smittyoneeach's Journal: It's almost as though justice were a social construct

RACISM IN AMERICA: Black Man With Pistol Permit Shoots White Teen, Is Acquitted. Funny, didnâ(TM)t get much coverage â" not politically useful.

You Seem Not To Understand

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Overwhelming imbalance of power, regarding the base issue.

Also: Prejudice is not the same as racism. Just as authority is not the same as Nazism.

Re:

[smittyoneeach]

Prejudice is not the same as racism.

Aha! Is this how the State launders institutionalized racism, in the form of Affirmative Action?
I guess since there is no existentially perfect "meritocracy", we can rationalize all manner of evil by just citing some "imbalance of power" or "historical grievances" or "a fat pile of cash that exchanged hands on the back end". Brilliant!

Re:

[Arker]

"Prejudice is not the same as racism."

Racism is a contagious neuro-semantic disease where the sufferer imagines that there exist multiple human races.

Prejudice is simply judging based on inadequate information.

Racism often, perhaps always, involves prejudice, though prejudice need not necessarily be of a racist variety.

Re:

[fustakrakich]

Racism is institutional or systematic prejudice or bigotry against different phenotypes(?)(I think JC spelled it out that way once). Smitty claims it's affirmative action, but really it's things like red lining and gerrymandering and of course prohibition. And it's why affirmative action is necessary, though it's poorly implemented in that it's a bit of a facade and doesn't address underlying causes.

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[Arker]

"Racism is institutional or systematic prejudice or bigotry against different phenotypes(?)"

Hm so since I am an individual, not an institution or a system, it's impossible for me to be racist? I think not.

"Smitty claims it's affirmative action, but really it's things like red lining and gerrymandering and of course prohibition."

And you are both right, it is at least involved or touching all those things.

It's just as racist to give someone a job because you imagine them to be part of one non-existent race as

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[fustakrakich]

Hm so since I am an individual, not an institution or a system, it's impossible for me to be racist?

You would be a bigot, not a racist. The system we live under is racist. Political parties are racist. But the individuals are bigots.

Re:

[smittyoneeach]

The system we live under is racist

How can the system, itself, be racist? Where is the racism stored/maintained/executed?
People effect racism. This need to decouple people from their deeds seems like a hallmark of modern silliness.

Re:

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Isn't affirmative action both institutional and systemic?

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[fustakrakich]

Yep, ying and yang...

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[smittyoneeach]

Affirmative Action is a wretched policy. But the people who wrote it, and the jerks that enforce it, are the culpable ones.

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[fustakrakich]

Affirmative Action is a wretched policy.

Far less wretched than prohibition...

Re:

[smittyoneeach]

At last we can agree on something: external force is useless. Change and renewal come from within.

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[fustakrakich]

I've been saying that all along, you silly goose! Just like morals. Yet you and your Christian Taliban want to legislate your religion into our lives.

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[smittyoneeach]

Yet you and your Christian Taliban want to legislate your religion into our lives.

Sarcasm noted. For a thought experiment, one wishes you could spend some time in the loving clutches of some no-kidding Taliban. You might find such a clarifying experience.

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[fustakrakich]

That's why it's important to cut it off at the bud here, before it grows any stronger.

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[smittyoneeach]

The CAIR bears will give you a special hug.

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[fustakrakich]

Your prejudice is showing.. again... Try being a bit more subtle...

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[smittyoneeach]

Your knee is jerking again, if one cannot make a care/CAIR pun without drawing fire.

Re:

[fustakrakich]

I've seen your previous rants...

Re:

[smittyoneeach]

Like the time I mentioned aadvarks, and you tried to twist that?
Sometimes an aardvark is just an aardvark, and a pun is just a pun.
Let me give you the benefit of the doubt, and admit that internet correspondence is fertile ground for misinterpretation in all directions.