Saturday, February 21, 2015

Why Racism Doesn't Work



Racism doesn't help you personally, but rather hurts you.  So why bother?

I was on Reddit recently.  You really have to take a bath afterwords, as it is full of kooks and nuts.   If you hit "random" it will take you to some odious forums.  The place is a haven for racists, anti-government nuts, conspiracy theorists, and homophobes.

In other words, Americans.

One of the postings was a racist diatribe by a fellow who "bet" his friend that the perpetrator of a crime in his building would be black.   Of course, he used different words in describing this bet.  Pretty odious words.

I would not have taken that bet, not because I am racist and think all blacks are criminals, but that in actual crime statistics, black people are over-represented, both as perpetrators and as victims.  The law of probability, not racism, would make this a bad bet.  The odds were pretty even the perpetrator would be black.

But where I live, in an all-white enclave, the bet would be off.   You see, where we live, the poor people are mostly white, so the crimes are committed by.... ta-dah!  White people.   Funny how that works.

Blacks are over-represented in crime statistics, both as perpetrators and as victims simply because they are also over-represented in poverty statistics.   Poor folks live in poor neighborhoods, and they tend to think poor, think crime is a "solution" to their problems, and tend to be victims of crime as well.

Here in South Georgia, there are counties that are mostly white.   And there is a lot of "white trash" living in trailer parks and doing methamphetamine.   Guess who is committing all the crimes in those counties?  And guess who are the victims most of the time?   Poor white folks.

The idea that black people are more inclined to criminality is flawed. It is a funny thing, but successful black folks living a middle-class lifestyle are not likely to be burglarizing your house.   Actually, it is not a funny thing, but a predictable one.  Wealthier people are less inclined toward crime.

But what got me thinking was the person posting this sort of odious trash must not be a lot of fun to be around at parties.   He spews racist dialog, calls black people all sorts of names (some I never heard of) and claims that anyone who disagrees with him is an "[N-word] Lover."

As you can imagine, his dating prospects are pretty limited.  Any intelligent girl is not going to be inclined to want to date such a hateful, racist, person.  His only hope of finding a spouse is at a "white power" rally.

And in terms of finding and keeping a job, his sort of attitudes - which always eventually leak out - will make him toxic to employers.   No one wants a virulent racist on staff, as they turn away customers and create legal liabilities.
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Racism can become a feed-back loop in short order (as can conspiracy theories).  The racist drives away fellow humans by spouting racist theories.  He then blames his woes on minority groups, thus reinforcing his racist beliefs.
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And let's not forget that folks like him are the type that never do any real work anyway - and then blame their lack of advancement on "racial quotas" or whatnot.  The are losers of the first order, who externalize their problems by blaming convenient minority groups.  It is classic weak thinking.

It is like believing in conspiracy theories - how does that help you, personally?  The answer is, it doesn't.  It makes you a toxic person to be around, unpopular, unloved, unemployable.

I noted before I had a friend - who had an Engineering and Law degrees - who was inclined to believe in conspiracy theories.  He also got suckered into a "tax denial" scheme (even smart people can be dumb!) and he had a huge gun collection (but struggled to pay his bills) and of course, was virulently racist.

Not surprisingly, he found it hard to get and keep a job.   When he went out dating, most women took a pass on him, when he started spouting his unorthodox views.   But of course, when these things happened, rather than look inwardly and say, "Gee, maybe believing paranoid conspiracy theories and blaming all my personal troubles on blacks is really not working out for me, personally!" he doubled-down his bet and blamed all his troubles on blacks (for taking his job, or taking the women, or whatever).   Racism can become a feed-back loop in short order (as can conspiracy theories).  The racist drives away fellow humans by spouting racist theories.  He then blames his woes on minority groups, thus reinforcing his racist beliefs.  Perfect feedback loop.

Of course, everyone is a little racist.  That goes without saying - and people of all races are guilty of this.  There is a human instinct to be with people of your own "tribe" and that dates back to cave-man days.  It likely was a survival skill back then - and even today.

For example, I was recently at John U. Lloyd State Park in Ft. Lauderdale, and saw a sign there commemorating that the park used to be the "black beach" during the days of segregation.   What was interesting was that a black family was setting up a large wedding reception at the pavilion and all of the people and guests were black.  These folks apparently did not know even one white person.  One small child stared at me as if I was a man from Mars.   We have "integrated" legally in our society, but most of us still self-segregate in terms of race.   I live on an island which is essentially all-white.   There were more black people living here during the segregation era, when a section was set aside for blacks.   It is ironic, but predictable.  People like to self-segregate, to some extent.

But that sort of racism isn't what I am talking about.  And sadly, this sort of background racism is what many Liberals attack all the time, thinking that they can change people's behavior patterns.   We will always have some forms of racism until people interbreed to the point where racial differences don't exist.

Rather than focus on such trivial things, we should concentrate overt racism - the type that dominates a person's life and becomes the focus of their, well, rage.   These are the sort of people who are really dangerous and unhinged.  And sadly, their racism keeps reinforcing itself, until it becomes stronger and stronger and ends up taking over their lives, usually with tragic consequences.

And for the life of me, I cannot understand the point of these "White Supremacists".   If the folks going to "White Power" rallies are an example of the "superiority" of the white race, then the white race truly is in trouble!   Because they are all fucking morons and idiots!  Not a rocket scientist in the bunch.

Racism is a dead-end.  It isn't an "answer" to anything, either personally or on a national level.