity. Prejudice is just simply thinking of someone a certain way because of things you have heard about them before. I found it interesting that people of different backgrounds had different views. I also liked the discussion of how the way we are raised influences our thoughts of racism. For example the way you said that parents can make us racist due to the way they talk about other races to you.
I guess I enjoyed the discussion. I mean my own view wasn't really expressed about the topic. I think that racism a branch of the tree that is prejudice. I think that is real racism, the racism of the 19th and previous centuries, that is the distaste and mistreatment of people based solely on the color of one's skin, is largely gone in the Western world. I think that what we have today is prejudice of a different kind that is based on culture and social status. A person looks at a different racial group with judgments that are stereotypical, but I would be very hard pressed to find an individual who thinks that a person is of a lower, inferior race because they are genetically dealt a different skin color. So for example, a person from a suburban, upper class household is not gonna easily integrate culturally with the urban, lower class citizens of the city, who by and large in the United States are African American but not exclusively. Race isn't the main player in it, it has some association in reality.
The other disagreement I had was with the question "How do we end it". Well in defining what I think racism is today, which is really cultural prejudice, I think the answer is you can't. By and large, culture is a powerful force that drives groups and individuals, and its hard for people to settle their differences on this topic, and that won't ever change.
(BTW I am NOT a racist if this wasn't clear enough)
To me, racism and prejudice are interchangeable. I think that some people in our country do have prejudice against people because of their race, but I don't think it is nearly as wide spread as the media would have you believe. I think that the reason that there is racial tension in our country is that government officials and politicians benefit tremendously from it. I feel like the media and the government have a mutually beneficial relationship and together broadcast an idea that African Americans hate white people and that white people hate African Americans. I know that in some instances and for some people that is probably true, but I don't think it is the case for most people. I'm from a small town about 20 minutes from Clemson. Stereotypically, it would seem that there would be lots of prejudiced people in a southern, conservative town, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. People of all races in my hometown respect each other, work along side each other, and genuinely care about the well-being of their neighbor. We don't always have the same political views, but we respect the right of the other to have their own opinion.
The discussion we had in class about racism was unique to me because I have never really talked about the subject in a formal way before. So far, I have never really been surrounded by racism or racist people. For the majority of my life, I have grown up in a wealthy, predominately white town - in New Jersey. I feel like the North is typically less racist than the south, which roots back to the civil war. I am aware of what racism is, but the line between racism and prejudice is still somewhat unclear to me. I do not believe that reverse racism exists at all, and I feel that white people should not feel like they are being the target of racism. We, as a race, have not done anything in our recent history to have the right to still act racist towards other groups. I see the United States coming together over the next few decades, and I believe that the amount of racism in society today can be lessened.
I've never really talked about it with other people like. I've always had it made up in my mind that people are people and they shouldn't be judged by based on the way they look. So little of the human genome contributes to how we look. We are all the same, but are all so different at the same time. In my opinion, it goes back to how society focuses so much on appearances. We think someone is inferior or non-deserving of opportunity. My roommate is black. Though we may have different interests and friends, I don't consider myself any more a human being than he is. He actually received out-of-state tuition so he's probably smarter than me. To think a race is disadvantaged at this day in age absurd. There may be hate and violence, but all Americans have equal footing in terms of living the dream. I believe reverse racism is not true because it draws from a definition of racism, where people believe racism and oppression/prejudice are one in the same. Morgan Freeman said "the best way to end racism is to stop talking about it." From my personal experience with struggles, you can't end something by avoiding it. You have to fill that void with something. As quirky as it sounds, people need to fill it with love. If people can't learn to love one another, they can at least learn to respect one another. If people can't learn to respect on another, they can at least learn to be kind to one another.
