Part I: The selections
I thought that a good way to jump start this would be to discuss racial relations, and to see if there is any comparison between what the US experiences and what is present in the EU today.
First, let's define some terms; read this article, which discusses the role of race in America's recent presidential election. Note the difference between racism and racialism, and figure out which is more alive in the USA today.
Racialism vs. Racism in Obama's election
To further illustrate this point, read this article about the portrayal of blacks in American movies. Note that this is an example of racialism that is arguably alive and well in the US today.
Visions of Black-White friendship
Listen to the following Bob Dylan song, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", and you can find the lyrics here.
Examine the following online photographic exhibit.
The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe
(If you've got some extra time and feel like it, I highly recommend you listen to the following This American Life podcast, courtesy of npr.org.)
Part II. Words to know
racism, racialism, underlying, yesteryear, amity, socioeconomic, ghetto, stereotypical, amoral, idolator, overarching, vexation
Part III. Questions
1. According to the articles you read, the problem in America today is not racism but racialism. What are the main complaints of Benjamin Mott's article, "Visions of Black-White Friendship," and the article about the Times headline after Obama's election? Give me quotes. Do you believe that this is a valid complain? Why or why not?
2. Go to wikipedia.org, and search for "african americans." Now search for "roma." What do you notice? Do you think this is signficant-- why or why not?
3. Is racialism a problem in Slovakia? Explain, and give me at least two examples.
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1. Complaints of the article about the Times headline after Obama´s election:
ReplyDeleteI find such a headline odd.
The inclusion of a statement about race somehow cheapens the moment by implying that the victory was racially-motivated.
Many of them voted for Obama based solely on the color of his skin, which is no more excusable than those who voted against him for the very same reason.
I agree with these complaints because I think that people´s votes should not be based on the race but on the abilities and personal attributes of the new president. Colour of the skin can say nothing about what the person is like inside. To me, race is totally not a decisive factor in any matter.
Complaints of Benjamin Mott´s article:
Each of these closely related assumptions surfaces regularly in print media treatment of the friendship theme.
But fantasies about black-white friendship are dramatized most compellingly for large audiences in images. Movies, TV, and ads spare us abstract generalizing about the isolation of the races. They´re funny and breezy.
Incessantly and deliberately, the world of pop is engaged in demonstrating, through images, that racism has do do with private attitudes and emotions, not with differences in rates of black and white joblessness and poverty, or in black and white income levels, or in levels of financing of predominantly black and white public schools.
I think these are valid complaints as the media give an exaggerated view of relationships between blacks and whites, as described in the examples of the movies in the article, which is maybe not always corresponding with the real situation between blacks and whites. Racism and black-white friendships cannot be simply the thing of personal feelings but there are more general factors that in fact do not lead to friendship between the races but make even bigger distance between them.
New York Times article complaints:
ReplyDelete"Race has nothing to do with the presidential ability."
"Both types of voters are based on racialism, which is different from someone who didn't vote for Obama because he thinks a black man can't fill the position - a racist."
well i definitely agree with the statements above. Whatever race color you are, you just cant say you would be better at filling a certain position than a black one just because you are of a white race or vice versa. People should be judged by their abilities and skills regardless of a race.
Visions of B and W friendship:
"Race problems belong to the passing moment. Race problems dont involve group interests, conflicts developed over centuries. Race problems are being smoothed into nothingness, gradually, inexorably by goodwill, affection and points of life."
As we could read Black and White think and feel similarly because of common humanity. That s correct. The friendship btw B and W, that s being described in the article, is getting better. Considering Tv, media.. Just showing example of Huxtables family that entertain not just Blacks but Whites as well. But what s the real situation over there? it might be just the exaggeration view of their relationship, as Livia mentioned. Well from my point of view people are too afraid to truly talk about race, because they're so afraid of offending people. But everybody should make an effort to read up on other ethnicities and just plain get to know people outside their 'same type' circles. That could be a big step towards reducing this racial difference.
2.Racialism vs Slovakia
ReplyDeleteAs there is a very small amount of black people living in our country, we ,as a nation, are not used to take them as a part of our society and moreover we are not familiar with the culture, nature, and the way of their lives. Actually we dont see it as important as it is. it happens very often that when we meet a person of a black color race we see him as a unsual human being. Many times we try to avoid of contact with him just because "he is different from us". But I think that rasism is shown more often than racialism. I will mention one experience of my black classmate. He went to the club and was attacked by two guys without any provocation. I just want to say that we should notice other races as human beings because they are people just as we are.
2. I think what African Americans and Roma people have in common is that they make up racial minorities, African Americans in America and Romas in Slovakia. Otherwise they are two different types of mentalities. Roma people continuously fail to integrate themselves into society, they are highly undeveloped and unable to behave in a socially acceptable way even if they were offered help by the government to improve their living standards, including the possibility of education and work. They still continue to live in poverty and bad health conditions. On the other hand, African Americans were able to progress from slavery times until today´s standards. Even though African Americans´ economic, educational and social position in America is unfavorable compared to that of European Americans, still there is a much smaller difference in the way of life between African Americans and European Americans than there is between Romas and Slovaks. I think that there would not have to be discrimination and prejudice towards Romas if they could prove when they got a chance that they are able to live and behave in a civilised and organized way equal to that of average Slovak citizens..
