Visible "Racial" characteristics; melanin, hair texture (follicle shape), nose shape, cheekbones, epicanthic fold, etc. give a recognizable tribal association. That would mean little or nothing except that people attach subculture perceptions to the tribe. If the view of the subculture is negative it is seen as racism though it is proper…
Visible "Racial" characteristics; melanin, hair texture (follicle shape), nose shape, cheekbones, epicanthic fold, etc. give a recognizable tribal association. That would mean little or nothing except that people attach subculture perceptions to the tribe. If the view of the subculture is negative it is seen as racism though it is properly tribalism/culturalism.
As is often discussed in The Commentary, it is often monolithic, and individuals are prejudged by perceptions of the tribal subculture. The visible characteristics in appearance act as an identifying uniform.
You mention the miscegenation that comes with "interracial marriage/partnerships." It will take some time for visible vestiges of our "uniforms" to fade into non-recognition since everyone is not participating. A thing that does matter and perhaps I am overly optimistic in thinking it could happen sooner is fixing perceptions. Stereotypes are the result of broad observation and can be either negative or positive (to who?).
This is where I think that black people (in America and other places) have a bit of a self-inflicted wound. I will be accused of victim blaming by someone, no doubt, but we do need to clean our own house. In an effort to resist assimilation into "whiteness", purposeful trappings of "black culture" (having nothing to do with Africa) establish a tribe where the people who seem to cling to it most strongly are people that are not the best positive examples. The most common "fear" of black people found in white, Asian and Hispanic people is criminality associated with black people with the "Gangsta" persona. If there is a disparity in crime it has numerous causes (not as simple as choosing one like poverty). Gangsta subculture is not just tolerant of criminality but glorifies it. The monolith attaches it to melanin without justification, except the gangstas purposefully create the association, a curse upon the majority of black people.
Tribalism may always be with us, and tribes are not always bad since they are unifying within while divisive from the outside. Can we reduce negative tribal (racial) associations? It's not just a matter of fixing our own perceptions of others, but also fixing the somewhat logical/justifiable perceptions of our own tribe. I'm not just pointing at black people with that. We all have those issues.
"The monolith attaches it to melanin without justification, except the gangstas purposefully create the association, a curse upon the majority of black people."
Yeah, this is the problem. The fact that this grouping is attached to melanin. White people as a group aren't associated with hillbillies or the Amish or (by sane people) the KKK. As I pointed out in a recent article, the percentage of black Americans who commit homicides, for example, is an infinitesimal fraction of the whole (0.008%). Yet many people hold this prejudice of "black criminality" because they just think of "black people".
If people were as discerning about racial characteristics as you suggest, considering nose shape, cheekbones, epicanthic fold, etc. when lumping people together, racism would be a far smaller issue than it is. But how often do you hear people differentiate between black people from Nigeria and black people from Ethiopia and black people from Jamaica in news reports or just in general? You can tell the difference between these groups quite easily by the characteristics you listed, but they're all just "black" in most people's minds.
This is the fallacy of the concept of race. For most people, it's just "everybody with the same skin colour is the same." Which is ridiculous whether you're talking about black people or white people or any other shade.
Yep, absolutely. So stupid. Of course, the idea that black peoples are one homogeneous lump is the one thing the racists on the left and the right agree on.
I was listening to a podcast this weekend of a panel of four black thinkers Glenn Loury was about 'black indentity' and they made a similar point - not necessarily about gangsta rap per se but about how the proponents of 'black culture' are often not the best representatives of 'the black community'. How American blacks' biggest problem is not being ready for the modern world when, supposedly, most of them are graduating high school with an eighth-grade reading level. (Although a lousy education and not knowing shit out of high school OR college appears to be a nationwide, colour-blind problem).
But yeah, glorifying black criminality isn't doing much for their image. Then again, country music is quite popular and tends to brush 'hillbillies' a certain way. Maybe if the Amish had better rap bands we'd be more associated with them too ;)
My focus on racial identification of cultures and subcultures elevates "race" above the status of a social construct even though that is what culture is in many ways. It is the zeitgeist which strongly influences views. Views and actions driven by them impact character which is meaningful. The issue becomes avoidance of prejudgment because influence is not always destiny.
