Microaggresions
In today's world we hear a lot of talk about microaggressions. From the definition I find on Wikipedia it appears to be casual everyday speech which may have the intended or unintended affect on marginalized groups. The focus on this blog is to first express my own opinion that microaggressions while rude and inappropriate are not an indicator of true racism.
How I define racist
I define true racism as either and or 1) believing that races are more than just a social construct 2) enforcing racial stereotypes by intentional actions. That is to say to truly believe in the concept of races deep down whether consciously or subconsciously, and or then to enforce these beliefs by intentional actions is in my opinion true racism.
Racism under my definition does not require racial hatred. It does not require believing your race is the master race or any opinion on supremacy or hierarchy of races. It merely requires that you believe races are real and beyond a social construct. If you believe the science does not prove race is a social construct then by my definition just on this you're racist because you believe in the core ideology. If you believe in the ideology enough to enforce racial stereotypes intentionally, then you are also racist because you're promoting belief in the ideology.
This means in my opinion it is an expression of being racist for "blacks" to tell other "blacks" that they are "acting white", and it is also racist if "whites" tell other "whites" they are acting "black", as this particular statement holds the presupposition that behavioral stereotypes must remain enforced. I call this an expression of being racist because if a person believes it is possible to act a certain race then they must actually believe races exist beyond a mere social construct and also believe the stereotypes enough to seek to enforce them by telling other people how they should act.
This contrasts with the dictionary definition below:
a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
As that definition presupposes that the belief in races is acceptable. If we replace "races" with "gods" then an atheist or monotheist would look at that definition very differently than a believer. My definition also does not focus on what people feel but only on what people have done. This means a person can feel what they feel, but only when their actions prove them to be racist by expressing their beliefs do I conclude the person is racist. So for example of a store puts up a sign which says "whites only" this is for sure racist because it not only proves the store owner believes in the concept of races but the owner of the store seeks to enforce their beliefs by only serving a certain race.
A microaggression is the casual degradation of any marginalized group. The term was coined by psychiatrist and Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce in 1970 to describe insults and dismissals he regularly witnessed non-black Americans inflict on African Americans.[1][2][3][4] Eventually, the term came to encompass the casual degradation of any socially marginalized group, such as the poor or the disabled.[5] Psychologist Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as "brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership".[6]
Conclusion
- Race is an ideology.
- To be racist is to believe and or support that ideology.
- Systemic racism is when society believes in and enforces that ideology, so for instance I believe the U.S. Census is racist because it asks people "what is your race" and then provides the categories.
Microaggressions in my opinion are rude, can be mean, can be insensitive, but people who make these common errors of speech in my opinion are not necessarily racist. Even people who use racial slurs in anger may not actually be truly racist (although they are immature and inarticulate). It is possible for a person to not even believe in race ideology, but to communicate in an insensitive manner (microaggressions) and by that communication be labeled "racist". I do not follow this labeling strategy. For a person to be labeled racist they must prove racism by their actions not by their speech.
To counter racism in my opinion requires countering the ideology itself rather than the believers of it. This requires promoting genetic literacy and it requires in my opinion removal of systemic expressions of racism (such as what we see enforced by the U.S. Census). People who deliberately promote and enforce racist stereotypes and ideology must be called out and people who accidently do it should be made aware of their ignorance/corrected. In my opinion and I cannot prove this because I haven't seen a study, but it seems most people simply miscommunicate and the majority of microaggressions are human error. There are of course some which are intentional but in any environment there are people who are rude, insensitive, and the same methods apply to dealing with rudeness whether it's called microaggression or not.
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-race
- https://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/racial-microagressions-you-hear-on-a-daily-basis?utm_term=.mv7w7lzzvl#.ybEO1rmmwr
- https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Racialism
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism
- https://www.npr.org/2018/01/26/580865378/census-request-suggests-no-race-ethnicity-data-changes-in-2020-experts-say
Another great topic and well thought out. Again, I totally agree with you and I have to mention that even if a person is truly good-hearted and loving of all mankind (regardless of race), all it takes is that same person to have a bad day which will reflect a negative tone when speaking to be called racist by a minority race.
