Racism - has the meaning become distorted?

axisus

The 'racism' card seems to get played left, right and centre these days on the lightest of whims. It seems to me that if any individual is the slightest bit offended by anything about their 'race' then they feel the need to shout 'racism'.

The Oxford dictionary defines racism thus:

Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.


Prejudice and discrimination are pretty heavy concepts, but antagonism 'can' be a far lighter touch. If one individual claims to be 'antagonised' by something is that sufficient to define it as racism? In August 2009 an opinion piece in The Guardian newspaper accused the Compare the Meerkat advert series of racism for mocking Eastern European accents, but there was no hate, malice or superiority displayed there? The adverts are very popular and no individual (other than the writer) has ever complained to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Personally, I do not feel offended when people 'take the piss' out of the English. It happens all the time on Family Guy for example, and I find it funny. Making fun of people of a particular race in humour is usually classed as racism, although it more often than not doesn't fall into the above definition. 

Any thoughts on the current state of the word 'Racism'?

Drew_TNBD

Set Fire To The Hive.

bingefeller

With the increased numbers of foreigners coming into the UK we have to tip toe around the issue of race now in case we offend anyone, so I think it's just safe we say pretty much everything is racist because no one can figure out who is offended over what any more. 

Reverend

It does seem to be very common for people to say that racism can only exist in the context of power.

Danny1969

Well traditionally being racist did tend to mean you though a different race was inferior, the Americans and their black slaves etc. I doubt there's a single educated person in the world who believes that now but these days we have other issues .... people dislike other races more to their believes, unequal rights for women, homophobia, treatment of animals etc . People do still call it racism though 

Mkjackary

I think it is stupid. You do a scottish accent and everybody is fine, you do a chinese/african/indian accent and people flip shit.

Maynehead

Mkjackary said:

I think it is stupid. You do a scottish accent and everybody is fine, you do a chinese/african/indian accent and people flip shit.

The difference is that with the latter, you are mocking someone who's native tongue isn't English for trying to speak English badly/with an accent. If you did a Chinese accent but actually spoke Chinese, no one would be calling you racist.

TheBlueWolf

It appears, at least to me, that the words racist and racism have become a throwaway comment by certain types either because they're too easily offended or in an attempt to divert away from subjects.

Actual racism is never cool and those being racist deserve to be called out on it but too often it seems to be a smokescreen.

I could be way off though

Drew_TNBD

Reverend said:

It does seem to be very common for people to say that racism can only exist in the context of power.

Irony being the people that say that shit ARE the racists!

Myranda

Semantics really... BUT being antagonised by something and antagonism aren't always synonymous someone BEING or FEELING antagonised doesn't mean racism is happening... take what Drew is often saying - without a little understanding it would be easy to think he was a misogynist. I don't think he is, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't think himself one either 

But... you've implied that prejudice and discrimination are heavy ... but these are REALLY broad in reality... think about any time you've put on a accent to imply someone was thick or stupid, or whatever... you've on at least the most basic level assumed that the nation of that accent is less bright than your own - there is no malice and no conscious superiority complex, but on a purely fundamental or literal level it ticks a box for the definition. I mean discrimination is literally about differences - accents are an easy to spot

On the topic of the term "Racism" yes, it's over used, but then a lot of people think that patriotism is good (even though it has to pre-suppose that your race is better... meaning the others are inferior... how is that not the very root of racism?)

And opinion pieces are only an opinion... 

strtdv

In some contexts (generally where it's used by white middle class Guardian readers) it has lost all meaning, and basically is an excuse by people who get offended too easily.

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

I guess for whatever reason we like to be around people who are "like us", or like the people we grew up with, and that extends to professional background, class, race, religion etc. so we all need to make an effort not to be racist.

Drew_TNBD

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

lloyd

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population.

I'm not too sure about this part of your point, I think they make up a higher proportion of the prison population (and IMO one of the reasons they're being shot in higher numbers-per capita than whitey) because they are committing more of the crimes.