I had never really sat down before to think about the difference between racism and prejudice. People sling the terms around interchangeably all around me which I now realize is incorrect. If we take a moment to look at the definitions, one is much more extreme than the other. Racism is the Idea of one race being supreme over another. Prejudice on the other hand can be something as extreme as racism but also something smaller. Prejudice is another term for bias, or having a preconceived idea without any reason or experience. In other words you can have prejudice without being racist but you cannot be racist without being prejudice. The idea of reverse racism is poorly named. Sure, most ethnic groups have some prejudice toward other groups. It's the way human nature works. Using the dictionary definition of racism, it is impossible for minorities to be racist. That would require the minority to exhibit control over the majority which doesn't make much sense. One of the easiest ways to help get out of this endless circle is for people to take a chill pill and not freak out at every little thing the opposition says or does. It's like how they tell us to deal with bullying in elementary school. The bully most of the time takes pleasure from the reaction you give them. If you just ignore them for a bit, they will lose interest. Only when the banter ends can real conversation can begin. I'm not saying to Ignore the problem because that solves nothing. Instead I'm saying the conversation needs to be focused on what the problem is and more importantly how to solve it rather than who said what offensive thing about the other group.
Throughout the discussion we had in class, something that I found to be a recurring root in the problems we were addressing in society was fear. It seems that with this history we have of racial divide and inequality, there is so much fear of both the unknown and fear of not just offending someone but being told you are offending someone. It seems that there has become a distinct identity for being black or being white and we have attributed a lot of characteristics to race on the simple fact that we can. We see with prejudiced lenses in this country about as strongly as any other and so we are quick to make associations with race. This then leads to unknowns. White people are afraid of having the conversation and breaking down barriers to instill true equality because they do not understand what it is to be black and so they fear that action. Black people have historically feared white people because of the existence of slavery and the violence that white people have always used against them. It is not a fear that means black people are inferior in any way, but it is a fear that is the result of hatred and the result of that fear is further division and conflict. This fear on both sides then leads to quick, sometimes ineffective measures such as affirmative action, an overall good step forward that nonetheless has its issues to this day. Another thing I picked up on was the recurring statement that it wasn't a problem in some areas where people are from. While I would agree that that is a great thing, it is that kind of thinking that often leads to people believing it isn't a problem in general, which in this country especially is far from the truth. Even coming from a predominantly white, Christian section of Charlotte, I had conversations throughout my life with people of all different religions and races about how they saw racism occurring in their families and communities. Charlotte is a fairly youthful and welcoming city in comparison to other cities and racism still occurs on a large scale. I also have the opinion that reverse racism doesn't exist, but my belief there starts on the basic idea that using the word reverse immediately nullifies the term. Using "reverse" recognizes that racism is a problem that occurs in the direction from privileged to less privileged individuals or against a minority. By applying it in the reverse direction, there is a foundation in the term that rests on its inherent nonsense. I do, however, believe that prejudice occurs in all directions, given that I see prejudice as a more discriminatory form of stereotyping.
The discussion on racism was very interesting in that we were able to hear many different viewpoints. I don't think reverse racism is a real thing, and I feel like more people should realize that. I think that it has to be talked about in order to try and fix the brokenness that racism has caused in our country. I think that the media is not helping at all, and that it is doing the wrong kind of speaking about it. It seems like they just stir the pot and see who they can make upset, in order to push something political on the people of the US. It feels like everything is politically charged, and no one can really know what to think about what everyone else says, because they might be pushing their own wants and agenda. Overall, I found it to be an interesting discussion and enjoyed hearing everyones thoughts on the matter.
Our discussion we had in class about racism was different, because the topic about racism is something people may be afraid to talk about. Many people wouldn't want to talk about that topic because of its meaning and what controversies may be going on at the moment in the country, they do not want to be seen as racist depending on how they express their point of view. I think that the topic about racism is much more talked about and more controversies happen in America compared to the rest of the world. I used to live in Europe and I barely knew about racism or for example what events are going on here like police shootings and kneeling. Racism and prejudice occur anywhere, they happen here in Clemson or in Charlotte, but depending on how large the city is it may vary the amount of racism and prejudice between races.
Our class discussion on racism and prejudice was extremely deep and eye-opening. The idea of racism and prejudice being different things is critical when it comes to confusing the two. Many see someone as being racist when really it is just prejudice. Neither are okay to be as a moral human being but people still confuse the meanings. Doing this can mislabel a person as a racist even if they aren't racist. Being racist is basically having higher privilege over another race and taking advantage while degrading that ethnicity. No one wants to be labeled a racist and people often will pull the "racist card" because that makes it seem like you are winning the fight. Once that label has been thrown out it makes it hard for you to be right. The statement "I can't be racist since I am a minority" is very false. Also, the four myths about racism were very eye opening as well since I believed some of those myths.
