Ethnic Minority Scapegoats
| Author | Topic: Ethnic Minority Scapegoats |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 59
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written Saturday, April 24 2004 07:30
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Many societies have a lower class that is ethnically different from the middle and upper classes. This is very convenient for bigots, since they can blame most of their country's problems on an inferior, barely human minority. I have the following conspiracy theory: Whoever pulls the strings behind the scenes has decided that people would feel worse about the status quo if they saw lots of people belonging to their own ethnic community living in abject poverty. Of course, this has happened often in history - in pre-WWII Germany, say. There are other examples where the "scum" was/is actually of "pure" blood, and it seems to make people feel very bad about the ruling class. Basically, I'm saying that the Establishment uses racism to make people worry less about social injustice ("it's their problem, it couldn't happen to me"). Then again, I'm not saying that the minorities are merely vicitms of the majority (or a conspiracy). Why, for instance, do Americans of Asian origin do better than African Americans? They're both pretty alien to WASPs, aren't they? Couldn't it be a matter of culture - one culture that values education, and another that values physical violence? On a side note, I would like to add that Asia has also gained much from meeting the West - cramming the theories of authorities must be complemented with innovation and empiricism. Posts: 950 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 618
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written Saturday, April 24 2004 11:35
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Hmm... it is an... intriguing proposition. With time and money you could perform an experiment to answer this question. Trouble is that people all have their own in-built innate predjudices and judgements, meaning that you could never draw a definite conclusion. It is technically possible. There has been a noticable increase of apathy in the general population in the last few decades. Also people do seem to use racist comments more freely. This does correspond with a growing attitude of "one person can't make a difference", and a growing ability to seemingly "mentally absolve" governmental sins. The population seems to have a shorter memory for government f ups. Add this to a trend of nationalist, xenophobic governments coming to power in western countries... Hmm... it does seem to add up... but personally I would prefer something other than theory and possible coincedences. BTW, your comment of bringing "innovation and empiricism" to Asia is incorrect in certain cases. China for one. They had printing presses, gunpowder and all sorts of other things that were no more than crude versions of what we, four millenia later, use everyday. -------------------- I like to say quack because I can, I like to say moooo because I can, but I don't like saying ergle flmp because I can never pronounce phenomenon first try. In conclusion, quack, moooo and phenonemenonmenonnon... Oh Poo. http://s4.invisionfree.com/Ultimate_RP/index.php Try it! Posts: 1487 | Registered: Sunday, February 10 2002 08:00 |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Saturday, April 24 2004 11:39
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Sure, but China then stagnated because tradition got the upper hand against mercantilism and innovation, so it became inward looking. -------------------- "I particularly like the part where he claims not to know what self-aggrandisement means, then demands more wing-wongs up his virgin ass" Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 2242
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written Saturday, April 24 2004 12:30
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A well though out question. I don't really have an answer. If you think about it, today minorities are much better off than hundreds of years ago but racism is still around. Racism could be around for a long time. For some reason in this day and age, everyone expects change to be almost overnight. Some world issues could take generations to fix. It's my belief that racism will eventually die out to almost non-existance in the next couple thousand years or so. -------------------- "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes back into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche "There is no dodging the quad laser." -Ignignok Posts: 469 | Registered: Thursday, November 14 2002 08:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Saturday, April 24 2004 12:37
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You don't need a conspiracy to explain the existence of racism. Of course, it's pretty hard to deny that many governments do in fact take political advantage of racism when it suits them. -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |