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View Full Version : Racism - a modern invention.



lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 07:55 PM
Honestly I never read antyhing about it. I just read an article in english by a brazilian blogger (english looks good enouth to me - it is also not my first languae) and it mentions some serious historians (search at wiki for them) like Frank Snowden and George Fredrickson.

http://otaviopinto.com/index.php/2015/05/29/we-have-created-racism-it-can-be-destroyed-down-with-racist-jokes/

Sample of the text:

[QUOTE]However, according to scholars on the field, racism is a modern invention. The American historian George Fredrickson tells us that the dominant view among experts is that there was not a concept like race among the Greek, Romans and early Christians. Therefore, as written by the historian Frank Snowden, ancient society

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 07:57 PM
About racist jokes. Some brazilian comedian named Danilo gentili (he hosts a famous talk show) has compared a black man with a monkey. And he used the "only a joke" excuse. He even said: "Why can I call a fat guy a whale and can't call a black man a monkey?"

This guy's career has not suffered. Actually he is very popular in Brazil. Show how racist Brazil still is.

What would happen in the US if say Jimmy Fallon said those same things?

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:03 PM
very very interesting.

so blacks created racism by resenting the white man for doing what they were allowed to do. fascinating.

Could you elaborate on that?

Blacks did not create racism. Centuries of slavery of blacks in the Americas created that. So, white people "created it.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:05 PM
uhh he makes a good point.

black people and monkeys are the same color. :confusedshrug:

so black people can refer to white people as albinos but white people cant refer to them as monkeys?

blacks are so ****ing sensitive its almost comical.

But as the article shows, Blacks have been compared with monkeys by racists for a long time to argue that blacks are not really human. Nobody ever called a white man albino to argue he's less than a human being. You gotta look at historical context.

CavaliersFTW
05-30-2015, 08:12 PM
"More White Americans believe that Ghosts exist than they do that Racism still exists" - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

If anyone on this planet thinks racial discrimination/prejedice isn't a thing that exists now and has existed since recorded history they live under a ****ing rock and are highly highly uneducated when it comes to world history. I have friends (whom piss me off when they talk about the topic) who have flat out told me they don't ever want to live near or hire/employ people of a different race. They are alive today. Open up a history book to see how perceptions of race have carved out human history.

It's not a modern invention and it still exists.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:19 PM
"More White Americans believe that Ghosts exist than they do that Racism still exists" - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

If anyone on this planet thinks racial discrimination/prejedice isn't a thing that exists now and has existed since recorded history they live under a ****ing rock and are highly highly uneducated when it comes to world history. I have friends (whom piss me off when they talk about the topic) who have flat out told me they don't ever want to live near or hire/employ people of a different race. They are alive today. Open up a history book to see how perceptions of race have carved out human history.

It's not a modern invention and it still exists.

Which books? Do you have any to suggest? I looked it up and those scholars mentioned are very relevant on the field. "The American historian George Fredrickson tells us that the dominant view among experts is that there was not a concept like race among the Greek, Romans and early Christians"

Is it wrong?

Of course racism still exists. Who would say otherwise? Not the article I posted.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:21 PM
Wikpedia of Frank Snowden Jr. Scholar mentioned on the article. Dude was legit (died in 07).

"was an American professor emeritus of classics at Howard University, best known for his study of blacks in classical antiquity."

"Snowden was largely known for his studies of black people in the ancient world. He documented that in ancient Rome and Greece racial prejudice was not an issue. Much of this, according to Snowden, is because most of the blacks they encountered were not slaves. Most slaves in the Roman Empire were white. Most of the blacks they met were warriors, statesmen, and mercenaries. Therefore, blacks were not subjected to the racism of modern civilization. He studied ancient art and literature, and he found evidence that blacks were able to co-exist with the Greeks and Romans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_M._Snowden,_Jr.

CavaliersFTW
05-30-2015, 08:21 PM
Which books? Do you have any to suggest? I looked it up and those scholars mentioned are very relevant on the field. "The American historian George Fredrickson tells us that the dominant view among experts is that there was not a concept like race among the Greek, Romans and early Christians"

Is it wrong?