Racism and prejudice are very close to each other in meaning, but most importantly they make people feel the same way. People can say that they are incapable of racism if they really want to, even though I do not agree with their definition, but they can still be prejudice, which is not any better. It has the exact same hurtfulness of racism, just with a different name. I believe that reverse racism does exist because equal opportunity is more important than equal outcome. The laws that make institutions and companies hire a certain percentage of races prevents equal outcome from happening. It prevents more qualified majority races from getting the job over less qualified minority races. This can also be seen in scholarships, as there are scholarships that are specifically for minorities, however there are not scholarships specifically for majorities, which can prevent the true smartest person in the requirement from receiving the scholarship. Thee media needs to stop taking about racism all the time because it just make the topic much worse by fueling the fire more than it should be.
I quite enjoyed the conversation that happened, as I always enjoy hearing the opinions of others. I feel that reverse racism, even if less common than normal racism, is still racism. In fact, I had never even considered what we have called reverse racism to be a concept that was any different from the concept of racism in its entirety, and even now I still don't. I don't see a black person discriminating against a white person to be any different to a white person discriminating against a black person.
On the concept of discrimination in its entirety, I do feel it is still an issue, but one that needs to be combated a little differently. Rather than make such a big deal out of it when discrimination does happen, normalize the idea of equality. I do feel that incidents of racism, and even sexism, is something that needs to be acknowledged, that's how we show that it exists and needs to be eliminated. However, rather than point to these incidents and try to use them to show that discrimination is a normal concept, point to them and say that it is a bad thing that is against what is normal.
When tending to a garden, pull the weeds that grow amongst the flowers, not the flowers that grow amongst weeds.
I think that the discussion was mind-opening. I however have a different view on the relationship between the 2. I agree that they are different but I believe that prejudice may not always be negative. Racism is defined as a majority making a minority feel inferior based on their ethnicity. Prejudice is just simply thinking of someone a certain way because of things you have heard about them before. I found it interesting that people of different backgrounds had different views. I also liked the discussion of how the way we are raised influences our thoughts of racism. For example the way you said that parents can make us racist due to the way they talk about other races to you.
ReplyDeleteI guess I enjoyed the discussion. I mean my own view wasn't really expressed about the topic. I think that racism a branch of the tree that is prejudice. I think that is real racism, the racism of the 19th and previous centuries, that is the distaste and mistreatment of people based solely on the color of one's skin, is largely gone in the Western world. I think that what we have today is prejudice of a different kind that is based on culture and social status. A person looks at a different racial group with judgments that are stereotypical, but I would be very hard pressed to find an individual who thinks that a person is of a lower, inferior race because they are genetically dealt a different skin color. So for example, a person from a suburban, upper class household is not gonna easily integrate culturally with the urban, lower class citizens of the city, who by and large in the United States are African American but not exclusively. Race isn't the main player in it, it has some association in reality.
ReplyDeleteThe other disagreement I had was with the question "How do we end it". Well in defining what I think racism is today, which is really cultural prejudice, I think the answer is you can't. By and large, culture is a powerful force that drives groups and individuals, and its hard for people to settle their differences on this topic, and that won't ever change.
(BTW I am NOT a racist if this wasn't clear enough)
To me, racism and prejudice are interchangeable. I think that some people in our country do have prejudice against people because of their race, but I don't think it is nearly as wide spread as the media would have you believe. I think that the reason that there is racial tension in our country is that government officials and politicians benefit tremendously from it. I feel like the media and the government have a mutually beneficial relationship and together broadcast an idea that African Americans hate white people and that white people hate African Americans. I know that in some instances and for some people that is probably true, but I don't think it is the case for most people. I'm from a small town about 20 minutes from Clemson. Stereotypically, it would seem that there would be lots of prejudiced people in a southern, conservative town, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. People of all races in my hometown respect each other, work along side each other, and genuinely care about the well-being of their neighbor. We don't always have the same political views, but we respect the right of the other to have their own opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion we had in class about racism was unique to me because I have never really talked about the subject in a formal way before. So far, I have never really been surrounded by racism or racist people. For the majority of my life, I have grown up in a wealthy, predominately white town - in New Jersey. I feel like the North is typically less racist than the south, which roots back to the civil war. I am aware of what racism is, but the line between racism and prejudice is still somewhat unclear to me. I do not believe that reverse racism exists at all, and I feel that white people should not feel like they are being the target of racism. We, as a race, have not done anything in our recent history to have the right to still act racist towards other groups. I see the United States coming together over the next few decades, and I believe that the amount of racism in society today can be lessened.
