Racism and Ignorance in America

So when does Helter Skelter start, and who will the mexican's side with?

Blackflag: We used to have racism in New Zealand, but then we cured it.

http://youtu.be/X-jVAHAuiS4

nzlockie: Ignorance, however, remains universal.

For lazy people, here's that video nzlockie linked properly embedded:

nzlockie: Racism can't be cured. It appears everywhere immigration does. In America, we have more Mexicans, Africans, Arabs, and Asians coming in than the average white capitalist can reproduce.

Blackflag: Didn't you watch the video?
We cured it. It used to be a big problem down here but then we solved it through the power of song.

nzlockie: I thought we used a magical jellybean all the colors of the rainbow?!

Blackflag: Not quite sure I agree with the implication you make that immigration causes racism. A state with no immigration would be the most racist state of all.

admin: I don't actually remember. I remember there was that Albanian kid that was badly burned. We sent him off to that cave. Then there was Bubblegum Pie and I don't remember much after that except that afterwards we weren't really racist anymore.

admin: I disagree. People are already xenophobic to other cultures. The racism comes out once those cultures flood in to your nation. Tolerance is easy when there is nobody else around to tolerate. Although you're not totally incorrect. When black families moves in a white neighborhood, that's when the racism starts to reveal itself. It is hard to hate a group when you're friends with somebody in it though, which is where I tend to lean your way.

On a serious note, I remember seeing a pretty interesting doco on Racism a while back. Basically the guy was asking the question, "What IS Racism?"

He interviewed a bunch of random people and got a massive range of answers. Then it got more interesting when he presented them with a bunch of scenarios and asked them if the various responses were racist or not.

His point was that in America today, (that's where this was filmed) nobody really has a clue what racism is, and as a result, they use the word to describe ANY perceived prejudice, profiling or stereotyping - often regardless of whether it's race related or not.
While his editing was pretty blatant, the interviews seemed pretty genuine. One lady was almost in tears because she told about how she'd seen a guy walking down her street and noticed that he was Black. She'd never thought of herself as Racist but felt that the fact that his skin colour was one of the first things she'd noticed about him made her Racist.

It was quite interesting.

Coming from a tourist country, I would also take issue with the idea that people are inherently xenophobic to other cultures. Obviously a lot of people are, but in MY experience, I don't think that's the default setting for most people.
This will be biased from coming from NZ though, where EVERYONE travels overseas. I think people tend to fear the unfamiliar and the more they travel and are exposed to other cultures, the more they're open to them.

nzlockie: I'm with you. It is different having a tourist come to your country and a actual immigrant looking to live there. We get a LOT of tourists as well, and it isn't the same.

In case nobody got the Helter Skelter reference (new zealanders), it was supposed to be a race war between blacks and whites predicted by the Manson Family, who justified their killings by claiming they were preventing Helter Skelter.

Blackflag: I got the reference. It's pretty famous.
You're right, it IS different - my point was that I think there's more evidence to suggest that people are naturally favourable TOWARDS other cultures than AGAINST.

We have a ton of immigrants to our country as well, I think most western countries do. We get the same old people complaining about how they should learn to speak English and so on. But for every person who thinks that way, there are 10 that don't. I think globally that ratio would drop, and I think that would largely be to people who feel threatened by the unfamiliar. So naturally, some countries are going to find it harder than others.

It's also my contention that language is the single biggest factor in making a person feel uncomfortable. Thoughts?

nzlockie: Language has little to do with it. The majority of immigrants can speak English, yet Muslim bashes still happen each night, and the same old trash persecute Mexicans. America is on bigot watch. Did you watch the mexican vs white trash video? The sad thing, is that I encounter these people daily.

Blackflag: So you'd say that North Korea tolerates the United States?

Blackflag: Yeah that Mexican one was bad. All of them were bad. Pretty embarrassing to think those kinds of people somehow make it to adulthood and still think it's ok to act like that.

admin: Circumstances are different. There's no endless propaganda drain here telling us to haze arabs at night. You've seen the media centered around the War on Terror.

Blackflag: US has open border though. My point is that countries with closed borders have all generally been quite racist. Which is usually the reason why they're trying to keep foreigners out of their utopia in the first place.

nzlockie: I suppose I should of explained the reference behind the "get to the back of the bus" one. In the Southern States they use to have laws called the "Jim Crow laws", which segregated whites and blacks. Blacks were legally forced to give their seat up for a white man, and sit in the back. Which is why they were pissed when he told her to sit in the back.