/me agrees with Percy, particularly Roachboy's quote here:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by roachboy
racist pseudo-explanations knit themselves into the "common sense" of people who experience anxieties about a range of factors (economic stability, social position in a changing world, "the war on terror" particularly in the way the bushpeople stage it--that is as unmotivated politically, as a conflcit between good (white christians) and evil (brown muslims) etc. etc. etc.). it functions to shape projections based in these anxieties onto others in the world. it is an example of the usage of racism as a kind of collective therapy, a way of avoding political dimensions, of displacing it onto a different register.
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As for the question of poverty: Ustwo, have ya been to the Middle East lately? There aren't millions of rich people running around. In fact, there are very few, and those are VERY rich, yes. But they are far from being the majority. Check out the movie Syriana for a semi-decent portrayal of what drives people to violence in that, or any, area of the world.
Poverty does not
determine behavior 100%, I certainly agree. But being black or brown or living in a ghetto does not a violent person make. Material conditions have a very strong impact on culture and social organization in particular, no less so in the Middle East than right here in affluent America. Infrastructure is the foundation of structure and superstructure, not the other way around. And certainly, race is not the foundation of behavior... (can't believe I actually had to say that).
(I suppose we are getting off topic. Sorry.)