I had two friends 'like' the status, both are notorious for living on Facebook, so I'm not sure exactly what they meant. Friend 1 is white and has grown up in a very white community. Friend 2 grew up in Cleveland, OH with a very large African American population.
Most people I talked to described being racist as agreeing with existing, and mostly accurate, stereotypes. Just identifying it as a different culture was considered being a little bit racist to the friends I talked to after class.
A girl from Utah described it as simply noticing that somebody looked different. Not necessarily having preconceptions about the person, just noticing they were different.
I think the lack of comments point to my Facebook friends not wanting their opinions in text for all to see. It is a sensitive subject, and in my ultra-conservative, 89% white community at home, racism is very rarely evident, and therefore not to be spoken of.
11 comments:
My friends didn't seem to eager to comment on it either. I think it was because they could tell it was from some song or something and didn't want to comment because they'd seem unhip.
Along with that idea that everyone is racist but that doesn't mean they act racist, I had someone say something very similar. She said that we do have those tendencies but it's more mental than anything. It could even be something we suppress. It could also be like that comment about noticing that everyone looks different. It doesn't mean it's a bad thing, but we definitely notice differences. Does that make us a little racist though? I have no clue.
I didn't get too many serious comments either, or comments at all for that matter.
It seems that each person that I talked with has a completely different definition about what racism means.
I actually got a ton of really well-reasoned responses from my friends. I grew up on the east coast, however, with a much more liberal crowd. I'm wondering if that had anything to do with the fact they weren't afraid to discuss the topic. I can see how conservative Utah might react differently.
I would agree that facebook isn't the place where you can seek realistic answers to questions. Likes on this question gives you the thought of what are they thinking, are they racist or do they think that to many people are? People should experience diversity and learn about other cultures.
In regards of what they about being racist but not acting racist, I think it is contradictory because if you have a set of values and beliefs, such as racism, they are going to -one way or the other- show up in some aspect of your life. Most of the times our actions reflect our thoughts.
i agree. i don't think my friends commented that much because they didn't want their true opinions on the World Wide Web. so like you, i got few responses or short responses. great post.
i agree. i don't think my friends commented that much because they didn't want their true opinions on the World Wide Web. so like you, i got few responses or short responses. great post.
"A girl from Utah described it as simply noticing that somebody looked different. Not necessarily having preconceptions about the person, just noticing they were different."
I think that is now the "definition" of being racist, being aware rather than being hateful. I could totally see why people wouldn't want to put their comment up for all of facebook to see... honestly, if I saw that status, I wouldn't comment either.
"A girl from Utah described it as simply noticing that somebody looked different. Not necessarily having preconceptions about the person, just noticing they were different."
I think that is now the "definition" of being racist, being aware rather than being hateful. I could totally see why people wouldn't want to put their comment up for all of facebook to see... honestly, if I saw that status, I wouldn't comment either.
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