Don't Hate on the Racists

[GuidoHunter]

[Author's note: This post had a major topic shift in the middle of writing it. It was originally called "Stereotypes are Awesome", but then I kind of digressed. Haha.]

Okay, do you all remember when people would say that stereotyping groups of people was bad because (so they led all of us gullible kids to believe) it was tantamount to racism? Well, they're full of shit.

I stereotype and I'm proud of it, and, chances are, you do, too. It keeps me out of awkward situations when it comes to people I don't know. If I walk by a dark alley in the ghetto part of town and see a bunch of thuggy-dressed black guys hanging out and listening to rap music, am I going to go up to them and invite them to hang out with me because they could be as cool as any of my other friends and they deserve every chance for me to get to know them? Hell no.

What am I gonna do? I'm going to assume that they're more interested in gettin' high and doing white chicks than playing video games or something.

Now, I welcome anyone to get to know me so that I can establish a real image of them from experience, but until then, I'm going to stereotype everyone that I don't know. I don't even care if my stereotype is way off.

Stereotypes can also be confirmed by experience. I've hung out with some black people before, and found out that I much prefer not hanging out with them. It's only animal nature that like associates with like, so why should we encourage diversity so much? De facto segregation exists today because that's what people want. My school requires all students to take a "Cultural Formations" class to satisfy the "Diversity requirement". If I want to learn about another culture's history, I'd take the class myself; forced diversity is like forced desegregation. Do people really expect me to become more understanding about some culture's plight and suddenly respect them more for what hardships their ancestors went through? Hah, the people that do also support reparations for black people. They make me sick, but for other reasons.

I honestly think stereotypes get confused with racism a lot today. If someone says black people are major contributors to the decline of America, they're dubbed racists, despite the fact that their claim can be supported (Obviously, something of such a grand nature is opinion, what I'm saying is that it's not completely out of the blue). "Mexicans are ruining Texas!", "You hate immigrants.", "No, because the problem of illegal immigration is taxing on the Texas government and hinders progress." What about the asians? Nobody complains about them because they have the highest standard of living among foreigners and generally don't cause trouble. All these are stereotypes, generalizations of a large group founded on observations of a large portion of the group. Does that make anyone who believes these things a racist? No.

Racism is the prejudicial hate of anyone and everyone who belongs to a certain group because they belong to that group. I personally have no problem with racists. I hate peas. You gonna shun me for being a pea-hater? You might say "Well, you have personal experience with peas being bad, and since [effectively] all peas taste the same, you can make the generalization, but not all black people are the same." Well, I've never had asparagus, and I hate it, too. Won't touch the stuff. My ridiculous example comparing black people to asparagus is to demonstrate that I feel that if you don't like something or somebody, that's your thing, and it's not my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't opine.

Basically, racism is just stubbornness to a slight extreme. However, there are stupid people who go out and act on their beliefs. Of course, that's why bad actions are punished. This is not simply racism, this is racism + stupidity. Hate crimes are bullshit. A crime is a crime, and the motive doesn't make it any more heinous. Racism is harmless in its pure form; the actions of people is what makes it appear so bad, but it's not racism that's the problem, it's the stupidity.

I honestly don't see why people hold racism in such contempt. It's an opinion, bottom line. If you don't like it, get over it. Now, I just realized that I created a thread on a very touchy topic with some bold opinions, so I'm quite eager to hear what y'all have to say. Oh, and for the sake of my own ass, Please don't ban me, Synthlight.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com