As per request I have reposted this comment.

I guess to further discussion I would ask if you agree with this analysis or if you can think of any other type of people with regards to race relations. I suppose that all I will add for now is that I like to consider myself a type 1 person and that of the other two types, the type 3 people get on my nerves more than the type 2's. While the speech the type 2's use is ignorant and disgusting, the type 3 people are just too pathetic for words. Whether it is feeling guilty for no reason for accusing guilt for no reason, these perspectives only distract us from addressing real issues of racism and, as I said before, decrease the value of the word racism.

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Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

Apologetics for racism are always ugly.

Race is a social-cultural construct. To even accept the terms is to give evidence of one's racism.

There is only one human race. Get over it.

If you would be so kind as to offer another term that describes the unwarranted hate of people with different skin color, language, heritage, geographic origins, etc. I will gladly go back and substitute it for racism.

Also, I would appreciate an explanation on how or why I should get over it. Thanks in advance.

__________________
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

That is your opinion, Rabbit.

If people feel strongly enough to apologise for racism, it could mean only that they are nice, decent people.

Race exists, whatever construct you place upon it, it is a fact of life. To ignore the concept is unrealistic.

There is only one human race...yes. Is your "Get over it" a general statement or directed at any particular philosophy or person?

Race is a human construct, not an empirical scientific truth. We all came from Africa.

__________________
"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."



~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear God I hate how liberal academia has destroyed pragmatic thought in my generation. As a political science major who put up with 3 years (gotta love testing for credit) of this crap, I feel inclined to share with you all a little bit of insight concerning the "social-construct" of race.

As Viv pointed out, it matters not how it came to be, race is and important factor within the workings of a society, especially one as heterogeneous as the United States. As defined by Dictionary.com, race is more than skin color and can (as has happened here) come to encompass elements of culture and common heritage. For example:

Yes, the earliest known human skeleton was found in Africa, and so absent other evidence it appears as though ALL humans are descended from the same forefathers. HOWEVER, given the thousands of years of migration, evolution (of say, differing skin colors, heights, eye colors, etc), and cultural development (Look at European Civilization versus Asian), humans have developed into specific sub-groups, and we call these races, NOT ethnicities (Korean, French, Arab, these are ethnicities).

Now, understand that humans are pack animals, we don't (some argue can't on a psychological level) operate well alone. We seek those similar to us in a myriad of ways, be they race, talents, interests, or intellect. This is NORMAL BEHAVIOR, ingrained in us by thousands of years of human development. Why? Because functional societies are historically more homogeneous than heterogeneous concerning these factors, and thus HUMANITY, regardless of continent or race has come to accept sameness as 'good'.

Now look at America. In a country in which the individual in highly stressed (and of all people I will be the last to condemn this practice), and where no NATION exists (we are a state, a nation requires common culture and heritage, similar to race), race becomes a vital component of self-awareness. We seek belonging, and we have been BRED to instictively flock to that which is familiar, it is a SURVIVAL INSTINCT. Since the majority of us were born and raised by parents and families of similar races (a result of genetics), we tend to view the physical and cultural characteristics of our own race as more favorable than others, and see ourselves, while part of the STATE, as also part of a RACE.

That is not to say that familiarity begets racism, as socialization and interaction between peoples in a cosmopolitan country like ours has in a relatively short period of time brought about a society in which different people can live in harmony (VERY rare historically, given our instincts). Given a stressful or dangerous situation however, humans WILL revert to their instincts and head straight to that which is familiar. One need only look at the self-imposed segregation of prisoners in our correctional system to witness evidence of this.

Race and ethnicity are important factors in our lives, and should be a source of pride for all humans, as each race has definitely done some pretty amazing things compared to our primate ancestors. To claim the ivory-tower position that "race is a social construct and so you're a meanie ugly stupid-face" is assanine, and reflects the truly staggering nature of the diconnect between academic swill and the real world.

__________________


"If the founding fathers had all been 'go with the flow' kind of guys we'd all be sitting around sipping tea and listening to Oasis right now." - A friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muHg86Mys7I

[quote=Freeman15;32880]Dear God I hate how liberal academia has destroyed pragmatic thought in my generation. As a political science major who put up with 3 years (gotta love testing for credit) of this crap, I feel inclined to share with you all a little bit of insight concerning the "social-construct" of race.

Let's deal with this bit of position you have posted...I deleted the rest of the nonsense you posted for space constraints.

pragmatism

Main Entry:
prag·ma·tism Listen to the pronunciation of pragmatism
Pronunciation:
\ˈprag-mə-ˌti-zəm\
Function:
noun
Date:
circa 1864

1 : a practical approach to problems and affairs <tried to strike a balance between principles and pragmatism> 2 : an American movement in philosophy founded by C. S. Peirce and William James and marked by the doctrines that the meaning of conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preeminently to be tested by the practical consequences of belief .

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=003...3E2.0.CO%3B2-G
" Pragmatism, we are told is a temper of mind, an attitude, and so far as it is this, it cannot be changed by argumentation. It is generally recognized that philosophic attitudes and religious beliefs are ultimately a matter of constitutional, vital reaction, that as the Sphinx looks out on the sand because she was cut out for that purpose, so we face the world in certain characteristic ways, because "it is our nature to."

How utterly ridiculous!

