Deep in the Heart of Racism

So I found a picture of a map of skin color by region.

I thought it was a really cool map. And then I saw this comment:

Which, I do agree that racism is awful, but is it really based on skin color caused by melanin? Is racism actually the bias of one skin color over another, or is that a side effect of something bigger? If all people had the same color of skin, would racism cease to exist?

You might say, "Of course it's more than just skin color. It's called RACism, which means it's the preference of one race over another, and there are many things that make up a race: skin color, region, culture, language, etc." Which is true, but the bias of a skin color is so closely associated with racism that it's practically accepted to be the same thing. 

People say, "You hate them because they're black! or because they're white!", but you don't really hear African or European. Yes, you do hear Hispanic and Asian, but I think that is because it's weird to call someone yellow or brown. Not socially weird, just like it literally sounds weird. Like calling someone orange or pink. 

I think skin color gets too much attention for racism. I don't think the main reason the Europeans decimated the Native Americans or enslaved the Africans was because they looked a bit different. Yes, it was definitely to get richer, but I think the way they rationalized was telling themselves that because their culture was so different it was worse. And I think that is what is really the basis for racism: culture difference.

If you look at African tribes, both now and in the past, there is a lot of tribal fighting. And it's not just turf wars, it's basically small scale civil wars. And, I'm not an expert, but I'd imagine a big reason for these civil wars is hatred of the other peoples based on their differences. Looking at this chart, the skin color of most Africans is very similar, so it doesn't really make sense that that would be the basis for racism.

Anyway, that's basically all I had to say. Probably obvious to most people, but I figured I'd write about it.

White men marrying black women? Disgraceful!

Speaking of others complaining (in my last chasmatic post, obviously), let's switch it over to something more fun: Society changing for the worse.

Gay marriage is the hot topic of our era, so I figured I should take a swing at that. If you're asking me, I'm for it. I believe that "All men are created equal" and that "All people are endowed with a certain set of inalienable rights" includes the right to marry whomever you so desire.

Yes, it's not biblical or moral, but is being an asshole on the list of morally correct things?

For this post, let's assume there are no morals. Nothing is absolutely right or wrong, nothing is relatively right or wrong. Let's just look at it from more of an unbiased approach (obviously it won't be unbiased, but it's close, so shut up.)

Things in society change (fashion, morals, recreation, whatever), but the behavior of society doesn't.

Now: People discriminate against sexual orientation, and rebuke their parents for being racists.
50 years ago: People discriminate against race, and rebuke their parents for being sexists.
100 years ago: People discriminate against sex, and rebuke their parents for owning slaves.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Do you think society is any worse off now than it was 50 or 100 years ago? Because, if so, we should take away all rights of people who aren't European men.

No, of course you don't want to do that, because it would be stupid. So why is it any different now? In 50 years, our kids will look back on us like we were morons.

So stop being so goddamn homophobic and let men marry men and women marry women. I highly doubt it will affect your life at all, and it will make them much, much happier.





Bottom note: Yes, I understand the irony in complaining about people complaining. Shut up.

Forget the future; Let's live in the past.

I hate all articles/blogs/vlogs/rants/broadcasts/smoke signals that complain about how "this generation is so much more [negative adjective] than the last one." Most of the time that isn't true. Unless you're talking about something there is actual data on like amount of hours spent working or amount of people with cancer, it's probably just bullshit.

Most of the time the rant starts off "Kids these days are so [adjective]. Back in my day, blah blah blah." Yes, I know, not all of the people making these claims are 80 year old men yelling at people to get off their lawn, but their claims usually sound pretty similar. It's always about how people are so much more of something or so much less of something than they remember people being some time ago.

This isn't people changing, it's just you not remembering correctly. You probably don't remember people being that way either because A. It was a while ago and you don't remember it too accurately, or B. You were younger and didn't notice things like that.

The most famous of this type of rant is "This generation is so much lazier than my generation."
1. You raised this generation. It your fucking job to make it productive and useful.
2. Your generation was most likely just as lazy when you were as old as this generation is. The fact that you have to work now and they don't is probably what you're mistaking to be laziness. The other reason might be that when you were their age was a long time ago, and you don't quite remember it as it really was.

So stop complaining. If your generation made it through life, the next generation will as well. Just because technology might be a little different, doesn't mean society has gotten any worse.