US crime stats are fucking shocking of you break them down-young black males are massively overrepresented in the crime committing charts, a lot of that is down to the fact that they're massively overrepresented in the "being poor" charts, but I'm not sure if that's down to institutionalised racism.

When words like institutionalised racism or sexism are uttered, I'm often sceptical as it's largely an unprovable concept one way and it can be shown to be untrue in many concrete ways-that is people's rights are enshrined in legislation, which for me is how I'd describe "institutionalised"-that is you can discriminate openly on the basis of colour, creed, gender etc, there will always be racists/bigots/sexists/classists who don't want to promote a guy because he's black, too female, not Jewish, white, from the wrong school, wears brown shoes to an interview, but to be caught out doing so means an expensive legal bill and social stigma, which to me points away from an institutionalised concept of racism, quite the opposite.

There are plenty of examples in the uk and us where legislation actively discriminates against white males too, not one against ethnic minorities or females.

fields5069

Drew_TNBD said:

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

You'd have to go on reported crime, which itself could be skewed towards a particularly racial group.

lloyd

Lol, or you could grow a pair and point out what's up with what I wrote, but no you've got nothing.

Fucking knobber.

lloyd

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

You'd have to go on reported crime, which itself could be skewed towards a particularly racial group.

In what way, to what end and why? Genuine question, could reported crime not be an accurate representation of crime across the board? We all know crimes go unreported but are there any reports or data on crimes being unreported in greater or lesser number based on race?

Drew_TNBD

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

You'd have to go on reported crime, which itself could be skewed towards a particularly racial group.

How could reported crime be skewed towards (or away from) a particular racial group?

fields5069

Drew_TNBD said:

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

You'd have to go on reported crime, which itself could be skewed towards a particularly racial group.

How could reported crime be skewed towards (or away from) a particular racial group?

Using management jargon, Propensity To Stop potential criminals? i'm sure there's no way to prove anything, but I think an "even playing field" in that respect is highly unlikely. 

Drew_TNBD

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

You'd have to go on reported crime, which itself could be skewed towards a particularly racial group.

How could reported crime be skewed towards (or away from) a particular racial group?

Using management jargon, Propensity To Stop potential criminals? i'm sure there's no way to prove anything, but I think an "even playing field" in that respect is highly unlikely. 

So what? We just assume that something you can't prove is true? We go on reported crime... it *could* be skewed, so we can't trust those numbers... therefore if black people commit the most homocides, that shouldn't be a consideration when evaluating the statistic that they make up more than their fair share of the prison population?

What is the percentage of the USA that is Japanese, and what is the percentage of Japanese people in prison? Can we do the same sum for eskimos as well? Seems like we should cover all bases.

Drew_TNBD

And more to the point of the topic, here is a perfect example of the problem with modern outrage label-everything culture:
https://medium.com/@limitedsoftware/google-banned-our-game-satirizing-blacklivesmatter-for-hate-speech-except-all-the-speech-is-from-81e927a417e5#.nn2b7hjv6

lloyd

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

fields5069 said:

Drew_TNBD said:

strtdv said:

Having said that, there are clearly still major issues with institutional racism. For instance 12-13% of the population of the USA is black, but they make up 40% of the prison population, which is more than white people who make up 64% of the population. Black people make up 80% of those on death row, and 95% of prosecutors in states which have the death penalty are white.

Out of interest, do you have a breakdown on which races commit the most violent or severe types of crime?

You'd have to go on reported crime, which itself could be skewed towards a particularly racial group.

How could reported crime be skewed towards (or away from) a particular racial group?

Using management jargon, Propensity To Stop potential criminals? i'm sure there's no way to prove anything, but I think an "even playing field" in that respect is highly unlikely. 

Come on, we should ignore official stats because you think an "even playing field" is unlikely?

I have no idea what Propensity To Stop potential criminals means, could you explain?