Visible "Racial" characteristics; melanin, hair texture (follicle shape), nose shape, cheekbones, epicanthic fold, etc. give a recognizable tribal association. That would mean little or nothing except that people attach subculture perceptions to the tribe. If the view of the subculture is negative it is seen as racism though it is properly tribalism/culturalism.
As is often discussed in The Commentary, it is often monolithic, and individuals are prejudged by perceptions of the tribal subculture. The visible characteristics in appearance act as an identifying uniform.
You mention the miscegenation that comes with "interracial marriage/partnerships." It will take some time for visible vestiges of our "uniforms" to fade into non-recognition since everyone is not participating. A thing that does matter and perhaps I am overly optimistic in thinking it could happen sooner is fixing perceptions. Stereotypes are the result of broad observation and can be either negative or positive (to who?).
This is where I think that black people (in America and other places) have a bit of a self-inflicted wound. I will be accused of victim blaming by someone, no doubt, but we do need to clean our own house. In an effort to resist assimilation into "whiteness", purposeful trappings of "black culture" (having nothing to do with Africa) establish a tribe where the people who seem to cling to it most strongly are people that are not the best positive examples. The most common "fear" of black people found in white, Asian and Hispanic people is criminality associated with black people with the "Gangsta" persona. If there is a disparity in crime it has numerous causes (not as simple as choosing one like poverty). Gangsta subculture is not just tolerant of criminality but glorifies it. The monolith attaches it to melanin without justification, except the gangstas purposefully create the association, a curse upon the majority of black people.
To understand why I write that it would be helpful to read https://www.amazon.com/Black-Rednecks-White-Liberals-Autonomy-ebook/dp/B003XRDBYE/ref=sr_1_1
Tribalism may always be with us, and tribes are not always bad since they are unifying within while divisive from the outside. Can we reduce negative tribal (racial) associations? It's not just a matter of fixing our own perceptions of others, but also fixing the somewhat logical/justifiable perceptions of our own tribe. I'm not just pointing at black people with that. We all have those issues.
"The monolith attaches it to melanin without justification, except the gangstas purposefully create the association, a curse upon the majority of black people."
Yeah, this is the problem. The fact that this grouping is attached to melanin. White people as a group aren't associated with hillbillies or the Amish or (by sane people) the KKK. As I pointed out in a recent article, the percentage of black Americans who commit homicides, for example, is an infinitesimal fraction of the whole (0.008%). Yet many people hold this prejudice of "black criminality" because they just think of "black people".
If people were as discerning about racial characteristics as you suggest, considering nose shape, cheekbones, epicanthic fold, etc. when lumping people together, racism would be a far smaller issue than it is. But how often do you hear people differentiate between black people from Nigeria and black people from Ethiopia and black people from Jamaica in news reports or just in general? You can tell the difference between these groups quite easily by the characteristics you listed, but they're all just "black" in most people's minds.
This is the fallacy of the concept of race. For most people, it's just "everybody with the same skin colour is the same." Which is ridiculous whether you're talking about black people or white people or any other shade.
Which is why the MSM reification of race via the capitalization of Black is particularly gross.
Yep, absolutely. So stupid. Of course, the idea that black peoples are one homogeneous lump is the one thing the racists on the left and the right agree on.
I was listening to a podcast this weekend of a panel of four black thinkers Glenn Loury was about 'black indentity' and they made a similar point - not necessarily about gangsta rap per se but about how the proponents of 'black culture' are often not the best representatives of 'the black community'. How American blacks' biggest problem is not being ready for the modern world when, supposedly, most of them are graduating high school with an eighth-grade reading level. (Although a lousy education and not knowing shit out of high school OR college appears to be a nationwide, colour-blind problem).
But yeah, glorifying black criminality isn't doing much for their image. Then again, country music is quite popular and tends to brush 'hillbillies' a certain way. Maybe if the Amish had better rap bands we'd be more associated with them too ;)
My focus on racial identification of cultures and subcultures elevates "race" above the status of a social construct even though that is what culture is in many ways. It is the zeitgeist which strongly influences views. Views and actions driven by them impact character which is meaningful. The issue becomes avoidance of prejudgment because influence is not always destiny.