16 replies to this topic

[Hotstud]

Racism has been around for millennia, but what with the globalization that has been going on for a while now everything is changing. There is the view that the kind of racism you see on the streets has been increasing over the years as cultures come closer together in a physical sense but clash due to racial and cultural differences. An example would be the clash between the French and the Arabs in the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, which was written in the 40s.

But when immigrants conceive and raise children on foreign land such as the United States, those children may adopt the culture of the U.S. and may consider themselves to be completely American. We have already witnessed a decrease in racism against blacks in America, despite the fact that it still exists. But is this because they have embraced American culture, there are many black people who have risen to prominent professions, or the American government has made no grudges against any African governments and/or sees no need to invade any African country?

If America went to war with, for example, Italy, does that mean that Italian Americans, regardless of their culture, would be persecuted?
Do you think that if, let's say, a huge amount of Pakistanis and lived there for two or three centuries, they would be as socially accepted as blacks, with regards to the relationship between the American and Pakistani governments? Would a large number of them have to attain power and prestige first, or else be considered as ghetto dwellers?

But there will always be war, and lest there be some kind of huge cataclysmic event in a single nation, the majority of a nation's citizens will stay there (I assume?). So there may always be racial stereotypes and such. But if, for example, the country of Pakistan becomes uninhabitable for whatever reason, and they all migrate to America, the typical stereotype of a poor Pakistani may change significantly.

Or would discrimination against certain races just stay the same?

I haven't come up with a decision, and this is all completely off the top of my head, so pardon me if I have made any incorrect/inaccurate statements.

Edited by HSK, Aug 10, 2010 - 08:37.

[Tilia]

Well, I hope it'll decrease. However, there are some sad trends around the world at the moment. With the upcoming election in my country, the xenophobic party is very close to getting a mandate, and in the neighbouring countries, their xenophobic parties are growing too. In the part of the town where I live, there's been a lot of fights between foreign teenagers and the police, the police being accused of racism. The teens have been fighting, putting cars on fire, etc, etc.

Let's just hope that we one day can live in peace without any prejudices.

[x___x]

I have no idea and can't even make any predictions to whether racism is going to decrease or not. Racism, you see, is changing as time passes. I mean it changes from racial, to religious, and so on. I don't know if it's ever going to end. But let's think positive and hope that it will, so that one day, we can live peacefully.
To know if racism is ever going to end, we have to look at the problem up close. What makes people become racists? I think the reason is that those racist people "see" themselves as superior in a particular aspect/ see their religion the only truth/ see their race the purest!
So, in the end, racism starts with emotions and personal perspectives/ points of view. To decrease racism, we have to alter points of view. Is that possible? Why not?
*Here, in the Gulf, we have a new kind of racism, or shall I say new kinds of racism? Point is, we have a combination of every single kind of racism. It hurts, but that's the truth. Not that everyone is bad here, no, there are so many good people out there; trying to prove that racism is only a stupidity. Racism here is not hitting, fighting, or killing, but it's emotional, which is worse!  
But the problem does not exist only in the Gulf, it exists everywhere. Girls from our school went into an educational trip to UK. Those girls were wearing Hijab (scarves), covering their hair. Some people in the UK were treating them badly, and saying bad words just because they were wearing Hijab! It's annoying how people treat you differently, in a bad way, just because you believe in God, and you're trying to fulfill what he wants from you!
I can go on and on forever, giving real stories, but let's just stop here. Let's first free our own hearts from racism, and then go and try to free others from racism. I'm sure that if EVERYONE of us worked on their hearts to free it from racism, racism will, inshallah,  eventually cease to exist  

Sorry to write this much, I got carried away  

[Caustica]

I do not think that we were less racist in the past. In those times, we lived in towns that only included one race, so it was impossible to be racist. We didn't travel as much; we couldn't. I guess that it could be said that we were ignorant. But transportation has improved dramatically in the past century or two, and as a result, races now mingle daily, and clashes follow. It is not that we are becoming more racist; it is that we have suddenly been hurled into a world of races, and unsure of how to react, we have chosen the defensive, we-are-the-best-and-you-are-not way. However, I think we are becoming less racist, and laws have been passed, and our thoughts are evolving too. We have seen the blood the racism sheds, and we do concede that it is a Bad Thing. Although racism is still a huge problem today, it is a less huge problem that it was a century ago, and the next generation will most likely grow up less racist and more tolerant than the previous.