Of course racism still exists. Who would say otherwise? Not the article I posted.
I didn't even read through your opinion on this, my response isn't aimed at you just a response to the topic in general.

People who deny that it exists must live under a rock, as I know plenty of people in my own social circles who feel strongly against other races to the degree that they would act upon it. People who deny that it has existed throughout history I feel are uneducated.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:24 PM
I didn't even read through your opinion on this, my response isn't aimed at you just a response to the topic in general.

People who deny that it exists live under a rock. People who deny that it has existed throughout history are uneducated.

Ok.

Why uneducated if historians seem to agree that it is mainly a modern invention? See previous post on Snowden.

Also read the article. I think you confuse ethnocentrism with racism. That always have existed:



This does not mean that ethnocentrism or religious intolerance (anti-Semitism, for example, was already common in the West) did not exist, but those two social diseases cannot be compared to racism, because, as explained by Fredrickson, a heathen could be converted and an ethnic stranger could be assimilated into the tribe, until a point that their origins cease to matter in a significant way. Racism, the worst of those, creates a bigger barrier, since it establishes a racial hierarchy among men.

CavaliersFTW
05-30-2015, 08:25 PM
Wikpedia of Frank Snowden Jr. Scholar mentioned on the article. Dude was legit (died in 07).

"was an American professor emeritus of classics at Howard University, best known for his study of blacks in classical antiquity."

"Snowden was largely known for his studies of black people in the ancient world. He documented that in ancient Rome and Greece racial prejudice was not an issue. Much of this, according to Snowden, is because most of the blacks they encountered were not slaves. Most slaves in the Roman Empire were white. Most of the blacks they met were warriors, statesmen, and mercenaries. Therefore, blacks were not subjected to the racism of modern civilization. He studied ancient art and literature, and he found evidence that blacks were able to co-exist with the Greeks and Romans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_M._Snowden,_Jr.
I don't know the point of you posting that. Do you think perception of "race" boils down to blacks and whites? Do you think examples of blacks co-existing with whites is a body of evidence against racism?

I sure hope not.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:28 PM
I don't know the point of you posting that. Do you think perception of "race" boils down to blacks and whites? Do you think examples of blacks co-existing with whites is a body of evidence against racism?

I sure hope not.

Examples of people not being judged by the color of their skin. That's evidence against racism.

"that in ancient Rome and Greece racial prejudice was not an issue". Not just black/white

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:31 PM
Cavaliers, Are you american? If you are can you please reply to this earlier post of mine (I'm curious to know):

"About racist jokes. Some brazilian comedian named Danilo gentili (he hosts a famous talk show) has compared a black man with a monkey. And he used the "only a joke" excuse. He even said: "Why can I call a fat guy a whale and can't call a black man a monkey?"

This guy's career has not suffered. Actually he is very popular in Brazil. Show how racist Brazil still is.

What would happen in the US if say Jimmy Fallon said those same things?"

------------------------------------------

Thanks in advance. :cheers:

BigNBAfan
05-30-2015, 08:37 PM
Wikpedia of Frank Snowden Jr. Scholar mentioned on the article. Dude was legit (died in 07).

"was an American professor emeritus of classics at Howard University, best known for his study of blacks in classical antiquity."

"Snowden was largely known for his studies of black people in the ancient world. He documented that in ancient Rome and Greece racial prejudice was not an issue. Much of this, according to Snowden, is because most of the blacks they encountered were not slaves. Most slaves in the Roman Empire were white. Most of the blacks they met were warriors, statesmen, and mercenaries. Therefore, blacks were not subjected to the racism of modern civilization. He studied ancient art and literature, and he found evidence that blacks were able to co-exist with the Greeks and Romans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_M._Snowden,_Jr.


My friend applied to howard as a white and got accepted, he told me the other students were mouth breathers and my friend was a 3.2 gpa guy so yahh

CavaliersFTW
05-30-2015, 08:39 PM
Ok.

Why uneducated if historians seem to agree that it is mainly a modern invention? See previous post on Snowden.

Also read the article. I think you confuse ethnocentrism with racism. That always have existed:
Ethnocentrism and racism overlap to the point that they are cut from the same cloth.

Ask a Nazi party member in the 2nd world war if the Jews were a race.

