jtm2292

Don't you guys hate it when people collectivize race?

Like "white people" for example. To use the phrase "he is acting so white" or something is just plain ignorant to me. The "white race" is so diverse - you have subdivisions, like Midwestern "cowboys", southern Christians, Appalachian mountaineers, the southern cali vibe, the European whites, the New England intellectuals, and your city people. And even then, you'll find that the variety of different groups of whites that exist within those subdivisions. They are all so different - they have different origins, political views, and ways of life. Would you consider Russians to be considered "white"? What about Greeks? Moroccans? Egyptians? Mongolians? Can a "white" person be Muslim or Jewish?

I just read the Latino thread and it just angered me. Do you guys really think that it is possible to collectivize the entire Latino race? I am sure if you were to break it down and see the scores of Colombians and Argentinians, you will find their scores vastly different from Mexicans or Puertoricans.

Same thing with blacks and Asians. Yeah most Asians perform better than their counterparts, but not all. There are numerous Burmese and Cambodian gangs in America. Chinese too. And blacks, though they are the most under performing group in America, do you know what one of the highest is? African immigrants, who are a small group of blacks, like the condition of Barack Obama. Those who came to America not as a result of slavery, but of their own free will. In this sense, their motives are similar to Asians. Yet most people think Barack Obama is just your average black guy, that's why they may or may not vote for him.

But the problem arises from this very thread itself. Even within themselves, nationalities have very diverse ways of life. Look at Florida for example. If one were to collectivize all of Florida, it would be ignorant of that person to do so. Florida is so diverse - you have the large Caribbean influence in Miami, the southern Christian influence in northern Florida, and the diversity in central Florida. South Florida is socially liberal, whereas northern Florida is socially conservative. So to say Floridians act a certain way is ignorant.

And to those who say racism will never go away, well - the racism that existed between Irish and Wasps in the 19th century that was horrible - is pretty unknown in the modern era - now people can't tell the difference between Irish and British Americans. Same thing here - if we were to eliminate the concept of blacks and whites from our mind - then it would be nonexistent. Just like blondes and brunettes, tall people and short people.

And I know that I collectivize myself, evident in this thread. But I am only doing it to address a very pressing issue.

Invoyable

You're welcome for thanking me for coercing me into reading the first paragraph.

Stereotypes and generalizations happen...I suggest you get over it, or not pay attention to it. A lot of times it's for laughs anyway. Otherwise it's a bunch of idiots...

INVENIAMVIAM

Yeah, I hate it, but what can you do?

PlattsburghLoser

I found your entire post rather hypocritical. You condemn stereotypes yet enable them in the same breath.

2legit2quit

I don't think the OP was sterotyping people in the way that (s)he was critizing stereotypes. Never did (s)he say that groups of people all act a certain way. (s)he pointed out common threads between groups of people that make them similar, but never said they were all the same.

jtm2292

yes, i know it is hypocritical - but I am only doing it to make a point. None of my generalizations are true - I am merely using them to evoke different thoughts. Like the whole argentinian and mexican thing, and the wasps and the differnt kinds of white people - all generalizations, and none of them are true. But it is just to make a point.

And it is important, because when you have events like 9/11 or Jena 6 - built off of ideas of who people might be, something must be done.

INVENIAMVIAM

Here's something that I agree with you on and that I absolutely HATE: when people stereotype Muslims, or any Middle Easterners at all, or people who even LOOK Middle Eastern. "Oh they're terrorists! OMG We're gonna die! They're evil!"
That's the most irritating stereotype in my opinion. Just because a group of Muslim extremist terrorists may exist, does NOT mean than anybody who practices Islam is a terrorist. ARrrgh. My parents are like this. When they realized I'd been learning Arabic, they were like, "Well, I don't want you to get too sucked into that weird stuff." COME ON. They think I'm going to go blow up a building because I'm interested in other cultures and want to be able to visit other countries and interact with the people.

I realized I kind of just hijacked your thread, but I'm trying to just elaborate on one specific issue that goes with your whole "racial collectivism" bit.