Racism And Prejudice - Defined?

[iGuest 3]

Knowledge vs. IgnoranceRacism And Prejudice - Defined?

Ive been thinking alot about this lately and I feel like the word prejudice should mean something different than it does (or maybe there is another word that would be appropriate).  To me the word prejudice seems to mean judging something based on preconcieved notions and the term racism is to believe that someone is something purely based on their race.  It might not seem like much of a difference, but here is an example:

 If I am in an unfamiliar neighborhood and the population is largely black, I might be more alarmed because black neighborhoods are more traditionally more dangerous.  Now I don't think this is because black people are by nature more violent.  But if you were to look at facts, there tends to be more crime in neighborhoods that are primarily black.  The reason for this is mostly socioeconomic, which is a result of history not genetics.   

 If I was in a room and two people I didn't know walked in, and the only notable difference between them was race and I assumed that the black guy was a criminal and the white guy was an upstanding citizen, then that would be racism. 

 If you make a statement about Asian's owning nail shops or Jew's being accountants that is not racist (assuming that it is not paired with a negative statement).   Generally, when groups of people from one place immigrate, they either know or are drawn to people from the same place.  So if you are from Korea and you come to the United States, and you are looking for a job, you might get a job in a nail shop because it is Korean owned.  And the affect of this happening en masse is that a good number of nail shops are run by Korean's  If there is a Korean person working at an advertising firm, and your thought is why is this person working at an advertising firm, Korean's are only good at giving manicures, this is racist.

thoughts?

[iGuest 3]

Racism And Prejudice - Defined?Racism And Prejudice - Defined?

My husband and I argue about this all the time. We perceive things very differently when it comes to racism vs prejudice. I think racism is based on hate of a particular race, culture, or ethnicity. Prejudice is just an idea about something or someone based on visual factors, race, ethnicity, culture, etc. For instance to say that overweight people are that way because they all overeat and have no self control is a prejudice statement. You are making a generalization based on visual appearance. Usually prejudice staments are based from ignorance or lack of knowledge about a certain person. Or black people are superior to non-blacks as far as athletic ability (prejudice). Racism, on the other hand, is to say I hate black people because they have superior atheletic abilties to non-blacks. So racism can develope from prejudice. In another instance the popular movie 'White Men Can't Jump', that is not racism but a prejudice based on the idea that white people are not as atheletically inclined as non-whites.

-reply by Qt_K

[dangerdan 0]

I would define racism as a prejudgement of character based on race.Racism is a specific (probably most common) form of prejudice and in that sense the two could be used synonymously.

[iGuest 3]

Yea.. SO???Racism And Prejudice - Defined?

I don't understand what is the big deal here... Racism is a form of discrimination and will always exist whether you like it or not.

Discrimination is the main problem here. It can be based on race, religion and many other factors. The simple truth is people don't know or try to understand people different from their own perceived qualities. People like to be with others they can relate to, for some it may be colour of skin or for others religion and so on.

The real issue in my opinion cant be solved because ANY "group" whether black, white or in between are in MAJORITY would always want things to be advanageous to them because they will have the power, in a democratic society simply because its human nature.

 So unless by some miracle we give up our selfishness and ego, and truly try to understand other people there can never be an end. I may be pessemistic but I am sure about this. I can imagine a caucasian family if ever moved (obviously not as tourists) to India, they would be so heavily stereotyped and discriminated simply because they would be different from the locals.

-reply by Chander Siddarth

[iGuest 3]

Reponse Racism And Prejudice - Defined?

Boy, for a southern man who claims not to be racist, you sure have a problem with with black people. Of course blacks are treated differently, they are black, and not all blacks have problems with whites. Racism is taught, and it seems to me that living in the south, it is taught more often that it is up north. If you claim not to be racist, then you should really stop complaining about blacks.

-reply by Alan

[iGuest 3]

The real issueRacism And Prejudice - Defined?

You guys have it all backwards and mixed up.

 Read the original question that started this discussion-

"I would be very interested to hear what people take the word to mean, and whether they think they use it in the proper way all the time."

Everyone uses the word racism or racist incorrectly - for a reason.  They use it because it incites more emotion and reaction than the word prejudice.  Racism is simply the belief that ones race dictates ones abilites and capabilites / that the differences between races makes one race superior to the other. Simple

99% of the time someone cries racism/racist they should have used the word prejudice - an irrational hostility or negative atttitude towards a certain group, individual or race.  But the word prejudice is way too vanilla so they use the amped up replacement of racism.

