46 yr old white man shoots 8 yr old black boy

[JDHURF]

I don't believe that anyone who posts here is genuinely racist Darkhorse, one way or another.

I also don't believe that anyone who posts here feels indifferently towards the fact that a man was ultimately killed by another man who just randomly decided to punch someone.

[Darkhorse]

I believe almost everyone is racist. It is normal for the human mind to create groups and make generalizations about those groups in order to better understand the world around us. Just because we tell ourselves to stop making groups based on skin color, religion, sex, etc does not mean we do.

I'm sure people aren't indifferent about some random white guy being killed by a black dude, but for whatever reason they seem to care a lot more about black people killed by white (or white hispanic) men. They don't care about blacks killing blacks or asians killing hispanics or any other combination either. I think white people feel the need to go out of their way to condemn white on black crime in order to show everyone just how not racist they are. Of course, I believe it is all an act. You could write a book about how terrible racism is, but when people actually have something at stake all those nice ideas go out the window.

[JDHURF]

I believe that you are projecting. You may feel some racial biases and perceive that because you have them, so too must everyone, but that is fallacious.

The claim that people "care a lot more about black people killed by white...men" is simply a perception of yours. I am unaware of any data that would support the claim. Perhaps it's true, but it's to be proved, not asserted. If you are simply discussing depictions within the media, that is clearly a separate concern.

I would insist upon the difference in intent between a black man who decides to randomly assault the next passerby regardless of race and a seventy year old white man who decides to shoot and kill his black neighbor's child for the crime of playing outside while black. If you cannot see the difference in these crimes most especially given the violent racist history of this country where black people were lynched, castrated and hanged by racist white mobs, then your bias is rather severe.

Is ueber going out of his way to prove that despite the past shenanigans of Precocity, he himself is not racist? Perhaps.

[Medius]

[spacemonkey]

I bet we all probably notice when someone is not in our own ethnic group at first glance. Hell, thats probably just normal human behavior. I also bet the group of hard core racist types of all groups are a small minority of the general population of every group. The rest, they just try to get along fine, despite the $hit stirrer's, (racists).

[uebermann]

[Medius]

[The Comrade]

ueber is a known racist. he often sends me PMs calling me a chalky ass honky

[exploited]

Generally, I think people have a misconception about what racism is, versus stereotyping or generalization. Racism incorporates both stereotypes and generalizations, but crucially, it requires the belief that one particular race is better than all the rest.

Just about everyone is guilty of stereotyping and generalizing, and they can even do it about the very group they most identify with.

For instance, I see a well-off looking white woman, and I assume she has never faced any serious problems in her life. On the other hand, I see a black guy sporting a bill-fold, I assume he's a drug dealer. But that simply does not translate into the assumption that all white people live carefree lives, or that all black guys with money are drug dealers. It also says nothing about group superiority, which is what racism is.

Considering that the vast majority of communication between humans is non-verbal, I think that stereotypes and generalizations play an important role in keeping us alive.

[Darkhorse]