ReplyDeleteI've never really talked about it with other people like. I've always had it made up in my mind that people are people and they shouldn't be judged by based on the way they look. So little of the human genome contributes to how we look. We are all the same, but are all so different at the same time. In my opinion, it goes back to how society focuses so much on appearances. We think someone is inferior or non-deserving of opportunity. My roommate is black. Though we may have different interests and friends, I don't consider myself any more a human being than he is. He actually received out-of-state tuition so he's probably smarter than me. To think a race is disadvantaged at this day in age absurd. There may be hate and violence, but all Americans have equal footing in terms of living the dream. I believe reverse racism is not true because it draws from a definition of racism, where people believe racism and oppression/prejudice are one in the same. Morgan Freeman said "the best way to end racism is to stop talking about it." From my personal experience with struggles, you can't end something by avoiding it. You have to fill that void with something. As quirky as it sounds, people need to fill it with love. If people can't learn to love one another, they can at least learn to respect one another. If people can't learn to respect on another, they can at least learn to be kind to one another.
ReplyDeleteI had never really sat down before to think about the difference between racism and prejudice. People sling the terms around interchangeably all around me which I now realize is incorrect. If we take a moment to look at the definitions, one is much more extreme than the other. Racism is the Idea of one race being supreme over another. Prejudice on the other hand can be something as extreme as racism but also something smaller. Prejudice is another term for bias, or having a preconceived idea without any reason or experience. In other words you can have prejudice without being racist but you cannot be racist without being prejudice. The idea of reverse racism is poorly named. Sure, most ethnic groups have some prejudice toward other groups. It's the way human nature works. Using the dictionary definition of racism, it is impossible for minorities to be racist. That would require the minority to exhibit control over the majority which doesn't make much sense. One of the easiest ways to help get out of this endless circle is for people to take a chill pill and not freak out at every little thing the opposition says or does. It's like how they tell us to deal with bullying in elementary school. The bully most of the time takes pleasure from the reaction you give them. If you just ignore them for a bit, they will lose interest. Only when the banter ends can real conversation can begin. I'm not saying to Ignore the problem because that solves nothing. Instead I'm saying the conversation needs to be focused on what the problem is and more importantly how to solve it rather than who said what offensive thing about the other group.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the discussion we had in class, something that I found to be a recurring root in the problems we were addressing in society was fear. It seems that with this history we have of racial divide and inequality, there is so much fear of both the unknown and fear of not just offending someone but being told you are offending someone. It seems that there has become a distinct identity for being black or being white and we have attributed a lot of characteristics to race on the simple fact that we can. We see with prejudiced lenses in this country about as strongly as any other and so we are quick to make associations with race. This then leads to unknowns. White people are afraid of having the conversation and breaking down barriers to instill true equality because they do not understand what it is to be black and so they fear that action. Black people have historically feared white people because of the existence of slavery and the violence that white people have always used against them. It is not a fear that means black people are inferior in any way, but it is a fear that is the result of hatred and the result of that fear is further division and conflict. This fear on both sides then leads to quick, sometimes ineffective measures such as affirmative action, an overall good step forward that nonetheless has its issues to this day. Another thing I picked up on was the recurring statement that it wasn't a problem in some areas where people are from. While I would agree that that is a great thing, it is that kind of thinking that often leads to people believing it isn't a problem in general, which in this country especially is far from the truth. Even coming from a predominantly white, Christian section of Charlotte, I had conversations throughout my life with people of all different religions and races about how they saw racism occurring in their families and communities. Charlotte is a fairly youthful and welcoming city in comparison to other cities and racism still occurs on a large scale. I also have the opinion that reverse racism doesn't exist, but my belief there starts on the basic idea that using the word reverse immediately nullifies the term. Using "reverse" recognizes that racism is a problem that occurs in the direction from privileged to less privileged individuals or against a minority. By applying it in the reverse direction, there is a foundation in the term that rests on its inherent nonsense. I do, however, believe that prejudice occurs in all directions, given that I see prejudice as a more discriminatory form of stereotyping.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion on racism was very interesting in that we were able to hear many different viewpoints. I don't think reverse racism is a real thing, and I feel like more people should realize that. I think that it has to be talked about in order to try and fix the brokenness that racism has caused in our country. I think that the media is not helping at all, and that it is doing the wrong kind of speaking about it. It seems like they just stir the pot and see who they can make upset, in order to push something political on the people of the US. It feels like everything is politically charged, and no one can really know what to think about what everyone else says, because they might be pushing their own wants and agenda. Overall, I found it to be an interesting discussion and enjoyed hearing everyones thoughts on the matter.
