[extropy-chat] Racism (was: here's how complicated it is)

[Lee Corbin]

Al writes, 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Brooks" <kerry_prez at yahoo.com>
To: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin at rawbw.com>; "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 11:59 PM

> We just have to  make the distinction between between
> overt and covert racism-- nearly everyone has covert
> racist tendencies, but not to be militant about it.
> Only blockheaded Marxists think we can end racism.
> Academic segregation? Let's give it a try.

I disagree.  True racism can be eliminated, (and with sufficient
rationality it is absent). True racism involves stereotypic thinking
and prejudice to the extent that one cannot see the individual
behind his color or ethnicity.  

The *truth* is very simple:  one's race is an extremely small part
of one's actual individuality.  For example, Hirohito was Japanese
all right, but he was a vast and complex human individual.  There
were a huge and very specific number of items that demarked
him as an *individual*.  Anyone who'd guess at most of this
information solely based on race is simply ignorant, or blinded
by prejudice ("dirty Japs").

The blockheaded Marxists you refer to, and their allies, have
unfortunately had great success in redefining "racism" to include
any honest notice or acknowledgment of real statistical differences
between groups, alas.

Lee