If you profile or discriminate or make a judgement about someone based solely on their race it's prejudice

-reply by happydan

[iGuest 3]

Racism is the preference of one race over another. Prejudice is racism in action. Meaning prejudice presupposes power. No power , no prejudice. Racist/ Yes...Prejudice? no

Cops can be both racist and prejudice because they may have hatred towards blacks and they have power to affect the lives of blacks (arrest , beating , rodney king etc)

[iGuest 3]

Dan. This is where you are wrong. You just defined Prejudice. Society has gotten to you as well. They are not the same word, but people think they are, but in reality they are two entirely different words. Prejudice isn't always race.

-reply by Jimmy

[iGuest 3]

The real definitionRacism And Prejudice - Defined?

Sadly, happydan is the only one who got it right. No one else included the real definition or relation of racism. Racism is not prejudice. Racism is not prejudice based on race. Racism is believing you race is higher than another. White Supremacy is racism, but someone saying they are afraid of blue people is not racist. That's being prejudice. Someone saying "I'm better then blue people" is racism. Stop making your own secular definitions. Make a new word rather than pretending you are using the word right.

-reply by Jimmy

 

[iGuest 3]

White southerners are mistaken for racist rednecks. They say that we treat black people unfairly, and we need to give them sympathy.
Well let me tell you something that me and almost every other southerner thinks of all you liberal democrats. We are not racist at all. Yea they have the KKK but that doesn't mean every southerner is in it.

We feel so sorry for all these black people and we give them special treatment. Everything you see on the news is always about white people being racist to black people. Black people are never considered racist. Black people get more special treatment than white people. You can't talk about black people on TV.

But black people can talk about white people. White people that say "*BLEEP*", get jumped at school. And black people that say cracker? Nothing happens to them. We offended a black person in gena 6. They about killed that white guy that did that and now everyone is on the criminals side? Thats ridiculous. No they shouldn't of hung that noose.

But now it's a felony? What if a black guy offends a white guy? are they gonna make them stop offending us? I don't think so. Black people are always complaining that everything is there fault because they are black. Yea black people do get treated differently.

They get away with stuff and they take advantages over white people. Slavery was in the 1700's and 1800's so stop trying to say you care because I bet only 18 of black people actually care. They just use that as an excuse.

A scientist at Harvard University discovered that black people and white people think differently, and this is why they have different opinions. They fired him for being racist.

-Alex

what are you talking about slavery was over two centuries ago but there is still a whole system of racism that is institutionalized that is never gona go away untill everyone are muts. I dont know what advantages you see going on, but all I see is nice beautifull streets with excellents school systems where most white people live and liquor stores horrible school where the blacks live. Most schools dont even bother to educate parents and students about how to attain financial aid and apply to college. Excuse you Mr. southerner because someone might called you a cracker one day. *BLEEP*r stands for the centuries we were inslaved and forced to build riches that still bennefits most whites around the world. I come from one of the former slave trading posts in Africa, and I'm of mixed race and everyday I have to act a certain way to keep from scaring some people that go around telling themselves that every black person has some hostile vegence to serve upon them. The only wway it could be fare is if the whites gave back all that we produced that today gives them an advantage today. we all know that isnt going to happen anytime soon, we continue to live in a very racism America and world at large. At least when you walk into a store your not automatically expected to take something.

[iGuest 3]