Yes, and not only that, but simply citing statistics and well-known facts can get one called a racist as well. In fact, I've been told that all white people do, and only white people can qualify as a "racist." Wow! We need more honest discussion about this subject!
@dana-edwards I agree with you in every word. Racial discrimination is often based on physical differences between different groups, but racial discrimination may be discriminated against against any person on ethnic or cultural grounds, without physical characteristics. Racism may also take on a more complex form through subtle racism, which appears unconsciously in people who profess their commitment to the values of tolerance and equality.
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"For a person to be labeled racist they must prove racism by their actions not by their speech."
Yes. The language of words creates so many misunderstandings. But that is the world we living in these days: 'I judge you by your words, not your deeds'.
Words are just the tip of the iceberg, but the largest part of the construct lies beneath the word, our Intention. Too often, people interprete others' words according to their very own personal meaning they give these words.
The superficial ego which only sees what lies within the eye relies solely on words to draw conclusions on someone's Intention, yet it is blind to what lies without the eye. That is our empathic Heart's job.
there is day and night is a gift for humans, so also the skin difference is also a beauty that gives the color of life becomes more perfect. if the blacks and whites are a race then the fraternity between the two races must be maintained
From a scientific point of view you think all the races are equal? What about black people being more genetically gifted to have physical strength?
But regardless of that, yes i do agree that there is a distinction between talking racist and being racist, true racism is to me an uncontrollable urge to hurt a person from another race, and like you said a feeling of superiority...
Where do you see the world going in the future? do you think that in a x number of years we will be all mixed and won't have any races?
I think americans have it much worse than Europeans regarding racism, i think i haven't seen 1 single act of racism in years! Or maybe i did and i never actually registered it as racism...
In my opinion race is irrelevant to genetics. We already are mostly mixed genetically. I see racism as anti-individualism and the invention of which was a divide and conquer strategy. In other words it was invented as a psy-op. I do believe in hard science, genetics, biology, but I see that as individualized. You need your genome sequenced to know what your genetic vulnerabilities are.
Yes, that's the point. There are no human races. Skin color can change over a relativley short time. For example, Cro-Magnons (early homo sapiens sapiens) had dark skin and they lived in Europe 40,000–12,000 years ago.
Show me a study which proves "black" is a unified group of people. Then show me the gene which "black people" all have which produces this physical strength? If you show the gene and show only black people have it then I'll believe it but to believe the gene exists without the science proving it would be racist.
Searched around and found different studies, one of them said black didn't have increased amount of testosterone when compared against white people but did have increased amount of estradiol, a female sex hormone so i guess this one couldn't help them since female sex hormones have the opposite effect of increased muscle mass, but also found one that said black people have incresed amount of testosterone(free test and not free test and also DHT) and for that reason they are more predisposed to prostate cancer, this is widely seen in america it seems where black people have the higher rate of prostate cancer when compared to white males.
After analyzing the studies i think more studies need to be done before i can say for certain anything, we got studies saying one thing and other saying another thing, so regarding the first question i think more studies need to be done, which is something extremely difficult to do nowadays because any studies that aim to compare white males with black males are labeled racist by the common person, when from a scientific point of view i find it intriguing. If a gene is discovered we could insert it into animals to increase the amount of muscle mass they have so that it increases meat production for example, or we could upregulate it to increase the amount of muscle in cancer patient, HIV patient, etc...
What distinguishes black and other people? If it's melanin then I'd like to see how skin pigmentation influences testosterone levels. Why not just post the link to the study?
I think any race based studies are highly flawed because first they have to define what white and black is on a genetic basis for the study to make any medical sense.
1 - Serum Testosterone Levels in Healthy Young Black and White Men , i only found the abstract, don't have access to the whole study not even with my college info, if you do please share what you find
2Serum Estrogen, But Not Testosterone, Levels Differ between Black and White Men in a Nationally Representative Sample of Americans
Those were the 2 studies i read.
And melanin can influence vit d production which would influence test production, but going on this route it would make sense for darker people to actually have decreased test and not the other way around
Study from 1986. Study from 2007. The study from 2007 is more relevant as it's newer and would factor in more current genetic knowledge.
