Racism

Is Racism a Western Idea?

In the first article (Is Racism a Western Idea?) it is about the origin of racism. The author believes that it indeed did not begin in the United States but was around way before the United States was even thought of. A quote that I find very true from this article is “Nationality, religion, shared traditions, and mere geographical proximity are much more common denominators for tribalism and ethnocentrism than is race.” People think that racism started when slavery became about, but that is just not true. Slavery was being practiced in more places than just the United States. People, who were slaves, were slaves to people of the same color, so color had nothing to do with it but social stature did. Racism started from somewhere, where that is we do not really know and can’t quite pinpoint. There are hints of racism in ancient times and Greek mythology. In this article he points out how racism is not whites against blacks, but it exists in all cultures with all people. He believes that racism originated in the Western culture and there must be an end to everything so that means there is going to be an end to racism.

How Racist Are We?

Right of the bat this article starts with saying we are all a little bit racist. In the author of this article’s mind set, they seem to put race into consideration when it comes to jobs and the United States. The author discusses white racism and the affects it has had on our society. Racism is amongst multiple other countries other than just the United States. The author seemed to have a harsh opinion about Evo Morales, the Brazilian President. She seems to believe that he is dividing and destroying the country. America has done studies showing racism has appeared to decrease throughout the past few years. Other races have come to “put up with” different races more. Some studies have shown that people would prefer to live in places with other races present, as long as their race is the dominant one. This article is more about whites and blacks than racism as a whole; in general she is more on the topic of how whites and blacks treat each other. When we as Americans form judgements of people race is almost always put into consideration. The social aspects that kids are seeming to pick up on is simply “whites do better than blacks”, they learn all these generalizations that we make.

Cultural Bias for Racism

Social media is a big contributor to racism in the United States. There are stereotypes on TV and in the world and not just with race. There are thoughts that what you think isn’t really what you think but what the world and society around you has developed your mind to think. “And that’s the question we wanted to answer: are you indeed a racist, or are you just an American?” this is a question a lot of people would like answered. This article describes how your gut reaction has to do with the culture that you are surrounded by. There were studies done that looked towards words and stereotyping. They put words that correlated together and words that did not and words that stereotypically fit together. People had quick reactions to the words that were geared more as stereotypical. They are “blaming” or saying these reactions are not because of racism but because of what culture is around you. So basically the United States and how we live is adding on to racism and how racist we may be. This article was not just about racism though, it was also about sexism and ageism and the stereotypes of that.

My Thoughts

I believe it is personal opinion on what you think racism is and where it comes from. I think personally it is everywhere in every culture, and that it can even be geared to your own race. So yes, in my opinion it is culturally universal. I believe that idea or concept of racism has always been around, just one day the idea of naming or pointing it out came about. I don’t believe media started it; it just enhances it and alters our thoughts on it. The media is a big part of today’s society and affects all those around it, so of course racism will be affected. In one of the articles the author believes racism had a begging so it indeed will have an end, hopefully that is true but I don’t see it happening any time soon. In America you mostly hear about Black Lives matter and whites against blacks, but that fact of the matter is every race is included when it comes to racism. It is all around us and is almost inevitable to avoid. I feel you may not think that you are racist but deep down we all are some way or another.