From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Wed Sep 25 2002 - 00:07:42 MDT
> (Lee Corbin <lcorbin@tsoft.com>):
> Racism is wrong because it suppresses individual
> characteristics [in favor] of group characteristics.
> The truth is that the human race is composed of human
> *individuals*, and that's not nearly so true about the
> other higher animals. Every time racist statements are
> pronounced, entire groups are denigrated to the extent
> that no allowance is made for within-group variation,
> and no allowance is made for the truth that a person is
> an *individual*.
>
> It follows, then, that views made about *individuals*
> based upon the groups to which they belong are both
> in error and are *wrong*. And, by that latter, I mean
> exactly that I disapprove wholeheartedly.
You're on the right track, but I think the truth is both
simpler and more complex. Racism is wrong because--and
only when--it is irrational. Prejudice, like any
generalization, if often quite rational; but is a shortcut
for reason. When that's all the information you have, it's
fine to notice it and use it; the error is in persisting in
the use of prejudice even after better information is
available, or in using mistaken generalizations.
A doctor who failed to note the race of his patients, for
example, and use that information to help guide his diagnoses
and treatment plans is a bad doctor, and would be endangering
the lives of his patients. Group features exist: certain
groups have different likelihoods of different conditions,
and tend to respond differently to medications, etc. One
should use that information when it's available. One should
also /seek/ that information. A medical study that looks
for and reports correlations by race is a better study than
one that doesn't, because it enables doctors to use that
information when they have none better.
The error comes in either using generalizations that weren't
based on good information, or in clinging to generalizations
when you /do/ know more about the individual. It's fine to
use race to help diagnose and treat someone; but when you do
find that black kid with Tay-Sachs or the Swede with
sickle-cell, you must abandon the generalization in favor
of your more specific knowledge. But the next time a patient
comes in, you should test the black guy for sickle-cell.
To do anything else would be irrational and wrong (until, of
course, you get enough evidence to change your generalizations
as well).
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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