ReplyDeleteOur discussion we had in class about racism was different, because the topic about racism is something people may be afraid to talk about. Many people wouldn't want to talk about that topic because of its meaning and what controversies may be going on at the moment in the country, they do not want to be seen as racist depending on how they express their point of view. I think that the topic about racism is much more talked about and more controversies happen in America compared to the rest of the world. I used to live in Europe and I barely knew about racism or for example what events are going on here like police shootings and kneeling. Racism and prejudice occur anywhere, they happen here in Clemson or in Charlotte, but depending on how large the city is it may vary the amount of racism and prejudice between races.
ReplyDeleteOur class discussion on racism and prejudice was extremely deep and eye-opening. The idea of racism and prejudice being different things is critical when it comes to confusing the two. Many see someone as being racist when really it is just prejudice. Neither are okay to be as a moral human being but people still confuse the meanings. Doing this can mislabel a person as a racist even if they aren't racist. Being racist is basically having higher privilege over another race and taking advantage while degrading that ethnicity. No one wants to be labeled a racist and people often will pull the "racist card" because that makes it seem like you are winning the fight. Once that label has been thrown out it makes it hard for you to be right. The statement "I can't be racist since I am a minority" is very false. Also, the four myths about racism were very eye opening as well since I believed some of those myths.
ReplyDeleteRacism and prejudice are very close to each other in meaning, but most importantly they make people feel the same way. People can say that they are incapable of racism if they really want to, even though I do not agree with their definition, but they can still be prejudice, which is not any better. It has the exact same hurtfulness of racism, just with a different name. I believe that reverse racism does exist because equal opportunity is more important than equal outcome. The laws that make institutions and companies hire a certain percentage of races prevents equal outcome from happening. It prevents more qualified majority races from getting the job over less qualified minority races. This can also be seen in scholarships, as there are scholarships that are specifically for minorities, however there are not scholarships specifically for majorities, which can prevent the true smartest person in the requirement from receiving the scholarship.
ReplyDeleteThee media needs to stop taking about racism all the time because it just make the topic much worse by fueling the fire more than it should be.
I quite enjoyed the conversation that happened, as I always enjoy hearing the opinions of others. I feel that reverse racism, even if less common than normal racism, is still racism. In fact, I had never even considered what we have called reverse racism to be a concept that was any different from the concept of racism in its entirety, and even now I still don't. I don't see a black person discriminating against a white person to be any different to a white person discriminating against a black person.
ReplyDeleteOn the concept of discrimination in its entirety, I do feel it is still an issue, but one that needs to be combated a little differently. Rather than make such a big deal out of it when discrimination does happen, normalize the idea of equality. I do feel that incidents of racism, and even sexism, is something that needs to be acknowledged, that's how we show that it exists and needs to be eliminated. However, rather than point to these incidents and try to use them to show that discrimination is a normal concept, point to them and say that it is a bad thing that is against what is normal.
When tending to a garden, pull the weeds that grow amongst the flowers, not the flowers that grow amongst weeds.