WOW there is SO MUCH IGNORANCE in this thread!!! Let Me Explain A Few Things To ALL of you:
-ISM = thinking feeling believing or acting based on whatever comes before the ISM.
PERIOD. So YES, if you say MOST of this race or THIS race does THAT more, it doesn't matter that you don't mean ALL of them, it doesn't matter if you don't INTEND to sound racist, it doesn't matter if you SAY that YOU are not racist. Someone mentioned the difference between racism and bigotry earlier. One problem is that the term RACIST has been used when you're really talking about bigotry. While Racism is as wrong as almost all other ISMs, it is not itself about HATE, but only IGNORANCE. A Bigot is a person who embraces, lives, even loves their racist beliefs.
To make a generalization about a group of people based on their age is to make an ageist generalization. To promote sexist stereotypes is to make comments about people based on their gender.
IF YOU ARE USING RACE IN YOUR STATEMENT, IT IS BY DEFINITION RACIST.
You CANNOT say, "I'm not racist, it's just my personal observations that Whites are the most racist people." You CAN'T SAY THAT. WHY? Because you are making a generalization about WHITES. It doesn't matter if you're not saying all whites are racist. What matters is that you are using a LABEL and attributing characteristics to people under that LABEL. Most of the people that I have seen expressing racist stereotypes were black, do I say blacks are the most racist race? NO, because I am not IGNORANT enough to believe like SO MANY DO, that the color of their skin is even RELEVANT to ANYTHING. We are all INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEINGS. You cannot MAKE generalizations or stereotypes about large groups of us and expect them to make ANY sense, because NO MATTER how many individuals happen to conform to that stereotype, there will ALWAYS be enough who DON't to render the statement USELESS. Walk up to a random black person, white person, asian person, old person, gay person, whatever. Make a list of assumptions about that person based on stereotypes. What's the likelihood that that list is going to be 100% right. 50%? 10%?
The fact of the matter is that ISMS are NOT useful or reliable ways to LABEL people, they are detrimental to our coming together as we really should be able to, as the only race there is: The Human Race. Until we stop THINKing of black people as black people, white people as white people, asian women as lousy drivers, we will NEVER outgrow these STUPID racial divisions.
The past is what it is. There are things that have happened that should never have happened. They cannot be changed now. What can be changed now are our perceptions and attitudes toward our fellow HUMAN BEINGS, each of whom is as unique an individual as YOU are. With feelings that are as valid as yours are.
The people who like to say "oh, well there's blacks and there's N-words, and theres whites and theres white trash and theres blah blah asians hispanics etc." Are NOT helping things. IT's still JUST as racist and bigoted, it's just another way of saying "OH, my bigotry doesn't extend to ALL members of your race, so if it doesn't apply to you you can't be offended," The offensive words you use to refer to the individuals you don't like are offensive. EVERYONE should be offended to hear one person call another a "Spic." The N word has never left my mouth, nor my fingertips, nor will it. The fact that you can list off a bunch of them based on RACE shows that they ARE STILL RACIST.
ACCEPT that we are all unique individual HUMAN BEINGS.
There ARE no spics, chinks, white trash, N-words, whatever. Those are useless terms that keep us divided out of IGNORANCE. Ignorance and HATE are butt buddies. I can honestly say that I do not think of people based on irrelevant labels. It wasn't easy, it took time, our very SOCIETY programs us to categorize people by color or religion or whatever. Our BRAIN works by learning what to generalize and what to discriminate. You have to take an active role in changing how you think about people. I seriously do not think or talk about people's race AT ALL anymore. It is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to ANY intelligent thing you can think say or do. The only thing I can say about a black man is that he is black and male. THAT's it. Even then, his skin is rarely going to be "black" per se, there are a huge variety of shades of skin, most of them variants on brown. The only thing I can say about a "white woman" is that she is female. I can't even say she's white, because unless she's a full on albino, she ain't white.
THERE is NOTHING you can SAY THINK or DO to or about ANYone that will benefit in any meaningful way from including irrelevant demographic data such as race, age, etc. NOTHING. You say something about black people, you're WRONG, you say something about white people, you're WRONG. THAT simple. We can move beyond that foolish shit now. We don't need the "shortcut" to actually thinking about that person as a PERSON. We don't need to make guesses or assumptions about them. We need to view each and every human being we encounter as an individual worthy of love and respect. Because we all are. I love and respect you. But I will respect you a hell of a lot more if you all drop the ignorant race crap, K? THX
