Quote:
Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45
No, it would not be an overgeneralizaton to state that racism influences who we are just like it would not be an overgeneralizaton to state that materialism influences us. Don't confuse racism with discrimination because they are not the same.
Racism is a social doctrine, not an action. Its similar to materalism (hence the -ism in both words). We all have materalistic influences because we were raised in a materalistic society and we, even people of color, all have racist influnces because we were raised in a racist society.
Does this mean you mean you are basing your views on race? No. I am stating that because of we are raised in a racist society it is impossible to seperate race from this issue.
Racism is not just prejudice idiots. Racism is anything that has to deal with putting one "race" of people above another. This can mean joining the KKK, this can mean going out of your way to help people of color, or it could mean that you have inital racist thought that you autmoatically discard and never act upon. Some types of racism are extremely bad and some are ones we can never rid from ourselves.
So, since we all, or vast majority, have instinctual internal racist thoughts we can conclude that we are subconciously racist to a point, even if we never act upon it. And since we are subconciously racist, that can influence our views on who is a productive member of society or not without us knowing.
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Much of what you have stated may be true in a sociology class. In reality I don't think that most people think that way, nor could you generalize about society at large. There are some who are racist regardless of color and nothing is going to change the majority who think like that. It is my opinion that the majority of people don't think or function in society within a racist framework.
Further you have stated that "we all, or vast majority, have instinctual internal racist thoughts" and I think you would have a difficult time proving that notion. So I would have to reject that notion as being your opinion because I disagree.