ReplyDelete3. I cannot think of any case of racialism in Slovakia. One example could be the Hungarian political party SMK, but I cannot see into politics very much.
3. African Americans vs. Roma people
ReplyDeleteI have had a chance to get to know both types. From the point of education African Am. want to be educated even though many of them living in poverty and in areas where there s a lack of food, medical care..When talking about Roma people they are given opportunities to work and have acceptable living standard they just do not care, they are satisfied with the way of their lives. Roma people are dicriminated, they still complain about it, but when they are supposed to prove that they deserve to be treated in a different way, they fail.
1. The Race
ReplyDeleteLet us imagine there would be two highly intelligent young men having grown up in well-educated, upper middle class families. They would have their IQ above 140, have attended the same university, earned the same degree and started a political career. One would be white, the other would be black. Who of them would be a better president?
It is absurd to think that being white automatically legitimizes you to be a better leader than your black rival. What does race have to do with personal or professional abilities? I agree with the columnist in this point. However, to say that race was not an important factor in the recent election in the USA would be the same illusion as a conviction that the president of the US does not succumb to the control of several powerful Masonic Jews who manage the world’s economy. The statistics and history (even though not the official one) do not speak in metaphors.
Considering the difference between racism and racialism, I perfectly understand the distinctive philosophical innuendos of these terms; nonetheless, I have to admit that I still somehow miss the point. What is the difference between not voting for someone because he is black and not voting for him because I think he is not capable of coping with the post because he is black? Is it not just a political tip-toeing?
Both the cases imply I would not vote for the black at any rate because they are black. And both indicate a feeling of disgust. If I distinguish between the races to that degree that it hampers me to vote for someone because of the color of their skin, I probably eliminate him from the people belonging to my group. Who will draw a strict line between hatred and my mental racial distance?
As far as DeMott’s article is concerned, I think he fairly points out how mass media, by means of populism and demagogy, regularly persuades us of a twisted reality which does not resemble the actual reality at all. The tragedy lies in the fact that we are willing to believe the UNREALITY created by the media and regard it even as more authentic than the reality we experience. In aesthetic terminology we call that simulacrum. The concept of simulacrum dating back to Plato has quite a long and important philosophical history; nevertheless, its substance can be defined very easily. Maybe, we do not have to define it. We are surrounded by nothing but simulacra. Simulacrum is a symbol or sign that has no prototype, no image or representation in reality. Therefore, it is rather a simulation of reality, a complete substitution of the real world for something non-existing. Think of all Supermen, Spidermen, Batmen, Disneylands, Matrixes, Jurassic parks, etc. and you immediately get the point. However, it would be a lie to say that simulacra are used only in the movie industry. The perception of officially acclaimed history, written usually by the mighty, the winners, to which our students are compelled is also a simulacrum. And so is true for political promises and future visions of the Promised Land. From this point of view, talking about the decisive factors of the US election or believing in anything we are provided by the press or TV is completely irrelevant, as the politics seems to be a great simulacrum itself.
In addition, the billboards, advertising strategies, holiday resorts and even the museums with copies exhibited instead of originals which, by the way, do not recognize their statuses of being copies but put on the appearances of originals—all are simulacra. Is also the bio apple I am eating now a simulacrum? Fortunately not, as I know it was grown by my father in our fabulous garden without any chemicals used.
I guess white-black relationships in the USA are not to be understood but personally experienced. Unless you are an indweller, noticing all the struggles and progresses, you should rather bridle your tongue. I have been to the US and know the racial relations are far from what movies try to present. The attitude toward the black depends on your personal credo, upbringing and faith.
To speak for myself, I am not racist, nor racialist. I try to accept and respect all the humans and consider all of us equal, irrespective of the individual differences. My worldview is holistic, emanating from the universal, synthetic Christian vision in which every single element in the world is just a part of the great chain of being. If we are not connected to our source—the unity of all paradoxes; if we continue punishing and excluding the supposed enemies—people of different religions, races, sexual orientation; if we cannot join the heavenly, the human, the animate and inanimate into one link; if we dare to worship the cosmic Scapegoat—Jesus—and still scapegoat those in who we are not willing to see his divine image and judge them as inferior: sinners, heretics, animals, things growing from Earth and Earth itself; we remain displaced, untransformed outcasts occupying petty worlds of private biases, prejudices and preferences.
2. and 3.
The Roma
With regard to the comparison of Afro-Americans and the Roma people on wikipedia, I needn’t have looked the two sites up. I had intentionally felt what a great difference it would be. I am afraid the two issues are incomparable. In Slovakia, the Roma phenomenon is a burning one as the Roma population is increasing and the Slovak population, not surprisingly, decreasing. The wise produce horrendous prophecies but do not seem to know how to solve the problem. The fact is that if our young families do not have more children in the next coming years, in 2050 there will be more Roma than the Slovak on “our” territory.
