Is Racism about appearance?

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by ElectricFetus, Apr 22, 2010.

  1. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    This March 2010 cover image from "Vanity Fair" was put together to show off the latest up and coming female stars of hollywood, aside for the apparent fact to be such a star you have to be emaciated, they all appear to be white. Cries of racism were imminently slammed on this magazine (to be fair though they probably were just portraying Hollywood selection, so it may just be Hollywood is racist). But some pointed out that two of the actresses technically qualify as actresses of color. Both of these actresses are of mix breed and clearly "pass" for white. This begets the question is racism about actually genealogy or about what you can pass for? I introduce exhibit B:

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    Aaah yes the iconic crying Indian, disheartened by the white man pollution of his sacred land, of course the man playing this oooh so famous scene is Espera Oscar de Corti, and italian! So then he white?, well not according to the Hollywood Native American community who honored him in 1995.

    Certainly many conservatives have pointed out how Obama is only "half-black" in a ignorant attempt to placate their own disgust for blacks in general and/or to put down liberals. It doesn't matter, obama looks "black".

    So again the question is, is racism distributed based on who a person technically is or on who they appear to be?
     
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  3. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Appearance. Mostly.
     
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  5. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Well thanks for agreeing, but how mostly, can a Asian women just get some surgery and maybe a change of name and *bam" be white? Can a black man become a white women and everyone will accept that?
     
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  7. sandy Banned Banned

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    Some racism is based on someone's experience with someone. Some is based on raw hate. Some is based on ignorance.
     
  8. BennyF Registered Senior Member

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    Race is unimportant.

    Thomas Jefferson, our third President, had a female slave by the name of Sally Hemmings. He had sex with her, and she got pregnant. She gave birth to a healthy child, who grew up and had children of her own. Those children grew up and had children of their own.

    http://www.monticello.org/plantation/hemingscontro/hemings-jefferson_contro.html

    Today, most of the descendants of that slave look more like Thomas than Sally.

    If you think you believe in the fictional concept of race, then answer me four questions.

    1. Was Sally's child black or white?

    2. Are the 21st Century descendants of Sally black or white?

    3. If her lineage changed from black to white, when did this happen?

    4. Does race really matter?
     
  9. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Why would one take the actions of a individual to assume the group? and hate and ignorance is not the cause but rather the outcome.

    Certainly it does to some people, as contrived and fictional as it is. Worship of the adult version of Santa Claus or some sky wizard of some sort is also very important to some people, does not matter how bull shit, bat shit insane it is.

    Lets take Hollywood as an example: certainly it matters to them that the main protagonist of almost all of their movies has to be a white male, "why no one could relate to a non-white male" they suppose. Race is important, even though it made up, its is the product of ancient instinct to set up "us" and "them" by the simplest least accurate means possible (appearance) and determine if someone is friend or adversary based on that.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2010
  10. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Who are the minorities in the above, anyway? Are they Native?
     
  11. The Marquis Only want the best for Nigel Valued Senior Member

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    Emaciated my ass. They look fine to me, especially that one bottom right.
    Racism is a crock excuse when it comes down to what you find attractive.
     
  12. BennyF Registered Senior Member

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    Let me rephrase what I just said, for those who like a clean argument, without any references to questionable history.

    In school, I learned that you can disprove something by assuming it to be true and then showing logically that this assumption NECESSARILY leads to a false conclusion, so let's assume that if you search the whole world, you will find a limited supply of races.

    Let's say that there are six of these mythical races, and let's assign them the first six letters of the alphabet, A through F.

    Now let's run through the "Romeo meets Juliet" scenario, re-enacted in the movie "West Side Story". A young man from the B race meets and falls in love with a young woman from the C race. No names are necessary, and no colors are necessary for this example.

    The B man marries the C woman and they have children. Are these children members of the B race or the C race? Could they be members of any other race? If you still want to cling to the myth that races do exist, then you'll have to come up with another mythical G race for these children to belong to, which negates the original assumption that there are only six races in all the world.

    The only other alternative, the one I chose a long time ago, is that race is unimportant and a mythical creation of some long-dead ancestors whose useless and potentially-hurtful concept deserves a decent burial.
     
  13. Mr MacGillivray Banned Banned

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    Blue-eyed blondes are actually not that common, so the group is representing a minority.
     
  14. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    What you find attractive is mostly due to what culture has taught you to find attractive.
     
  15. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Well we could all wish it to be dead, but it isn't its still alive and well.
     
  16. Neverfly Banned Banned

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    I'm not sure that this statement is true. I am not saying it's false...

    But I am sure there are genetic factors as well as a great many other factors that determine what a person finds attractive- not just culture alone.
     
  17. BennyF Registered Senior Member

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    Not in my mind, and that makes impossible for me to believe that any one mythical race is any better or any worse than any other mythical race, because all races are a mythical concept.

    Every single one.
     
  18. Neverfly Banned Banned

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    He means, the ignorance of racism is alive and well in Others

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  19. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    I said culture alone?
     
  20. sandy Banned Banned

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    Because maybe they had repeated bad experiences, saw bad reports and heard bad reports about the same group over and over so they concluded that the group must be bad.
    I disagree about Hollywood. Some of its biggest male stars are black--Will Smith, Denzel,Denzel Washington, Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne,Terrence Howard etc.
    There are lots of famous Hispanic guys, too. As well as mixed guys.
     
  21. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT ITS MYTHICAL!!! People are still using this mythos to oppress each other! People make the unreal real through action, god is not real but through their constant worship they make god, a non-existent nothing, causes existing and real effects every fucking day!

    The questions I posed is why and how to people do this (racism), and has no relevance to the fact its mythical.
     
  22. BennyF Registered Senior Member

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    If every new baby was taught from birth that race is a mythical concept and potentially hurtful because it can easily lead to actual bigotry, then the number of living racists would die out in a generation or two, laughed at all the way.
     
  23. Mr MacGillivray Banned Banned

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    What about the other minorities like aboriginals or Asians?
     

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