[530] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Racism and what-not
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher R. Jones)
Thu May 3 19:54:17 2001
Message-Id: <200105032353.TAA02594@ssrt30.mit.edu>
To: "Michael M. Torrice" <mmt02@MIT.EDU>, mit-talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 03 May 2001 18:16:48 EDT."
<200105032216.SAA00310@melbourne-city-street.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 19:53:26 -0400
From: "Christopher R. Jones" <wrjjones@MIT.EDU>
>Well the question is intimately linked to the issue of racism. If race
>is an essential characteristic of a person, then you are accepting racism.
No. two reasons why not (there are more, these are just two i feel like
mentioning):
1. just because you associate youself with a group does not mean you have all
atributes of the group. I am a demacrat, yet I am against abortion. That is where
choice fits in. If people had to fit perfectly each group they where in, most
groups would not have any members.
2. The environment in which we grew up and live (which race contributes to) is a
part of us all. It has to be because it effects the knowledge of the world we
have to draw upon (unless you make choices devoid of knowledge). Growing up as a
certain race you will experiance things only people of the same race will know,
and it will be a unifying factor between members of that group. This is also the
case for religion, nationality, sex, and countless other factors. The reason this
is different from racism though is because it does not determine inate abilities,
such as intelegence, athletic ability, ect. It also does not determin what we do
with what we have learned. All repressed people may undersand the feelings
assocciated with repression, but some will chose to ignore it, others will use to
make them stronger and some will use it as an excuse. The strong person may not
agree with the one who uses it as an excuse, but they will understand where that
person is coming from in a was that someone who has not been repressed will not
