Racism vs. Bigotry

[nancylebov]

I've given up on "racism"--I use "bigotry" instead. Firstly, people's prejudice is frequently tied to groupings which are smaller or other than race. Race is an artificial and relatively modern invention--I'm pretty sure that the natural unit of prejudice is ethnic, based on shared customs rather than shared appearance. I agree that there is racial bigotry, but the situation is much more complicated than that.

Also, I don't buy the idea that the only bad bigotry is accompanied by institutional power, so the word "racism" has been ruined for my purposes. If someone is one of the few white kids in a majority black school, they may well have a serious problem with the other kids even if the black kids are at more risk from the police.

I'll use "bigotry" instead of racism, and modify it as "racial bigotry" or "institutional bigotry" as needed.

I try to minimize hatred and confusion, but I don't think they (or at least anger and close-mindedness) are especially avoidable.

That "racism=prejudice + power" definition has been a disaster for clear thinking. It leaves out the facts that power is local and that holding prejudices is costly even for those who don't have a lot of power to enforce them. I've seen the idea used all too often to mean that black people can't be prejudiced and/or that they don't need to do anything about their own prejudices and/or that white people should just tolerate black prejudice.

The idea that racism/bigotry is about greed and/or fear doesn't cover the ground. Greed and fear come into it, but so does pleasure--that's why people spend so much time on prejudice, and why there are so many nasty jokes and bad dialect imitations.

Comment retrieved from a discussion over at twistedchick's lj.

Comments

[kressel.livejournal.com]

Here's another language differentiation that can get me into trouble. I don't consider myself a racist. I don't hate anybody unless they deliberately hurt me. But in friendships, I most definitely do give preference to Jews. I like to say I'm not prejudiced against anybody but I am biased in favor of Jews. Still, this viewpoint gets me into trouble. I hope this post won't stir up any. I really do hate flaming.

I've found out that people who thought they were random table mates

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

...were all from mountain country, one with parents about 30 miles from my grandparents. I also felt very comfortable with William Gibson's world -- and he's also from about 70 miles away. Jack Womack is another Kentucky person.

On the other hand, I also have always had Jewish friends who mistake me for being Jewish. And on the third hand, one of the mountain people at the table was a blond Italian, so are you sure there aren't other factors, like being urban white and not Catholic, say?

Re: I've found out that people who thought they were random table mates

[kressel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for just sharing, not flaming.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

I believe the word that describes such a bias is "Chauvanism."

[madfilkentist]

Historical note here. First, it's spelled "chauvinism"; it was named for a Frenchman called Nicolas Chauvin, a fanatical follower of Napoleon, and up till the late 1960's always meant fanatical patriotism. The women's liberation movement adopted the word for the phrase "male chauvinism," and that meaning has driven the original out to the point that the word "male" is often dropped.

Words change. But I find it bothersome that the large majority of people aren't even aware that the word had a different meaning not so long ago, and aren't curious about where the word came from.

[holzman.livejournal.com]

Actually, I hadn't supplied the history of the word because I thought that was common knowledge.

[kressel.livejournal.com]

Perhaps that description fits, perhaps it doesn't, but I hope that the fact that I'm not going to flame counts toward proving that a person can be biased without being hateful or malicious.

There's a Kentucky writer...

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

..who more or less said that love of one's own land (small scale) didn't mean not supporting the love other's had (small scale) for their land. His brothers were Siberians hunting on their traditional grounds, whether they met or not.

The problem with these sorts of affinity arises when you use ingroups to get economic leverage over others. And whether that's culture or ethnic inclusiveness, when and if it happens, is a whole big bundle of possible problems.

A couple of people in my family have married Jewish men or half Jewish men. In one case, the Jewish family tried to break up the relationship. That's not a useful thing.

Some of what I want to see is a respect for core cultures being allowed to be something separate. There should always be places tourists can't go, much less buy land in.

Mixed feelings here. The Koreans who didn't hire blacks had more problems than the Koreans who did.

divisions

[kressel.livejournal.com]

The problem with these sorts of affinity arises when you use ingroups to get economic leverage over others. And whether that's culture or ethnic inclusiveness, when and if it happens, is a whole big bundle of possible problems.

That could happen, but that isn't necessarily what I'm talking about. I'm talking about being polite to non-Jews but being friendly to Jews. And I think that's the way most people are about their own ethnic or cultural group.