The race card

JKool · 01-23-2005, 10:41 AM

Turbo, an interesting question.

Discrimination is hard to define because it is a word we use for so many things. I can (and do) discriminate between a good pass and a bad pass (e.g. one that goes backward 25 yards, I deem bad). Thus, some discriminations (of this kind here) are good and some bad; it must be some other feature of them that makes them good or bad.

The kind of discrimination you seem to have in mind is something like, using the definitions above, prejudice about race that is acted on for the purpose of x. I\'m not sure what the x is here. If we knew that, we might be able to say a lot more. What happened to you wasn\'t racism on Danno\'s definition because it wasn\'t done out of hate (or with the intent to harm you because of your skin color), but what it was is a bit unclear (though clearly a discrimination of some kind, as you were judged different from others).

Prejudice, as pretty well everyone here seems to agree, is in itself harmful (as it involves a lack of good evidence), but we all do it (just as we all discriminiate, as in my example of picking out differences among things) because we don\'t have time to gather all the evidence. Thus, I suspect prejudice about things like race will take a long time to go away.

I think it is wise to judge people on the basis of their behaviors; this, it seems to me, will lead to less prejudice (unless we misjudge why someone is doing something, and in turn perhaps misidentifying the behavior itself).

Here is also an interesting thought. I believe it was in the late 60\'s, but \"race\" is no longer a concept that is commonly used by biologists. Genetics and cultural concepts have replaced it. Thus, I am told, in biology, people are identified by their genetic code (something we all have in common), phenotype (the expression of that genetic code - e.g. having blue eyes or being tall), and the social norms (etc) that aid in structuring their beliefs. Thus, \"race\" is not a biological fact in our best scientific theories; it is a throw back to an old, and apparently mostly false, science.

01-23-2005, 10:41 AM	#26
JKool 1000 Posts + Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 2,423	The race card Turbo, an interesting question. Discrimination is hard to define because it is a word we use for so many things. I can (and do) discriminate between a good pass and a bad pass (e.g. one that goes backward 25 yards, I deem bad). Thus, some discriminations (of this kind here) are good and some bad; it must be some other feature of them that makes them good or bad. The kind of discrimination you seem to have in mind is something like, using the definitions above, prejudice about race that is acted on for the purpose of x. I\'m not sure what the x is here. If we knew that, we might be able to say a lot more. What happened to you wasn\'t racism on Danno\'s definition because it wasn\'t done out of hate (or with the intent to harm you because of your skin color), but what it was is a bit unclear (though clearly a discrimination of some kind, as you were judged different from others). Prejudice, as pretty well everyone here seems to agree, is in itself harmful (as it involves a lack of good evidence), but we all do it (just as we all discriminiate, as in my example of picking out differences among things) because we don\'t have time to gather all the evidence. Thus, I suspect prejudice about things like race will take a long time to go away. I think it is wise to judge people on the basis of their behaviors; this, it seems to me, will lead to less prejudice (unless we misjudge why someone is doing something, and in turn perhaps misidentifying the behavior itself). Here is also an interesting thought. I believe it was in the late 60\'s, but \"race\" is no longer a concept that is commonly used by biologists. Genetics and cultural concepts have replaced it. Thus, I am told, in biology, people are identified by their genetic code (something we all have in common), phenotype (the expression of that genetic code - e.g. having blue eyes or being tall), and the social norms (etc) that aid in structuring their beliefs. Thus, \"race\" is not a biological fact in our best scientific theories; it is a throw back to an old, and apparently mostly false, science.
	"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks