Delete

[s13ep]

Delete

Edited May 1, 2017 by s13ep

[BrotherFerg]

wot

[HoonDing]

[s13ep]

Pandemonium

[s13ep]

I'm numb from the thoughts about this subject.

 

I spoke of sexual fantasy, but I don't care what you think, as long as my children are taught to not care...

[Gfted1]

...as long as my children are taught to not care...

I didn't understand much of the rest of your posts, but imo, this is a terrible concept and part of the problems we have in society. If that's even what you meant, who knows?

[Hurlshort]

[redneckdevil]

What is called when it's not the race of said person, but the culture of said person that u do not like?

[s13ep]

Wouldn't the war be won easier by a quick adjustment, or joke of people. Rather than politics. A circle.

Edited April 22, 2017 by s13ep

[s13ep]

It's simple as Russia signal in any way to America that we have our eye on a trophy victory and soon a blend of speech.

[Guard Dog]

If you are actually worried Russia & the US are going to go to war I wouldn't lose any sleep over that. It's it possible the world my see another major power war again someday. But I seriously doubt it. That whole "mutually assured destruction" that has kept the world at relative peace for 70 years is still a thing.

[Ben No.3]

Oh god, where to start...

 

I'll write a very long and elaborate answer later today

[Ben No.3]

The phrase "race is a social construct" does not imply that biological differences between people are not real, it implies that the process of differentiation between people based on said differences (or racism, as an example) is based on social (rather than biological) dynamics.

 

If we are to understand the underlying dynamics of today's racism, it is important to understand the historical background. An excellent example is the holding of "slaves" (more on this later) in Latin America by the Spanish from the 16th century onward. The following comes from an document from the Spanish Queen Isabella, written in 1503. I only have it in german, so excuse my translation:

 

"I [...] order you, our Governor [in South America], that you from this day, on which you receive my orders, forward force and push the Indios to treat the Christian population [the Spanish settlers] with respect, to work in their homes, to let them mine gold and other metals [for the settlers] and to do the agricultural work of the Christian settlers [...] to require every [tribe] to prepare a certain number of workers everywhere where necessary [to work for the settlers] and that they may, on holy days, be teached about the holy word [of the bible].

[...]

[Always remember that] the noted dutys they [the Indios] fulfill as free men, not as slaves."

 

The system described by Isabella is the Repartimento (lat. "repartiere": to distribute). It ensured every Spanish settler a certain number of Indios as workforce. It was closely tied to the Ecomienda (span. "ecomendar": to entrust), which required the settlers to house "their" Indios appropriately and to teach them in the Christian faith. However, these rules were more of a theoretical construct and enforced by no one. Quotes are amongst the strongest sources; here Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566), bishop in Chiapa, Mexico, talks about the effects of the Ecomienda:

 

"[The governor] did not only allow for impossible to endure labour [for the Indios], he also allowed, that Spanish coordinators were placed above them [the Indios], who were of exceptional cruelty. [...] They [the coordinators] treated them [the Indios] with such cruelty and hardship and so inhumanly, that they can only be described as servants of the devil, and they didn't give them [the Indios] a break, day and night. They hit them with sticks, whips, hands, feet and never called them anything but dogs."

 

The Spanish elites, but also the common Spanish man was fully aware of these realities. However, for a very long time, they were viewed as entirely justifiable. Most famously, the studied Palacios Rubios published the Requerimiento. In it, he build up the following argument: God had placed the pope as his representative on earth, and through the pope he gifted the Spanish king the New World (Amerika). The inhabitants of the new world had to therefore accept the new god, otherwise they should be held in slavery until they did so.

Additionally, the actually highly developed cultures of Latin America were often deemed barbaric, especially due to their practice of cannibalism as part of religious rituals, and therefore deemed worth less.

 

This line of argument was used for decades to come. After some time, the common people started to view this practice as unjust, and in 1537, the pope declared Indios to be "true humans", independently from their faith. And in 1542/43, the Spanish king declared several laws in which he outlawed slavery. It might seem like racism is, after all indeed not so much of a problem.

 

But here we get to the true source of it. Racism is just another form of oppression, oppression usually used for exploitation, exploitation in the economic sense. A shift in popular opinion toward more equality may seem like a new world is finally coming, however, public endeavours are often undermined by economic interests.

 

And we see the same here: while the people we're on the side of the Indios, many governors saw high economic losses for their spheres of influence (and make no mistake, therefore directly and primarily for themselves). The pressure from the governors led to the Spanish king rewriting the laws already in 1545. In doing so, he effectively reinstituted slavery.

 

So indeed, the phrase "race is a social construct" does not fully capture it. Race, in the sense of racism, is an economic creation. It originated in practices used during the early stages of trade-capitalism (the modern day racism, that is), during a time which you might call the first globalisation. And while enormous progress has been made, it remains a harsh reality that many non whites all around the world live primarily low class lives, while the upper classes are dominated by whites. These are not just remainders of past realities that will disappear eventually, they ARE today's reality, and without considerable effort, they will not disappear.

 

The focus of modern American leftists on what can be summarised under political correctness are surely good in theory, however, they completely fail to address the true issue. If the black man in America continues to live the life of a poor man, he couldn't care less if he is now referred to as African American. If the social issues are to be solved, the economic problems must be addressed first. Anything else is doomed to fail.

 

ADDED: Had enormous fun researching this, thanks for the input

Edited April 24, 2017 by Ben No.3