Give me your own definition of racism.

[Brizzly]

Are stereotypes also racist?
Like for example saying "Dam that black soccer player looks fast".

You are speaking of an individual here. This would be considered racist.. "all black people are fast" just like saying " all black people are dumb" or "all asians are smart" etc... Positive or negative every generalization is racist nowadays.

In your example it could be because you saw his strong legs and thus he looks like a fast black man, not just because he is black.

[MavsSuperFan]

I subscribe to the definition of racism that is as follows:

The belief that your race is inherently superior in anyway to anther race or that any other race is inherently inferior to other races or simply hatred of any race.

The key is the word inherently. Eg. You are not a racist IMO if you observe that Asian Americans tend to do better in academics on average, as long as you attribute it to cultural/socio economic reasons. If an Asian were to argue that Asians are inherently smart, they would be racists IMO

[Dresta]

Making difference between people because of things they can't choose (skin colour, sexual orientation, e.t.c.).

RACE-ism

I always think it is a mistake to say 'racism is discrimination' because a racist is by definition incapable of discriminating between human beings of the same ethnic group.

It's just a collective, tribalist mentality that the large majority of people still haven't overcome, but instead direct elsewhere (because racism is no longer socially acceptable, and is no longer acceptable 'in-group' behaviour, but other forms of collective tribalistic behaviour are).

[Dresta]

I subscribe to the definition of racism that is as follows:

The belief that your race is inherently superior in anyway to anther race or that any other race is inherently inferior to other races or simply hatred of any race.

The key is the word inherently. Eg. You are not a racist IMO if you observe that Asian Americans tend to do better in academics on average, as long as you attribute it to cultural/socio economic reasons. If an Asian were to argue that Asians are inherently smart, they would be racists IMO

And if this turned out to be a biologically valid opinion why would it be racist (not that i'm saying it is, but you're automatically excluding a point of view as racist when the fact is we still don't really know for sure whether it is true or not, and that is unscientific)? You can't exclude possibilities from the realm of truth simply because they offend your sense of moral values. If you value truth and scientific inquiry at all you must accept truths that lead to inconvenient consequences, not just those that fit with how you want to view the world. You are basically saying 'agree with me on what causes this or you are a racist and bigot.'

Is it racist to say black Americans (on average) are genetically superior athletes? (this has been shown through higher concentration of high-twitch muscle fibres etc.)

What constitutes a racist is when someone thinks takes a racial generalisation and then applies it to all members of said race. Even if Asian Americans were shown to have brains better predisposed to the study of say, Maths, that would not make Asian American 'A' better at Maths than white American 'B' based on the racial qualifier alone.

[Jailblazers7]

And if this turned out to be a biologically valid opinion why would it be racist (not that i'm saying it is, but you're automatically excluding a point of view as racist when the fact is we still don't really know for sure whether it is true or not, and that is unscientific)? You can't exclude possibilities from the realm of truth simply because they offend your sense of moral values. If you value truth and scientific inquiry at all you must accept truths that lead to inconvenient consequences, not just those that fit with how you want to view the world. You are basically saying 'agree with me on what causes this or you are a racist and bigot.'

Is it racist to say black Americans (on average) are genetically superior athletes? (this has been shown through higher concentration of high-twitch muscle fibres etc.)

What constitutes a racist is when someone thinks takes a racial generalisation and then applies it to all members of said race. Even if Asian Americans were shown to have brains better predisposed to the study of say, Maths, that would not make Asian American 'A' better at Maths than white American 'B' based on the racial qualifier alone.

Good post, I agree with you. I think one reason people get upset by the "black americans are better athletes on average" statement is the racial subtext of history. When people hear that statement, their mind automatically jumps to the thought that the intention of the statement is to say that black people are superior physically while white people are superior mentally. It's not a fair assumption but it is so deeply ingrained in our cultural conscience that it's become a taboo.

[FatComputerNerd]

IMO, racism boils down to simple dislike of those who are different than you are, be it ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

Of course everyone is a little bit racist whether they admit to it or not, but there is a big difference between a little old lady rolling up her windows and locking her doors when driving through a bad neighborhood, (my parents do this still), and spouting hatred like the KKK, Louis Farrakhan types, or extremists from other groups do. (all groups have their extremists)

[Booz Vivic]

RACE-ism

I always think it is a mistake to say 'racism is discrimination' because a racist is by definition incapable of discriminating between human beings of the same ethnic group.

It's just a collective, tribalist mentality that the large majority of people still haven't overcome, but instead direct elsewhere (because racism is no longer socially acceptable, and is no longer acceptable 'in-group' behaviour, but other forms of collective tribalistic behaviour are).

in my language we translate racism to a different word (kyn