In short, racism hasn't been around before when we lived in worlds of one race; it surfaced when we started to mingle and brought calamity with it. As a result, we are trying to eradicate racism, and - I think - succeeding, if a little slowly. At least, that is what I hope!

[Ishaan]

I think it will decrease....well at least in my country I have realized that the kids who go to places like USA and UK to study find it very easy to adjust because westernization has hit us pretty well already...Now Racism happens because the people living in an area feel threatened by the people around them (because of their cultures or behavior...whatever) but once they see that we behave and act like them...they are WAY more hospitable. I think westernization of all the countries in this world is great. Sure it brings a lot of crap also but it gives us youngsters a way more open and liberal mindset.

[theloserwins]

Globalizaion = Increased exposure to other races.
But that also means more education on accepting other races?

So... eventually it will decrease. But it will never be 0.

[Grumps]

I'm gonna be racist as long as I live? Why? Because someone's race IS a way to learn a bit about them. There are lots of factors, but the main is that it is common knowledge that people conform to stereotypes, even if they fight against it, the racism is STILL effecting them. Race will always be useful when learning about people, so I will always be racist.

I won't burn black people or anything, but I will make decisions and judgements with people's race in mind.

[Sandwich]

Grumps, on Sep 02, 2010 - 02:02, said:

I'm gonna be racist as long as I live? Why? Because someone's race IS a way to learn a bit about them. There are lots of factors, but the main is that it is common knowledge that people conform to stereotypes, even if they fight against it, the racism is STILL effecting them. Race will always be useful when learning about people, so I will always be racist.

I won't burn black people or anything, but I will make decisions and judgements with people's race in mind.

I agree with this. I mean, I make judgements about my 'own' race. Judging people is, in my opinion, fine with the proviso that it's a preliminary judgement which you don't rely on and can be changed. I'd say that's the same for all judgements, to be honest.

This isn't true for all parts of the United Kingdom, but where I live is extremely multicultural (especially when you consider it in the context that, in my grandparent's days, they'd never seen anybody without white skin). All of the towns near me have got significant non-native-British looking populations of up to about 25% (at a guess), from all over, and even more people if you count immigrants who, at face value, appear to look native (for instance there're lots of people who've moved here from Eastern Europe). In many ways this opens lots of doors for racism, especially people who believe that foreign labour has come and taken "British jobs" (thank-you BNP e__e), despite evidence being that they're exactly the jobs British people don't want to do, and when they do do them, they do them less than half as well. Often, and especially with first generation immigrant communities and consequently their offspring, people move here in clumps and form mini satellite communities. Most do, but some don't even speak English because they can live in such places without having to.

To be honest, I see society becoming more like this in the long run. I think we're going to get much more travel and much more exposure, and consequently many more clashes. 'Racism' is a cover for all sorts of grievances in society -- I mean just going by the local ones I see, resentment at isolation and a lack of desire or effort to learn the language on the behalf of a few, resentment that there's foreign competition in the job market during a period of very high unemployment.. etc.

What I would say is that I don't think this is racism in the traditional sense (although I'm sure there's still some of that :/ ). The 'racism' I hear most about is about this kind of resentment, not so much prejudices, assumptions and discrimination. I think that these sorts of things settle down as gradually communities blend together. For instance, we have many Italian immigrants who immigrated so long ago that people have forgotten there's a big Italian population until suddenly Italy win a football match and all the flags come out. But I think that these things take time, and there're more communities than ever choosing to move around, so I think that although these things will resolve themselves, they'll get worse for a time before they get better. So much of it is dependent on the state of the country and economy.

[wombat123]

I live in the Vancouver area of Canada, one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There is generally little to no very serious racism, but jokes are made about race all the time. There are stereotypes and whatnot, but it doesn't cause any harm for the most part. It's mostly stuff like "Asians are good at math" and the sort.

[Jazmine]

I hope and continue to hope it gets better but dont most things get worse before it gets better? Have the worst times already pass us? Globalization will help this huge issue but what else can help?

[rummandcoke]

Well, I'm an Indo-Canadian, so I haven't faced racism explicitly. But racially-related jokes and stereotypes? Definitely. I've been lucky to have lived in two of the most multicultural places in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), and most of my friends and even myself, will stereotype. However, when that goes too far, and you begin to make long-standing judgments about a group of people based simply on where they are from, then it's a huge problem. Generally though, racism is triggered by fear. The less you know of people, the more likely you are to fear them, especially if that group of people have already been painted with a certain brush (ie. ALL Arabs are terrorists etc.). This, I think, would decrease the more you learn about others and the more you interact with people of other cultures.

