Boards
Racism
I've been pondering this subject a lot today and now I will attempt to convey my thoughts in a coherant manner...
Question: is racism really All That Bad?
I mean, it's all politics really, is it not? Is discrimination on the basis of somebody's skin colour REALLY any worse than discriminating against somebody on the grounds of, say, height, weight, shoe size...whether they can roll their tongue? These are all traits that are determined by genetics too.
It seems that with skin colour, there's just a lot more baggage involved. Historically, white people have been cunts towards black people, and so sensitivity on the particular issue has been heightened. The same applies between other racial combinations, of course. Would a similar outcome have resulted if, say, historically, people of athletic build had been cunts towards obese people? Maybe not. What about if, say, 40/50 years ago, our government had then sought to attract fatties, specifically, to come and work in this country, and some people had adopted the perception that they were taking all the jobs? Perhaps then the push to eradicate discrimination against this group of people would indeed have been greater, thus making it a bigger issue. I think so, anyhow.
So surely it's all just dependent on local culture and history. But, given that I had no part in this history, why is it any more wrong for ME to make fun of somebody's skin colour above anything else? It's just what The People In Power tell me. OK, clearly, it would be wrong for me to kill somebody based on this. But it would be sort of wrong for me to kill somebody because they had size 15 feet, too; indeed, for any reason, right?
I don't know, I'm just rambling. I'm interested as to what other people think though. I'm not necessarily trying to argue a point. In general, I just think that people should be more laid back about things. I think the traits that differentiate us as humans are something that we should celebrate. Also something that we should be able to laugh about - after all, if somebody calls me a lanky-boat-footed-bald-headed...person, what do I have to be ashamed of? Yeah, I'm much taller than the average person, have huge feet and a receding hairline. That's me! Hi!
I also wouldn't consider myself racist. But I do like racially-orientated jokes and also like to take the piss out of my asian and arabic mates on grounds of their race (just as they do to me).
There's probably loads of things I've overlooked, too - feel free to fill me in.
Thoughts?