What if racism is an evolutionary response?

[Zaymer]

Do you think that is always necessarily the case though? Do you think that extermination is the only solution in this instance?

It is the most extreme and permanent solution, but I never said it was the only one; I could seek to gain any advantages possible and abuse you in various manners instead.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

The desire to group together is evolutionary according to many scientists. It really doesn't matter what form the group takes. So a corporate organization is not really different than any other tribal structure.

Except that is different since an organization like Apple, like Nestle, is formed on the basis of generating capital, money, not furthering the lifespan of humans. Apple and Nestle and BP Oil are companies that were created to make money. That is not something found in nature.

 

[grasping the after wind]

It is the most extreme and permanent solution, but I never said it was the only one, I could seek to gain any advantages possible and abuse you in various manners instead.

Certainly if one is inclined to see life as a primarily a competition for resources then one will act as you suggest. If one has no reason to think of life in other terms then that would be the logical response. To act otherwise would be foolish and logically inconsistent.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Their leaders represent the whole community to others, not just a few.

No, groups in the black communities, groups in the Latino communities and groups in the Native American communities had leaders that said they need help. Those groups are not the sole representation of the ethnic groups wholesale, just as I myself am not the sole representative of the white British population.

 

[pitabread]

It is the most extreme and permanent solution, but I never said it was the only one; I could seek to gain any advantages possible and abuse you in various manners instead.

Why do you think this comes down to abuse?

(It's a bit concerning that you think these are your only options here.)

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Why do you think this comes down to abuse?

I'm going to say: because of a very flawed understanding of the concept of Survival of the Fittest and thinking Social Darwinism is actually an evolutionary theory.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

actually, I agree with you to a great extent. Much of what is called "racism" these days is just ordinary bigotry.

I feel more pity and disappointment than anything else.

 

[pitabread]

Blacks have presented their problems as a specific ethnic community. Why not address it as such?

You have to consider context. In the context of something like BLM, they are specifically trying to combat racism in certain regions/countries.

If from that all you're seeing is "black people need help" and treating everyone as a homogenous group, then you're missing the real point.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

No, groups in the black communities, groups in the Latino communities and groups in the Native American communities had leaders that said they need help. Those groups are not the sole representation of the ethnic groups wholesale, just as I myself am not the sole representative of the white British population.

I guess you gotta come and see it for yourself.

 

[eleos1954]

If so there is little we can do about it. Evolutionary change cannot be legislated just because we don't like something about ourselves. Thoughts?

There is one race .... the human race ... man has categorized beyond what God created and thereby causing division among mankind ... it's a man invented mindset.

no doubt the influence of satan is behind it

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Much of the human race have sick hearts ... and sadly will continue.

 

[Zaymer]

Why do you think this comes down to abuse?

(It's a bit concerning that you think these are your only options here.)

I'm going to say: because of a very flawed understanding of the concept of Survival of the Fittest and thinking Social Darwinism is actually an evolutionary theory.

It is taking the ideas of evolutionary competition and survival of the fittest applied to humanity (humans are biological organisms, correct?) to their logical conclusions/extremes. Cooperation may be possible, but the question then is: for how long?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

You have to consider context. In the context of something like BLM, they are specifically trying to combat racism in certain regions/countries.

If from that all you're seeing is "black people need help" and treating everyone as a homogenous group, then you're missing the real point.

I'm addressing their problems as a homogenous group, which I believe is the point. I don't like the "whack-a-mole" approach.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

I guess you gotta come and see it for yourself.

Non-answer.
My point still stands: just because the leaders of certain groups in communities say that their group needs help does not mean that the larger group as a whole needs the same help. In fact, such a thing can be harmful as much as not giving them help. Positive racism is a thing.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Non-answer.
My point still stands: just because the leaders of certain groups in communities say that their group needs help does not mean that the larger group as a whole needs the same help. In fact, such a thing can be harmful as much as not giving them help. Positive racism is a thing.

The opposite is more likely to be true, that the whole community does indeed need help. Consider the calls from BLM to defund the police, while at the same time the majority of blacks want more police protection.

 

[Arc F1]

Yeah, as others have pointed out, this really sounds racist. You can say "some black people, some Latino people and some Native Americans could use help" and that would be sort of okay since that is a truth. Many sections of different ethnicities and races need help.
But when you just simply refer to them as groups AS A WHOLE, then it sounds racist.

It comes down to intent. Today we, myself included tend to decide on our own what another person intended. The only way to know if what he said was racist would be to know what was in his mind. Everyone is on edge lately and throwing out words like racist, liberal etc. so much that they've lost meaning. The one thing I do know about true racists are they are just looking for someone to blame for their own perceived failures. Even then most of them don't really hate the other race they just want to make hurtful comments towards them and try to bring them down a notch. Lack of personal responsibility.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

It is taking the ideas of evolutionary competition and survival of the fittest applied to humanity (humans are biological organisms, correct?) to their logical conclusions/extremes. Cooperation may be possible, but the question then is: for how long?

You really have proved me right, sadly.
Cooperation will always be useful and is always possible. Survival of the fittest is not the tooth-and-nail/fight-to-the-death process that people always incorrectly make it out to be. The fittest group is the group that survives the longest to keep procreating. It is not the group that goes around committing mass murder and abuse because they feel like it. That sort of group largely often ends up dying out because of their own lack of self control or because they are banded together against by other groups who see them as a threat.

 

[pitabread]

It is taking the ideas of evolutionary competition and survival of the fittest applied to humanity (humans are biological organisms, correct?) to their logical conclusions/extremes. Cooperation may be possible, but the question then is: for how long?

I still fail to see how this is a logical conclusion. Survival of the fittest does not entail wiping out everyone/everything else.

Insofar as cooperation goes, just using the human species as an example, we tend to be at our best (survival-wise) when we do cooperate.

Using the WW2 example, it's not like when Hitler decided to wipe out/conquer everyone else that he was successful. Everyone else decided to cooperate and said "no, we don't think so". And thus was the end of Hitler's plans for domination.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

The opposite is more likely to be true, that the whole community does indeed need help. Consider the calls from BLM to defund the police, while at the same time the majority of blacks want more police protection.

Except that that isn't always the case. If you say that the whole needs help because of the words of a minority in that group, then that is stereotyping.

 

[NerdGirl]

If so there is little we can do about it. Evolutionary change cannot be legislated just because we don't like something about ourselves. Thoughts?

It's not. Children who aren't taught to fear or dislike or look down upon other races will happily befriend and play with and love and embrace other children of any ethnicity. It's entirely taught, whether by outside influences or experiences one endures.

 

[NerdGirl]

Yes, it is possible tht a racist response is part of our nature. But as one of my favorite theologians, Miss Rose Sayer, once put it, "Human nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we were put in this world to rise above."

Best. Movie. Ever.