Then again, I do think we're all racist to a certain extent. In our daily lives, we do make judgments based on skin colour, ethnicity, etc. As long as those judgments don't become a long-term assumption, and people genuinely try to  keep an open mind about things, then racism will decrease. But it will never completely go away. That's kind of a pipe-dream. We can come to an understanding, maybe, and try to put a stop to violence/hatred based simply on race, but it will always occur. It's kind of human nature.

[superassification]

i think the focus is shifting.. from blacks to muslims/pakistanis (blame the terrorists)

also, in the world where once people told 'black' jokes, they now tell jokes on  jewish, muslim, palestinian and other races

[A to Zed]

Like theloserwins stated earlier with the ever increasing power of globalization there will be more exposure to other cultures which should at least dampen racisms future spread. I've personally never experience "serious" racism where the other party meant to belittle me because of my ethnicity but Asian jokes and stereotyping is always a topic me and my friends use to amuse ourselves, of course we only make jokes pertaining to our own ethnic group which is why it is "acceptable".

As I see it racism will only be on the decline as an ignorant being in our society is more than likely not long for this world, but it would be extremely optimistic to believe racism will disappear altogether, as there will always be that group that chooses to continue teaching hate and discrimination.

[febreezick]

Grumps, on Sep 02, 2010 - 02:02, said:

I'm gonna be racist as long as I live? Why? Because someone's race IS a way to learn a bit about them. There are lots of factors, but the main is that it is common knowledge that people conform to stereotypes, even if they fight against it, the racism is STILL effecting them. Race will always be useful when learning about people, so I will always be racist.

I won't burn black people or anything, but I will make decisions and judgements with people's race in mind.

Okay, wow. Racism is not the awareness or acknowledgement of race. Racism, as a social construct, is racial prejudice plus racial power. It's a racial group (and members of that group) that has social power who use that social power to oppress another racial group, and members of that group, simply because they are a different race.

I really don't think that it is common knowledge that people will conform to stereotypes. In fact, I've never heard that. I can't speak for other people but I have never known an individual to truly conform to stereotypes about them.

I will agree that racism does affect people. Of course being oppressed affects people, but it doesn't make them conform to the ideas other people use to oppress them. However, being a certain race isn't guaranteed to influence anything beyond your skin-color. To say otherwise is to stereotype and stereotypes aren't useful when trying to understand another person. All stereotypes will do is give you a pre-conceived notion about how this person is. It doesn't give them room to be anything other than what you perceive them to be in your eyes. This isn't exactly conductive to understanding somebody.

Anyway, it makes me so happy that you won't commit violent acts against a group of people. You should be really proud of yourself.

[Trololol Marf]

I don't know much about worldly issues, but here's my opinion.

I actually think racism will increase instead of decrease. Globalization has its affects on the world, but I think this is partially just a "face" for people to believe that racism is changing for the better. There are non-profit organizations that put together traditional get-together awesomeness, and I commend their efforts. But in the end, how much does this actually do compared to some of the hatred that builds inside so many people? Let me raise some points.

The world population is rising without much control. What does that mean for our quality of education? Kids will be poorly taught in ethics and social issues. As our lines of resources thin, we will be fighting other countries over them. And then, finally, we will come to hate them for the wrong reasons.

I've developed a speculation in history that the number of countries in the world will only grow, not shrink. Split apart countries often "happen" because of allegedly corrupt government, people wanting power, etc. As the number of borders increase, there may be arguments for land, and people, ordinary people, caught up in political issues, may find the wrong reasons to hate people from other countries.

A person's sense of patriotism is also something that may be a cause for racism. As biased media and poor education or quality of life subliminally affect their mind, they may behave unethically.

Please, correct me if I am wrong! I don't watch the news or anything!

[Ezak]

Well, is being racially aware really to be racist? I mean, it's sometimes bad to stereotype, but sometimes you can't really use any other form of judgement. with that said I don't believe that you should discriminate people becuse of where they are from, or what kind of faith they have. Also I believe you are in some way tied to what kind race you belong to in the sense that some skills correalates to what kind of ancestry you have ( africans generally have a better constitution for long distance running and what not).

Furthermore the trends we see of today are indeed worrysome, but it is nothing new. It'll oscillate between opinions like it always has. But in the end we'll have to see where the political climate is going towards.

[khalid]

I personally think racism will decrease, Society are more open now and they're used to different people now. However, there is still racism going on despite all this