Brenton
Is Racism Justified?
October 4th 2007 13:30
We treat different people in different ways. We have to. People are different. We don’t try to demand folk with wheelchairs climb the stairs, and we don’t ask Vietnamese actors to play Michael Jackson in the biopic of his life.
However, when we decide on how to treat people based on race, we run into the issue of racism. The best way to describe racism, I find, is to regard it as ‘racial discrimination’ – specific discrimination based on an individuals race or ethnicity. And there is a question of if racial discrimination is ever appropriate to which I would have to say “yes”. Now it’s very easy to get all indignant and be all like ‘that’s not cool man! We’re all the same on the inside! Don’t be hating!’
You’re a Customs Officer. You have to do baggage checks at a flight leaving Vietnam. A large amount of the Heroin smuggled into Australia is taken in from Vietnamese locals. Who are you going to pick?
You are a police officer in a remote Australian community. Somebody walks past you with a bottle of mentholated spirits. They tell you it’s just groceries for their parent. In one scenario they’re Greek, in the other, Aboriginal. Would your reaction be racially discriminate?
If you’re Investigating terrorism do you start with Koreans? White extremist graffiti, do you ask an Indian? We have to go with the clues we have, and sometimes the only clue we have is a face. A race. An ethnicity. A culture. A stereotype. A presumption.
The complexity with racism is that the concept in itself seems to have become synonymous with the idea that we should treat everyone the same. This is obviously untrue, and when failing to pretend that we are all exactly the same is perceived as synonymous, we run into problems. The question is – to what extend does treating people differently for all their differences become an act of hatred, and to what extent does it become an act of common sense?
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However, when we decide on how to treat people based on race, we run into the issue of racism. The best way to describe racism, I find, is to regard it as ‘racial discrimination’ – specific discrimination based on an individuals race or ethnicity. And there is a question of if racial discrimination is ever appropriate to which I would have to say “yes”. Now it’s very easy to get all indignant and be all like ‘that’s not cool man! We’re all the same on the inside! Don’t be hating!’
You’re a Customs Officer. You have to do baggage checks at a flight leaving Vietnam. A large amount of the Heroin smuggled into Australia is taken in from Vietnamese locals. Who are you going to pick?
You are a police officer in a remote Australian community. Somebody walks past you with a bottle of mentholated spirits. They tell you it’s just groceries for their parent. In one scenario they’re Greek, in the other, Aboriginal. Would your reaction be racially discriminate?
If you’re Investigating terrorism do you start with Koreans? White extremist graffiti, do you ask an Indian? We have to go with the clues we have, and sometimes the only clue we have is a face. A race. An ethnicity. A culture. A stereotype. A presumption.
Racism? Discrimination?
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Comment by Ahmed
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I don't think it's racism when you're working under the concept of 'probably' as in 'it'll probably be a vietnamese man smuggling in the drugs'.
Having said that such concepts are usually inaccurate, stuff about (for instance) hispanics being slouches is completely false yet they may be treated as lazy human beings (even though they work harder than most).
Vietnamese people may be seen as drug smugglers though it turns out it's your typical caucasian female with big boobs whose doing the actual smuggling.
In reality there is nothing wrong with being specific to race or religion if theres a likelyhood of some problems rising from it though such reasoning isn't usually recquired.
I think the only instance (in recent memory) where targetting a specific group was the right thing to do was with the Muslim community and the whole terrorism thing. If someones going to be exploding a bomb he/she is going to probabl be a 'muslim' so if ASIO or the government working with the Muslim community can help keep such a thing from happening then by all means.
Of course this is one of those thinline type things, even the Jewish community is suseptable to such individual extremists so it isn't like it should be something just for the Muslim community. All in all race or religion isn't reason to discriminate but often times people under such a race or religion will have crazy ideas, in which case such differentiating may be necessary.
Though when it comes down to it all we are talking about extreme instances in different segments of society, it's never as simple or generel as some would have you believe. No such thing as 'Islam breeds terrorists' or 'blacks are more likely to be drug addicts'. These tend to be completely false or inaccurate notions thrown around by those with less than capable thinking power.
Comment by Damo
Comment by Brenton
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Comment by Louie
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(hehehe ok Ive been dying to write that forever)
Interesting post, good food for thought, I think it is human nature to put things in boxes to make sense of this mixed up crazy world, i think as long s you are prepared to think outside the box most of the time it is ok to fall into the box trap. It is those that judge from the box that get into trouble and into the Racist Territory. In my view there is positive racism and then there is negative racism such as discrimination.
A positive is a positive whever it comes from, box or not.
Great post, good friday arvo thinking material.
Comment by Brenton
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Assumptions do mess us up alot. But they also help us. Many a life has been saved because we assumed the funny man with a knife was a danger.
Anyway, I'm not even going to be more intellegentr than that as I'm very tired. It's a wonder this comments makes as much sense as it does.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Targeting the Muslim community was probably the right thing to do after 9/11 attacks. However, it is morally wrong to hurt an individual when you have no basis of justification.