RE: Definition of Racism (without rent-a-riot)
From: Joe Dees (joedees@addall.com)
Date: Thu Aug 09 2001 - 19:40:33 MDT
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> "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com> <extropians@extropy.org> RE: Definition of Racism (without rent-a-riot)Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 00:03:22 -0700
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.org
>
>Joe Dees wrote
>
>> The idea you [Loree] are putting forward is, I believe, that to treat
>> an individual member of a class as if a statistical tendency of the
>> class automatically applied to the individual... rather than to treat
>> such a person AS an individual... is discrimination.
>
>Yes.
>
>> However, I consider such treatment to be prejudice, as one is
>> prejudging the individual based upon the tendencies of their
>> class, rather than judging him/her on his/her individual merits.
>> Perhaps discrimination is that action that is taken on the basis
>> of prejudice.
>
>It's even more complicated when we take into consideration the
>particular *action* that is taken. I heard a young black woman
>on the radio relate that where she lived, if she saw four black
>men coming down the street, she'd go to the other side, but
>would not do so if she saw four white men coming. (I don't
>really wish to speculate what the reasons could be for this;
>it's entirely possible, for example, that in her neighborhood
>black women are considered fair game by black men, but not by
>white men.)
>
>But it doesn't matter. Was she discriminating in the sense of
>definition 1? Or merely prejudiced? Or neither? Does her
>own race have a bearing?
>
>> From Random House Webster's College dictionary
>> (copyright 1999):
>>
>> Discriminate:
>> 1) to make a distinction in favor of or against
>> a person on the basis of the group or class
>> to which that person belongs, rather than
>> according to merit.
>
>> 2) to note or observe a difference.
>
There is allegedly a cultural tendency for black males to be more sexually direct and verbally aggressive in passes than white males (BLACK AND WHITE STYLES IN CONFLICT, Thomas Kochman), and this knowledge of that tendency generally could very well motivate this woman's prejudice against and subsequent discriminatory avoidance of particular members of this culture.
>
>Lee
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