Do you believe a majority of Americans are racists

ever do to change it.

It's just a matter of degree.

Humans are tribal animals and ALWAYS prefer members of their own tribe to associate with. Just like baboons, gorillas, and chimps, humans develop in social interactions that place great importance on how one relates to one's own tribe and to outside tribes. Of all the primates, orangutans are the least tribal, the least racist, and that is because they are solitary animals and most of their social interactions are one-on-one.

Humans are also intelligent animals, and the smarter among them realize that too much tribalism gives way to petty quarrels, and that in the long run, two tribes are better off cooperating and finding some common good. Racism is just another manifestation of tribalism, of putting US above THEM, and retreating back to what was evolutionarily successful millions of years ago. It is important to note that the ones that are the least threatened and frightened by things new and different are also the least racist.

Some of it is racial and some cultural, but by and large people seek out others like themselves.

People congregate with people of like race, religion (or lack of ) ,cultural preferences (like music and dress) .

There is a greater feeling of "safety "when the others reflect you.


I used to watch my sons class in primary school..we put the children in a multi racial, diverse school.

As small children there was open interaction, by 4th grade I started to see some clicks forming. The clicks tended to be racial in appearance, but that is also the age where children start to form distinct tastes in music, clothing and entertainment.

So each group had a small amount of diversity within its numbers. By 7th grade it was almost totally racial in appearance. I do not think it was "racism" on either side, it was kids seeking out others with similar interests,

The kids all stayed friendly with each other, but socially they were a divided group.

Bigoted and hateful.

I could be wrong.

Copycat polls are apparently not allowed, but if they were, I would post an exactly similar poll asking how many Black Americans are racist. or possibly humans in general.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

...single out Blacks?

No just for the contrast in perceptions - when you talk about the racism of Americans, i believe the perception is we are talking about the racism of White Americans. I suspect if the poll specified Black (or Hispanic) Americans, well, the voting would be a bit different and we'd probably be having the discussion of whether or not Blacks can be racist and so on and so forth.

Bryant

They become circular from both sides and end up going nowhere, imo.

...not just white folks.

A racist is a racist is a racist.

I'm more inclined to believe that the people writing this sort of poll are quite racist in their own views. Talk about flamebait. :eyes:

I hesitate to toss around "racist" loosely because it causes people to shut down. Not to sound like a diversity workshop facilitator, but it's so much better for people to acknowledge their biases, stereotypes and preconceptions, and work on overcoming them.

In the forties, something like 90% of americans were against interracial marriage.

That number didn't drop below 50% until the nineties.

Now opposing interracial is rather extreme racism, surely there are much more subtle racists than that.

Some 60% of Americans supported the war in Iraq, a country whose only connection to 9-11 was that it was populated by arab muslims. Sounds like racism too me.

A majority of Americans hold bigoted views against arab muslims.

So, yeah. I'd have to say a majority of Americans are racist.

we're only human after all.

:shrug:

That's the impression you give me.

Why let it affect you one way or the other?

Even in America, a racist nation. To call someone a racist is to make a pretty extreme charge - you wouldn't do it on a whim. What this poll reflects is the disdain which at least half of the respondents feel for their fellow Americans.

How do you successfully lobby to lead people you openly despise?

Bryant

Racist enough to commit hate crimes? No, only a very few.

Racist enough to not vote for someone of another race who is highly qualified? Some

Not racist enough to be completely objective in hiring? Some

Not racist enough to fall in love with and marry a person of another race? Only a very few.

My mother, in her 70s, laments those moments when she realized how many racist thoughts she harbored just by growing up in the 40s and 50s. She was never "taught" overtly to be racist, she said, it was just in the air everywhere and was impossible not to be influence by it.

but neither did they have friends of other races. It was not until I went to college and later lived in Chicago that I realized how sheltered I was.

Racism is rampant all over the world. Almost everyone does it when they are in charge.

Here in America, we shut up about it for a long time, but recent events have proven that it never died, and it hardly faded.

There are a lot of people that I would call racially minded. These whites, most of them over 45 years old, would agree that minorities should have the same rights to employment, voting, education, etc. that everyone else has, but they would not want to live near them and and are obsessed with the idea that a minority might get something they don't deserve just because they are one, even though the minorities have been discriminated against for decades. I think that this is the real reason that most of the so called Reagan democrats became Republicans.

My question is, will a lot of these people and/or their children now be voting for Obama, because he appeals to their BEST aspects? The optimist in me says yes, while the pessimist in me says no...

And for the record, I voted "maybe" in the poll, because "racist" is a very loaded, subjective term. I don't think any human being is completely free of bias or prejudice, but I don't think it's fair to tar most Americans with the brush of hard-core bigotry.

about people that they haven't been around. It's human nature. It's up to us as human beings to work past these stereotypes and treat people with respect and equality.

Racism, I admit, can mean a range of ideas from merely misunderstanding other races up to and including hating other races. It is the later definition though that I think we are talking about.

Bryant

I believe there is a bias in each and every one of us. Is that racism?

and after months of reading the GD:P, many Dems were called racist as well. If I based my opinion on this, I think I'd have to say that a majority of americans are racists.

Of course, calling someone a racist doesn't make it so. In my personal opinion (without any evidence to back it up, other than anecdotal), I would say that less than half of Americans are racist.

Some are, some aren't, and some are more racist than others. :shrug:

Racism occurs in every race, just as bigotry occurs in every group. Whether or not that occurrence is frequent enough to constitute a majority in 2008?

I don't have the data to determine that.

And it seems most people I know are not. But whenever I find out someone is, I'm always surprised.

So really, who the fuck knows.