Then try and tell him "no, they are just an ethnicity".

Race is just a label. Black isn't even a race when looked at genetically. There are something like 189 genetically distinct haplogroups of dark skinned sub-Saharan Africans. Compared with something like 22 European. This doesn't even factor in the different genetic groups of Native Asians, Australians, and Americans.

And there is plenty of historical genetic overlap among all of them - looking back at both history and our genetic blueprints one can conclude that genetically different groups of peoples have become at times isolated, then at other times fought, hated, and loved each other at various times on and off throughout history. Historically when a group people (of any size) want a scapegoat for problems or to create inequality, it's easy to point the finger at a group that is somewhat physically/culturally differently perceived than your own and learn to dislike them or treat them differently. This can be as small as a family feud - two families that hate each other through several generations. Or it can be as big as areas the size of countries of mostly X type of peoples feuding with another country of Y type of people.

I don't believe your statement that historians all agree "racism is a modern invention" is accurate at all. Show me evidence that any historian who says it's a modern invention isn't in the minority among other historians. Sounds like some writer/historian just wanted to be catchy and make this bold statement to sell a book or gain notoriety.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:46 PM
I don't believe your statement that historians all agree "racism is a modern invention" is accurate at all. Show me evidence that any historian who says it's a modern invention isn't in the minority among other historians. Sounds like some writer/historian just wanted to be catchy and make this bold statement.

Not all. Most historians.

I read this article I poste today and google about those informations. There's a historian from Yale named Benjamin Isaacs who argues in his book (link below*) for some sort of proto racism in antiquity. But even him admits (in an essay about his book) that that the most popular view among historian is the one that denies racism and see it as a modern thing. Link to the essay*2 (it has the quoted posted in the article)

[QUOTE]There appears to be a consensus that racism as such originates in modern times. Since
it is thought not to be attested earlier, conventional wisdom usually denies that there
was any race hatred in the ancient world.2
The prejudices that existed, so it is
believed, were ethnic or cultural, not racial. In this paper I shall discuss three topics.
First, I shall argue that prototypes of racism were common in the Graeco-Roman
world. My second point will be to describe the close links between those forms of
prejudice and ancient ideas about slavery. Finally I shall have something to say about
the connection between these concepts and ancient imperialism.
Obviously, in classical antiquity racism did not exist in the modern form of a
biological determinism. Clearly too there was no systematic persecution of any ethnic
group by another. However, I shall argue that it is justified to speak of early forms of
racism, or

knickballer
05-30-2015, 08:55 PM
Cavaliers, Are you american? If you are can you please reply to this earlier post of mine (I'm curious to know):

"About racist jokes. Some brazilian comedian named Danilo gentili (he hosts a famous talk show) has compared a black man with a monkey. And he used the "only a joke" excuse. He even said: "Why can I call a fat guy a whale and can't call a black man a monkey?"

This guy's career has not suffered. Actually he is very popular in Brazil. Show how racist Brazil still is.

What would happen in the US if say Jimmy Fallon said those same things?"

------------------------------------------

Thanks in advance. :cheers:


The comedian would go through career suicide imo. Either he gets fired or there will be a public campaign to end his career. If you're using Jimmy Fallon he would get fired ASAP, would have to apologize and have to do some BS charity work and meet with civil rights leaders.

lakers_forever
05-30-2015, 08:58 PM
The comedian would go through career suicide imo. Either he gets fired or there will be a public campaign to end his career. If you're using Jimmy Fallon he would get fired ASAP, would have to apologize and have to do some BS charity work and meet with civil rights leaders.

Thanks, man. In Brazil, dude is actually more popular now than when he said that. There was some critics, but he never eveb apologized. :facepalm

Trollsmasher
05-30-2015, 09:06 PM
can't be racist against a different species

HeatFanSince88
05-30-2015, 11:06 PM
Could you elaborate on that?

Blacks did not create racism. Centuries of slavery of blacks in the Americas created that. So, white people "created it.

I don't get this. If a history of slavery is the reason for racism against nig..ahem I mean fine african americans.....

