There seem to be a few different viewpoints, all of which are at times considered to be racist, yet which, in my view, are entirely different.
The first, and in my opinion most offensive (and most likely to be wrong) is that there is an inherent, biological, difference between different races, and that this difference leads one race to be superior to another. The view, for instance, that people of african origin are less intelligent, or more lazy, than people of european origin. There is an even less sophisticated view that people of african origin are simply "inferior" or "less evolved", whatever that means, which people use to apply whatever negative trait suits them at the moment.
The second viewpoint is that, whatever the biological differences that may or may not exist, there are cultural differences between two segments of a particular society which happen to be easily identifiable by race. Those cultural differences lead to trends which are on average, though certainly not in all cases, true. For instance one might note that African Americans are more likely to commit violent crimes than Asian Americans*.
A third viewpoint, and perhaps much more common then either of the above in isolation, is a combination of the two.
The point I want to make here is that these two viewpoints are very different, though in practice they will tend to look the same, and it can be hard to separate someone who is racist in the first sense from someone who is racist in the second sense.
Moreover, while I have a problem with the first sort of racism as a point of fact: I think the evidence that it is simply wrong is strong enough to dismiss it, the problem with the second is more subtle. That is, the second sort is not actually wrong and I think we can all agree that different cultures are, well, different in one way or another. The problem is, rather, when trends within a population of individuals are arbitrarily attached to individuals: the assumption that since crime is more common amoung african americans that this particular african american is a criminal. The former is (perhaps) true, the latter is against, well, at least my own personal sense of justice. And I think that good arguments can be made that the latter also tends to reinforce those same disparities between groups.
What do others think? Do you agree that these different things are in fact different? Is the second sort actually racism? What about when it becomes directed at individuals rather than broad groups?
The first, and in my opinion most offensive (and most likely to be wrong) is that there is an inherent, biological, difference between different races, and that this difference leads one race to be superior to another. The view, for instance, that people of african origin are less intelligent, or more lazy, than people of european origin. There is an even less sophisticated view that people of african origin are simply "inferior" or "less evolved", whatever that means, which people use to apply whatever negative trait suits them at the moment.
The second viewpoint is that, whatever the biological differences that may or may not exist, there are cultural differences between two segments of a particular society which happen to be easily identifiable by race. Those cultural differences lead to trends which are on average, though certainly not in all cases, true. For instance one might note that African Americans are more likely to commit violent crimes than Asian Americans*.
A third viewpoint, and perhaps much more common then either of the above in isolation, is a combination of the two.
The point I want to make here is that these two viewpoints are very different, though in practice they will tend to look the same, and it can be hard to separate someone who is racist in the first sense from someone who is racist in the second sense.
Moreover, while I have a problem with the first sort of racism as a point of fact: I think the evidence that it is simply wrong is strong enough to dismiss it, the problem with the second is more subtle. That is, the second sort is not actually wrong and I think we can all agree that different cultures are, well, different in one way or another. The problem is, rather, when trends within a population of individuals are arbitrarily attached to individuals: the assumption that since crime is more common amoung african americans that this particular african american is a criminal. The former is (perhaps) true, the latter is against, well, at least my own personal sense of justice. And I think that good arguments can be made that the latter also tends to reinforce those same disparities between groups.
What do others think? Do you agree that these different things are in fact different? Is the second sort actually racism? What about when it becomes directed at individuals rather than broad groups?
