Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - What's the closest possible genetic relation I could have to my Korean girlfriend?

jorgelito · 04-24-2005, 02:42 PM

Ok guys, I appreciate your patience here.

Let me try to sum:

Skin color, instead of being a "racial" characteristic, is more simply a variation among the human race. So, race in effect, is a false notion (beyond the psychological) and is essentially meaningless.

Because stereotypes are often grounded in "racial terms" I wanted to explore the topic to see if I could dispel or confirm so-called racial values. Jaco's response is the one I typically hear and it "sounds" somewhat reasonable. Given the input from Raveneye and 1010011010, then one could NOT assume that Asians are smart, blacks are athletically gifted, Latinos are prone to crime, etc...etc..

So who's right? Raveneye? Jaco? I don't think PBS is biased in fact, it is usually pretty well-informed (as far as I can tell).

As far as stereotypes borne out of fear? Quite simple: The black man is a bogeyman and archetype for crime. The steroetypes asscociated with black males exacerbated by the media etc contribute to a culture of fear of black men (where did you get the penis thing, LOL?) Bush sr. campaign featuring Willie Horton is one example. Same with how merchants are automatically more suspicious of black in their stores. blah,blah etc,etc..

Look at right now. Our country is in hysterics over the "fear of Muslims and Arabs" or anything that looks like one. My Indian roomate is like: WTF?, I am not Arab nor Muslim but people harrass him and call him Osama and stupid shit. Where was the round-up of white,males with shaved heads after Oklahoma? Or Atlanta?

And here irony for you: My hardcore right-wing Israeli friend has a "Persian-sounding" last name. He is ALWAYS singled out of line at the airport and has red circles on his boarding pass. He always gets mad for being treated like an "Arab" (I don't think he sees the irony). I would say most certainly stereotypes are borne out of fear. Not just physical fear but economics too. Look at them Jews, calculating with their hook noses and weird ways. When people feel threatened, they respond by "scapegoating" or whatever. We don't stereotype the countless illegal Irish and English nannies that come here nor do we freak out over the Russian ones. But suddenly, we are under attack from the south by a flood of Mexicans etc. We need someone to blame or fear, we choose someone that's different.

Either way, stereotyping is just wrong.

In your racial profiling scenario, I would agree. Because it;s a spceific description. But generally, racial profiling is defined as randomly stopping people for no other reason than the color of their skin. If someone robbed a bank and the APB was for a black male then yes, obviously you would pursue that. But racial profiling is when you see a bunch of blak kids or Latino kids and you stop them for no reason etc. or pull someone over because they're black.

04-24-2005, 02:42 PM	#26 (permalink)
jorgelito All important elusive independent swing voter... Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia	Ok guys, I appreciate your patience here. Let me try to sum: Skin color, instead of being a "racial" characteristic, is more simply a variation among the human race. So, race in effect, is a false notion (beyond the psychological) and is essentially meaningless. Because stereotypes are often grounded in "racial terms" I wanted to explore the topic to see if I could dispel or confirm so-called racial values. Jaco's response is the one I typically hear and it "sounds" somewhat reasonable. Given the input from Raveneye and 1010011010, then one could NOT assume that Asians are smart, blacks are athletically gifted, Latinos are prone to crime, etc...etc.. So who's right? Raveneye? Jaco? I don't think PBS is biased in fact, it is usually pretty well-informed (as far as I can tell). As far as stereotypes borne out of fear? Quite simple: The black man is a bogeyman and archetype for crime. The steroetypes asscociated with black males exacerbated by the media etc contribute to a culture of fear of black men (where did you get the penis thing, LOL?) Bush sr. campaign featuring Willie Horton is one example. Same with how merchants are automatically more suspicious of black in their stores. blah,blah etc,etc.. Look at right now. Our country is in hysterics over the "fear of Muslims and Arabs" or anything that looks like one. My Indian roomate is like: WTF?, I am not Arab nor Muslim but people harrass him and call him Osama and stupid shit. Where was the round-up of white,males with shaved heads after Oklahoma? Or Atlanta? And here irony for you: My hardcore right-wing Israeli friend has a "Persian-sounding" last name. He is ALWAYS singled out of line at the airport and has red circles on his boarding pass. He always gets mad for being treated like an "Arab" (I don't think he sees the irony). I would say most certainly stereotypes are borne out of fear. Not just physical fear but economics too. Look at them Jews, calculating with their hook noses and weird ways. When people feel threatened, they respond by "scapegoating" or whatever. We don't stereotype the countless illegal Irish and English nannies that come here nor do we freak out over the Russian ones. But suddenly, we are under attack from the south by a flood of Mexicans etc. We need someone to blame or fear, we choose someone that's different. Either way, stereotyping is just wrong. In your racial profiling scenario, I would agree. Because it;s a spceific description. But generally, racial profiling is defined as randomly stopping people for no other reason than the color of their skin. If someone robbed a bank and the APB was for a black male then yes, obviously you would pursue that. But racial profiling is when you see a bunch of blak kids or Latino kids and you stop them for no reason etc. or pull someone over because they're black.