1. I'm quoting you on ""Society" is a shoutocracy: loudest voice frequently wins."
2. One of the problems with racism isn't just skin color. Because people of different color also tend to have different facial features, specifically nose shape, it changes the way their voices sound. There was a study (can't remember which, so please don't ask) where people listened to voice recordings and tried to guess the race of the person speaking and most people were fairly good at it.
Also, people are genetically predisposed to recognize and better distinguish others of their own race. A white person would be better able to pick a white person out of a line up, an Asian out of an Asian. It has to do with how we perceive features. And it is completely genetic, not cultural; you can be adopted from birth and raised with a different race until adulthood, never seeing another person of your own race, and then if you're put in a multiracial situation you will still be able to distinguish people of your own race better. It probably goes back to when we were all preverbal in small hunting and gathering groups with lots of fighting and we needed a way to distinguish our own people (the good guys) from the other people (the bad guys) who were trying to kill us. Maybe that's where racism started. It really sucks that our instincts haven't caught up with our social development.
3. Another problem is that most people don't even realize they're racist, so they genuinely are offended when called out on it because it's so taboo that they're too horrified to believe that it's something that they could possibly be, rather than examine it.
4. You forgot Denzel
5. When it comes to mainstream media, especially television, 90% of people of color are "bleached out" anyway. If you take "All American Girl" the one and only Asian American show to ever be on mainstream t.v. Margaret Cho was told that her show was too ethnic (not to mention that this was after they made her lose 30 lbs in 2 months, but that's a different post) and canceled it. All those Fox and CW teen shows have the "Token Black Kid" who just so happens to talk like all the white kids, dress like all the white kids, listen to all the same music as all the white kids, have the completely same culture as all the white kids. And have you noticed that all the shows with Black casts on Prime Time t.v. are sitcoms? They only want funny Black people; no, never have a show that shows what it's really like to be Black, a serious show that shows racism and discrimination and adversity and communities coming together to celebrate their culture. White people would never want to see that, and that's all that really matters, right?
6. I totally argue against the BET with a straight face. Usually to be ironic, to show someone how ridiculous his/her argument is. Rarely I do so to complain that it is not fair that they are the only minority with a t.v. channel on mainstream cable and that the others don't; but then I'm not saying that they shouldn't, just that if they can have one the others should get one too.
no subject
2. One of the problems with racism isn't just skin color. Because people of different color also tend to have different facial features, specifically nose shape, it changes the way their voices sound. There was a study (can't remember which, so please don't ask) where people listened to voice recordings and tried to guess the race of the person speaking and most people were fairly good at it.
Also, people are genetically predisposed to recognize and better distinguish others of their own race. A white person would be better able to pick a white person out of a line up, an Asian out of an Asian. It has to do with how we perceive features. And it is completely genetic, not cultural; you can be adopted from birth and raised with a different race until adulthood, never seeing another person of your own race, and then if you're put in a multiracial situation you will still be able to distinguish people of your own race better. It probably goes back to when we were all preverbal in small hunting and gathering groups with lots of fighting and we needed a way to distinguish our own people (the good guys) from the other people (the bad guys) who were trying to kill us. Maybe that's where racism started. It really sucks that our instincts haven't caught up with our social development.
3. Another problem is that most people don't even realize they're racist, so they genuinely are offended when called out on it because it's so taboo that they're too horrified to believe that it's something that they could possibly be, rather than examine it.
4. You forgot Denzel
5. When it comes to mainstream media, especially television, 90% of people of color are "bleached out" anyway. If you take "All American Girl" the one and only Asian American show to ever be on mainstream t.v. Margaret Cho was told that her show was too ethnic (not to mention that this was after they made her lose 30 lbs in 2 months, but that's a different post) and canceled it. All those Fox and CW teen shows have the "Token Black Kid" who just so happens to talk like all the white kids, dress like all the white kids, listen to all the same music as all the white kids, have the completely same culture as all the white kids. And have you noticed that all the shows with Black casts on Prime Time t.v. are sitcoms? They only want funny Black people; no, never have a show that shows what it's really like to be Black, a serious show that shows racism and discrimination and adversity and communities coming together to celebrate their culture. White people would never want to see that, and that's all that really matters, right?
6. I totally argue against the BET with a straight face. Usually to be ironic, to show someone how ridiculous his/her argument is. Rarely I do so to complain that it is not fair that they are the only minority with a t.v. channel on mainstream cable and that the others don't; but then I'm not saying that they shouldn't, just that if they can have one the others should get one too.