For the first study I would like to know the sample size, whether or not it was randomized properly, and most importantly how do they define "black". It could very well be that some people who happened to be labeled black have the genetics to make them more vulnerable to prostate cancer than another group of people who happened to be labeled white, but it doesn't show me anything about what black is or what genes exactly are responsible for the higher testosterone levels if it's even genetics.
The 2007 study is much better. They isolate out non-hispanic white and non-hispanic black. I'm not sure why they do this but maybe they want to focus on specifically American blacks. They also included Mexican American which is good for the study as well.
So according to this result it appears testosterone levels are higher in Mexican Americans but are not significantly different between non hispanic white and non hispanic black.
So appears there is no racial difference in testosterone according to that study. And that study was more recent and better designed than the older study with a larger sample size. This in my opinion does not indicate a racial difference between black and white. They did find slightly different hormone levels of estradiol but I doubt it has anything to do with being black or white, so I would have to see some evidence showing the cause before I form an opinion.
Interesting that testosterone levels did test as higher in Mexican-American men. What does that say about race? My opinion is that culture (belief systems, activities, ways of relating in different cultures, etc.) and climate (which can greatly influence culture) play large roles in the differences we see, with our own eyes, between races. That said, there is such a wide difference within each race, that we should never stereotype anyone strictly according to their race. To me, "race" is just a family lineage, primarily, and has a lot to do with the geographic area where one's ancestors spent most of their time.
I will search around for it :) don't like to spitting out nonsense, but it might be hard to find any study relating both since it is a touchy subject, as i wrote the first comment i was actually thinking that i might get flagged because of some extreme political correct person taking it the wrong way
I never thought people would call someone racist based on a certain food choice.
Introducing these;
Jelly beans.
I’m just going to say it, I don’t like the black jelly beans. I hate the taste. However I do really like the white ones. This exact conversation happened with a friend of mine.
Friend: “What’s your favourite lollies (candy)”
Me: “I love jelly beans, but I’m not so keen on the black ones”
Friend: “You can’t say that, that’s so racist”
Like really, how on earth is this racist? How is liking certain jelly beans “showing discrimination or prejudice to a particular race”?
That’s right it’s not!
Please people don’t associate food taste with racism, I’ll be honest it’s just plain stupid.
That is comical. I think people can like whatever they like, it's called qualia and it is what distinguishes different lifeforms. I don't think it matters what someone chooses to eat. The same can apply to physical attraction, as some will find different types of people more attractive than other types of people.
It is only racism if they try to tell us all one type is the standard which we must all find attractive. It is only racism if they try to create a standard of beauty which excludes or biases in favor of certain races.
@dana-Edwards 1 thing I noticed from meeting people all over the world is that people from outside America identify themselves by the country in which they came from when you as them what they/where are they from. Americans say that they are black or white. Most Americans don't know their family history, traditions and where they come from by the 3rd generation.
How much do you know about your families history?
« then by my definition just on this you're racist because you believe in the core ideology»
Whats the vore ideology?
« if a person believes it is possible to act a certain race then they must actually believe races exist»
I don’t agree in that statement. The word “Acting black”, could just as easy be culturally attached, not to race. It’s like saying you act like a woman. It’s attached to gender. Also the psychological process of categorizing the living world in easier and Moore meaningfully ways is natural. If everything has to be nuanced, we would communicate very slowly to each other.
“People can think you have races, but act I call this an expression of being racist because if a person believes it is possible to act a certain race then they must actually believe races exist beyond a mere social construct”
“Act a certain race? “ what do you mean?
Why must they actually believe races exist beyond a mere social construct? Explain pls.
If you believe in black and white then you're accepting the core ideology of racism. People are individuals who should be free to act themselves without someone telling them they aren't black enough or white enough. If a "black person" speaks proper English in the US then many in the US will think they are "acting white". This in my opinion is racism. It strips individuality from people and punishes people for being smart in favor of promoting a stereotypical manner.
Race was invented and on a scientific basis it is proven not to exist. So if it does not actually exist it must be a mere social construct. Families exist, genes exist, race does not necessarily mean either of these things. Your race is how other people think of you and where others peg you, while biological family is what you actually are genetically. Learn the history of your family, get a genetic test, and forget about everything you learned about race.
References