Then why is America by far the friendlist and most politically correct non black country to blacks? Lots of young americans worship black people(Due to modern day celebrity worship, a large majorty of whom are negroid). Do black people really think they'd be treated better in other parts of the world?

Now let's say a black person goes to a majority Non-white country. They will be ostracized far worse. Saudia Arabia would probably kill the person. Asians wouldn't be giving them welfare or special treatment. South Americans....haha.

The media and the elite always love to pinpoint "racism" as being perpetuated strictly by whites, when the reality is that whites are by far the most tolerant people on the planet.

Btw I hope you are aware that EVERY group of people on the planet have been "slaves" at one point or another. In fact Africa itself still practices slavery. I bet you are not aware Africa today has more slaves than America ever did.

KingBeasley08
05-31-2015, 12:15 AM
Race in general is a societal construct. "Racism" did exist in ancient times, just a different kind to what we have today. Back then, it was based on your cultural background more than your race. Greeks thought anyone non-Greek was inferior: white, black, brown or whatever

Dresta
05-31-2015, 04:23 AM
Race in general is a societal construct. "Racism" did exist in ancient times, just a different kind to what we have today. Back then, it was based on your cultural background more than your race. Greeks thought anyone non-Greek was inferior: white, black, brown or whatever
Dey was the barbarians.

IcanzIIravor
05-31-2015, 05:07 AM
This seems similar to PTSD. It's always been around as long as human conflict, but it has only been given an actual terminology recently. Does that mean that prior to it being called PTSD it did not exist?

Dresta
05-31-2015, 05:32 AM
This seems similar to PTSD. It's always been around as long as human conflict, but it has only been given an actual terminology recently. Does that mean that prior to it being called PTSD it did not exist?
'PTSD' doesn't 'exist' as anything but human construct, a convenient generalisation for a broad range of experiences (i saw an article the other day how people can get symptoms of PTSD from 'watching distressing online videos' :oldlol:). Sufferers have been more prone to depression and suicide (and taken longer to get over their traumatic experiences) ever since it was labelled as such. Soon everyone will have PTSD :banana:.

Trauma is endemic to life, and people had to deal with far more trauma 100-200 years ago (when everyone was in contact with death, lost a child, a sibling, a parent in childhood, etc.), and yet strangely enough they didn't need these labels and generalisations to tell them they'd been through a bad time.

Nash
05-31-2015, 05:39 AM
About racist jokes. Some brazilian comedian named Danilo gentili (he hosts a famous talk show) has compared a black man with a monkey. And he used the "only a joke" excuse. He even said: "Why can I call a fat guy a whale and can't call a black man a monkey?"

This guy's career has not suffered. Actually he is very popular in Brazil. Show how racist Brazil still is.

What would happen in the US if say Jimmy Fallon said those same things?
i'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that you're not born a whale while you're born black/chinese/mexican/semetic etc etc

lakers_forever
05-31-2015, 06:19 PM
i'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that you're not born a whale while you're born black/chinese/mexican/semetic etc etc

:facepalm You're not born a monkey either... :facepalm

iamgine
05-31-2015, 10:06 PM
About racist jokes. Some brazilian comedian named Danilo gentili (he hosts a famous talk show) has compared a black man with a monkey. And he used the "only a joke" excuse. He even said: "Why can I call a fat guy a whale and can't call a black man a monkey?"

This guy's career has not suffered. Actually he is very popular in Brazil. Show how racist Brazil still is.

What would happen in the US if say Jimmy Fallon said those same things?
Comedy is different. It all depends on how you say it. Russell Peters said the Nigg* word plenty but he says it funny. Louis CK joke about rape on talk shows. Lisa Lampanelli has been very racist, yet she's doing fairly well and not shut down Michael Richards style.

lakers_forever
05-31-2015, 11:56 PM
Comedy is different. It all depends on how you say it. Russell Peters said the Nigg* word plenty but he says it funny. Louis CK joke about rape on talk shows. Lisa Lampanelli has been very racist, yet she's doing fairly well and not shut down Michael Richards style.

Thanks for the reply. In the end, the comedian must be really reallly good to be able to make jokes about those subjects and that brazilian comedian is not.

lakers_forever
06-01-2015, 09:58 PM
can't be racist against a different species

???