Gosto.org/Racism.htm
Racism

I am a racist. - We all are.


Eons of Evolution have added layers to the Human brain, most recently the cerebral cortex, which has the capacity for Empathy and other higher instincts, but our more primitive underlying Animal brain, the even deeper Reptile brain, as well many other primordial features, remain present, active, and largely unchanged except by the added control by our higher instincts.

We all have the natural instinct of xenophobia, and it's only our higher instincts of impulse control and empathy that prevent xenophobia and other base instincts from controlling our lives.

Racism is unchecked xenophobia.

Most people are raised to recognize, understand, and rise above their base instincts, like xenophobia.

Many others are raised to wallow in xenophobia unchecked. The Rich and Corrupt know this, and use it to foment the fear, violence, and chaos they depend on to get away with their crimes.

Differences in racial physical features, behavior, and cultural phenomena trigger xenophobia. This trigger fades without even being noticed in some people; in others it may linger and takes control of one's thinking; most of us react somewhere in between, depending on our life experiences and how we were raised.

The semantics used in discussing racism often confuse the issues and get in the way of consensus. For instance, the statement that "we are all born equal" is the lazy way of saying "we all should be born with equal rights". We are not "born equal" - there are plenty of people of all races that were born and remain smarter than me, with greater athletic ability, etc..

(I fall into the common "white" category; actually I'm more of a "pinkish-beige", but I can't find that on any of the forms.)

The phrase "No one is illegal." has high appeal, but it semantically obfuscates the fact that, while the idea of an "illegal person" is meaningless, the term "illegal" refers to a person's illegal act, specifically the act of entering the country illegally, of which all children are innocent, and for most adults is understandable and should be dealt with humanely, particularly since they have been motivated to flee their homes to protect their families from real and imminent danger or other threats to their survival, and the chaotic conditions in their homeland have been CAUSED by centuries of criminal exploitation by the Rich, mostly American businesses, mindless zealots, and their own "leaders".

Also, words like "tolerance". I hate the word "tolerance"; it implies that there is something "wrong" in the first place that needs to be "tolerated".

Calls to "tolerate" cultural "traditions" such as failing to respect everyone's right to peace and quiet are self-defeating since this should not be "tolerated" at all.

There's nothing "wrong" with being born with a nice big healthy dose of melanin, just as there is nothing "wrong" with whites like me "suffering" from, as I like to call it, SMD (Severe Melanin Deficiency). What IS wrong is using things like natural differences in melanin levels to "define" people without ever knowing them.

The fundamental impedance to progress in the elimination of racism is that racism is key to maintaining our fantasies about being "superior" to everyone else, fantasies that we are "smarter" and "stronger", and therefore "safer" and more "powerful", than we really are.

It's hard to face the truth about ourselves, particularly when trying to objectively compare ourselves to others, but we have to, if we are ever going to be able to see ourselves for what we are, so that we can see others for what they are. My Own Racist Failures

Climb    T    Life

Home    Politics    Help with Viewing Page