Yes. The Slovaks are racist. To name them racialists would be fictitious. And I still do not distinguish between the two concepts. It is true that the Slovaks can find many reasons for grounding their racist attitudes. Nonetheless, I will not support their claims. Even though we have to name evil as evil, creating more enemies contributes to more violence and confirms the scapegoat mechanism. I will keep to the position of not an outsider throwing rocks, not a comfortable insider who defends the status quo, but one who lives precariously with two perspectives held tightly together.
The Roma do live here but do not fit in. And what is worse, many of them do not even want to fit in. Their culture is of Asian origin; their Indian roots make them so peculiar. I do not mind their being here if they work, earn their living and let their children be educated. I do not care about their different cultural habits. Let them celebrate and have fun according to their tastes if they are not attacking peace, encroaching on human rights or invading our social structures. However, we all know that the contrary is true.
A great majority of the Roma do not work. They rob, mug and steal, remain willfully unemployed and usually live on social benefits. The perverse logic of our politics is that those benefits are considerably higher than those for an unemployed Slovak. Thus, our state silently supports their recklessness. Let us respect them and receive them with love like any other humans. But we cannot let them jeopardize the lives of our children, youngsters, teenage girls and old people. Yet, we unfortunately do. From my perspective, they still have the same human value as me or anyone around. Many priests, nuns, social workers and volunteers are involved in various social programs out of charitable love to improve the Roma’s life-style, to help them get by and restructure their consciousness. Such ministry is of inevitable significance to bring about good results in approach to them. Nevertheless, what I regard as outstanding work is how to protect ourselves from the Roma people who remain oblivious to a needed change and pose a threat for the vulnerable members of our society.
The reason why hardly any Roma people will set the world on fire, unlike many of Afro-Americans, is their innate laziness—one of the most distinctive traits. They do not find a meaning in having a proper job; it is a matter pre-coded in their brains, an element of their subconscious schemes. With only minor exceptional individuals, they do not have the zeal to achieve success or bring home the bacon.
However, we cannot lump them all together. On one hand, many Roma children are fed on garbage and brought up in the social backgrounds of alcoholism, sexual abuse and prey, but on the other hand, there are many Roma families that have integrated into our society and conduce to social welfare. Which of the two groups is prevalent? The answer is clear, I am afraid.
What is not clear and still requires a substantial reflection includes the answers to the following questions: 1. Are we, ordinary people, able and willing to put our hands to the plough in order to enable the Roma to lead a more dignified life? 2. What to do with the Roma who do not want to participate and constantly threaten peaceful lives of our inhabitants?
1.
ReplyDeleteComplaints:
‘The inclusion of a statement about race somehow cheapens the moment by implying that the victory was racially-motivated.’
‘…someone who didn't vote for Obama because he thinks a black man can't fill the position - a racist.’
‘…bureaucratic initiatives meant to” help” blacks merely prolong the influence of yesteryear.’
‘…fantasies of black-white friendship are dramatized most compellingly for large audiences in images.’
I looked up the words racism and racialism in my dictionary and for both I found the same definition: discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race; and that’s how I think it really is- there will always be racism if we continue to judge people by the color of their skin. From my experience racism is still a great problem in the US and it’s no surprise given the historical facts connected with the issue. Many don’t realize that it wasn’t that long ago when blacks were treated as 3rd class citizens, and now they feel that whites owe them something. Racism is still present in America, both among whites and blacks and it seems to be a vicious circle. For me racialism is just another nice neologism to name the same old issue.
2.
I agree that Gypsy and African American issues have nothing in common. O.K. except for one thing- they’re both different skin colors than the majority of the population and they’re both socially disadvantaged (well that’s actually two things but never mind).
As far as I know Blacks in America were brought there as slaves and then hardly repressed as a minority; compared to Gypsies who (since the post WWII CSSR) were given the same rights and responsibilities as any other citizens of CSSR and were forced to integrate into society. The word “forced” might seem like repression but at that time repression was the way to deal with anybody who stuck out no matter the race. Communists didn’t manage to integrate gypsies, and until now nobody has. Why? Simply because Gypsies don’t want to be integrated. What really got me was one comment to the very touching picture in that photo story: “For six years they have waited in vain for the city government to provide them with basic accommodation. The only source of income is waste-paper collection.” Waiting?! Get a job, save some money, buy your own house!!! That’s the way how the world works. But Gypsies seemingly can’t get it at all. They rather rob and steal and wait for the government to provide for them.
3.
I wouldn’t say racism, or racialism if you want to call it that way, is a major problem in Slovakia. There are some skinhead kids causing fights, but you’ll find d..kheads trying to cause trouble anywhere in the world.
I wouldn’t say that Slovaks are racist, because, as I’ve already explained above, the Gypsy issue is more of economic character than racial hostility.