According to Dr. Ron Smothermon, in his best-selling book, "Winning through Enlightenment", in the chapter on "belief systems", he writes, " If what you believe is actually true, you don't need to believe it.
A belief system is a collection of sayings about a person, place, or thing which is designed to define that person, place or thing so that it can be dealt with.
Beliefs arise from your unwillingness to trust direct experience. Beliefs then structure your experience of the world so that similarities (like "race", "culture", or "mindset") are emphasized and unique differences are not noticed. In fact, whatever comes by for direct experience that contradicts a belief system tends to be ignored or explained away as something unusual:
"the exception that proves the rule".It just so happens that belief systems create a false context called: "It can't be _______." It can't be done. My mother could never change. It can't be that my boss could ever be rational.
Belief systems then limit what we are willing to experience in life and what we are willing to have happen in life. "Miracles" definitely do not happen within the false context of a belief system. Slavery was not ended within a belief system. It could only be ended from outside that belief system. Belief systems restrict and immobilize the way things are. Meaningful change happens despite belief systems, not because of them.
Now, I want you to know more about where beliefs come from. In the beginning of your life you had none. Neither did you have prejudice (hello!), opinion, position, nor judgment. Then someone you loved bribed and threatened you and made you a deal you almost couldn't refuse. The deal was to sell out the joy of your direct experience of life and adopt a belief about something. Beliefs are created in an atmosphere of fear. You feared the consequences if you didn't believe it. You would get sent to your room, denied supper, kept from the movies, spanked, sent to hell, not loved, and so forth, if you didn't believe it. The Boogie Man would get you, and back then, unlike now, that was serious. You didn't have to sell out, but you did. "They" only threatened you; you sold out.
I want you to know what you gave up when you sold out. You gave up your naturalness. You gave up your natural knowingness about life and became lost. You gave up your genius. Yes, you are a natural genius, except that your fear of going out of agreement with the world keeps you stuck in your beliefs, and prevents you from expressing that natural genius. And you did it. No one did it to you. And you can reclaim it; no one can reclaim it for you.
You can't read enough books, go to enough classes, get degrees(hello!), to reclaim it. None of that will reclaim it. Only you can. To do it you start with a willingness to consider the possibility that your beliefs are just beliefs and do not reflect "truth". You begin by remembering what you always knew: the truth stands alone without need for propping up by your beliefs. The truth is not what you believe but what you experience directly."

On Racism:
"Mankind has played a cruel joke on itself by exercising the ability to adapt skin color to climatic conditions. There are certain areas of the world where the intensity of sun exposure renders survival difficult for white-skinned people. Man, the consummate survivor, naturally figured a way around being fried by the sun. Merely disperse the melanin pigment of the skin evenly, and develop a bit more of it, and presto! Automatic protection from the sun.
Nature did this much. The mind of man did the rest. Of course skin color isn't the only physical characteristic humanity uses to divide itself, but it serves admirably to demonstrate a principle. Biologically speaking, there is no "race", except at track meets. Race is a false concept invented by the mind of man for the purpose of dominating and manipulating others. The specific location of "race" within the mind is in that part known as "belief systems" (Nicely dovetailed, don't you think?)
A belief exists that there is a natural division of people. Resting on this belief is a system of justification making it OK to segregate some from others. Further justification makes it OK to think of the other race as "naturally inferior" or naturally "red-necked", or whatever. Both of these are positions or points of view. So the structure goes like this: the foundation stone is a belief called "Race is a natural condition" (which you so eloquently explained in your previous post, "erroneously"...it, in fact, is not a natural condition, as Dr. Smothermon insists). This belief supports the justification "There is a natural division of humankind" (pragmatic). This gives rise to the point of view called "They are naturally the way they are". This point of view then makes it possible to prepare people for mistreatment by segregation. At that point, the whole thing surfaces, and mistreatment is called "mistreatment". The important thing to realize here is that mistreatment could not occur without its supporting structure.
Underlying even a belief such as "race is a natural condition" is the ground of being that we are the contents of our minds ( of which it's only 2 purposes is "survival" and being right at the expense of making others wrong), that there is no way we can ever be more than the sum of our parts. This is the base lie that endarkens the world. You know you can give up being a racist and you will still be who you are. Your life will be naturally valuable. You will survive. The world will not end. And you can still contribute to it.
After you become responsible for 'your beliefs' about "race", what will be up for you is the world condition. The way you can transform the world in this regard is to get up off of your racism. This gives others the opportunity to get up off of their racism. Treat people as who they are, not who you believe they are. I promise you that they will be transformed in your experience and often in their experience as well.
Finally, I want you to know the ultimate truth about "race":
THERE IS NO SUCH THING."

Aaron, race exists.

You can argue and spin it, but everyone in the world knows what "race" is. I am Scottish, you are American (I think).

The knowledge of what "race" is doesn't make us racist.

It is just a word, required to describe something.

Viv, aliens exist...and you can argue and spin that...but for us to be so arrogant as to think we're the only intelligent source of life in the universe, is ludicrous.

By the way...Scottish and American are not "races"...race exist only for those who want to dominate and manipulate others...there is only the human race. And as Dr. Smothermon proposed...man has managed to adapt to climate, and skin color is but one way it has been accomplished...to try to "spin" that into distinct "human" differences is really to bark up the wrong tree...it works only if you are preoccupied with race and race superiority as a way to dominate and perpetuate your "world view".

I'm not sure how that relates to my post as I didn't mention aliens, arrogance or the universe.

They are.

May be how you would do it, but it's not what I want. It is simply an accepted way of describing a people.

Academia and real people often employ different terminology. Although I am educated, I prefer the reality to this academic version.
The reality is that the majority of people understand what a race of people is. How many understand or are even interested in Dr. Smothermon's ideas?

The Cambridge Dictionary definition and the one upon which I will continue to base my understanding of "race":