Debates like this go around for days. I was talking to my roommate last night who got a girl fired @ Applebee's the other night while we were at dinner. I won't go into the story because it's not important. What's important is that he considered her racist because she made some remark about asking the fellow bartender to use his asian calculation skills to help her with her ticket. I think that's a compliment to asian people as well as to the fellow bartender (who was white not asian).There was no hate accept by my roommate who asked the girl what nationality do you think I am? (Ok I'm gonna paraphrase the story). She asked "African American?" He said "I ain't never been to Africa a day in my life! I'm american!" Then he proceeded to tell me that she was a racist (the female was white by the way). I don't know about you but the person who seems racist in the scenario seems to be my roommate. He told the manager that she asked if he was African and the manager fired her on the spot (I walked aut before knowing the nationality of the manager).I hate to say it but I agree with a previous statement about predominantly black neighborhoods being run down or crime ridden. This a stereotype that I have found to be true in the cases where I have been. In Fayetteville, NC in the areas that are predominantly black are low income, high crime areas. Now, everyone has a choice. No one has to live in an area like that. If you hang out with people like that you are going to become like people like that. However, if you are from a bad background, monitarily speeking, you can change it by changing your habits and your surroundings. Join the army or something. That is the easiest way to get out of your bad area. Now, not all neighborhoods that are low income are bad. I grew up in a low income neighborhood in California that was predominantly White and Hispanic. It was a great neighborhood. People were friendly, neighbors stopped to talk, people were generally nice to one another. I'm not saying it's because it was a white or hispanic neighborhood, I'm only stating that it was a good neighborhood and those were the demographics.Now, descrimination and stereotyping will never leave because they are part of human nature. The brain uses these things to help with mental catagorization. If you saw a chevy van and you thought "man those things always look run down, have high emmissions and have no power" and you drove around it because you didn't want to get stuck behind a vehicle that is going to smoke you out of your car, you are stereo typing and descriminating. However, if you saw one that looked clean, quiet and was in perfect running condition it would take you by surprise because it doesn't fit your past encounters with these types of vans. Your brain processes this and say's "Well, it's not 100% right but there aren't enough filing cabinets in here to file this completely differently from the others.... so I'll just file it with the others and change the heading to 'almost 100%'"Now, Racism is simply a catagorization that says that one race of people has different characteristics, abilities, socioeconomic status, etc. This thought process happens all the time. How about when people think "Man the US is the best country in the world because we have X, Y and Z! We're better than other countries so we must bring these things like capatalism to other counries so that they are not crappy any more" Sound Familiar? Now prejudice is 1:aversive or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to that group. 2:injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights. This sounds like our country as a whole. If it wasn't going on on a gobal scale it wouldn't be going on on a local scale and visa versa.If anything in this post bothers you, good. It's meant to. It's meant to be a wake up call that no one is without decrimination or stereotype. Even racism and prejudice are common. Martin Luther King, Jr faught peacefully for what he knew was right. He was an upstanding citizen BEFORE he did it, though. He always acted with respect to others, strength in conviction and his presentation was always done with proper english with proper pronunciation. No slang or ebonics or draw. People sound uneducated when they use any of these things in speech; white, black, mexican, asian, etc all included. You want someone to treat you equally than earn it don't try to bring people down to your level to get something, come up to thiers and they will treat you as an equal no matter what nationality you are in most cases. There, I've said it.

[iGuest 3]

I'm trying to understand peoples views and got first sucked in by a black gentleman's blog talking about how our white culture deprive them of opportunities and the vast amount of discrimination they face. I wrote to him about the varying asspects of racism or prejudice by talking about my experiences with some people in the black community treating me with disrespect and trying to categorize me with white ancestors that enslaved there black ancestors. no matter my view or stand point of telling him it isn't all people within a certain race and that the only way I am going to help anyone with there goals to get ahead is if they respect me he tries to say I am prejudice against the black people am I so wrong in wanting respect if you are going to enquire my help? I feel my only prejudice is against rude hurtful people. I have never thought I am better than anyone.

[iGuest 3]

I guess it all depends on where its coming from. When people assume my son plays basketball because hes black and he's tall he gets offended and he should. Not all blacks are fast, not all blacks can dance(my brother has no rhythm . We are not supposed to be smart, just be good at sports and dancing. When we get ahead sometimes people assume its not by our own merit, someone gave us a break, felt sorry or wanted to fill the quota. That irks me.

Many times people assume my son is going to steal because hes black and follow him around and his friends, they dont follow the asian and white kids around while they fill their pockets , its something that some take for granted and makes me wish they could walk a single day in my shoes and see the ignorance in the world.

 

I am white, from Russia. Did hear a lot of bed stuff about russian people. Watched some movies about Russia and russian people. And i was hurt so much because of the lies. People please dont judge by the culture, race or color. We may be different by the color of the skin or the eyes, but we are the same because we have feelings. I know its hard but ignore those people who assuming that your son will steal because hes black. Its hard to ignor, but word cannot be changed unless people will understand that a word can damage. P.S. i wish i can play basketball cant even catch the ball.

[Ananya 0]

Racism and Prejudice are 2 such negative words that will remain until the whole human society gets extinguished.I often hear people making statements like since this guy belongs to this place he will have this bad habit in him.Judging a person based on his origin beforehand rather not even trying to know him accurately and superimposing on him something is truly unacceptable.It seems to me that its quite a natural trait residing in all of us the habit of judging everything through prejudice.In a broader sense racism is a subset of prejudice.Prejudice is the root cause behind racism.Simply taken to help someone just because someone is looking attractive, apealing and belonging to opposite sex,thereby ignoring the one who is older enough and really is in need of help is an example of prejudice and helping someone due to the fact that this person belongs to my caste,religion or my state is a form of prejudice and falls under the category of racism. Due to racism we either tend to overvalue someone or undervalue someone without even caring to know the truth underneath.The very serious consequence of this is we flee away from truth and makes us truly blind.