Trayvon Martin

[BuzzCutPsycho]

I find it amusing that people actually care about being called a racist.

[ItsTheSheppy]

Originally Posted by BuzzCutPsycho

I find it amusing that people actually care about being called a racist.

The drive to not be viewed as a social pariah is a strong evolutionary trait. It's hard for genes to be passed on, if those genes are riding in the body of someone everyone else thinks is an unlikable asshole. Deep down we all want to be accepted, so we can be fruitful members of the tribe and pass on genes. Very few of us actually desire to be friendless misanthropes.

Racism is socially unacceptable in wide portions of our modern society, so people don't want to be viewed as such because of, well, everything I said above.

Some people, of course, don't care. Much like how birth defects do happen and people can be born without arms, legs, eyes and so forth, personality defects do manifest as well. It's not a perfect system and from time to time examples arise that are 'broken'. There's a few of them in this thread, for example.

[BuzzCutPsycho]

Originally Posted by ItsTheSheppy

The drive to not be viewed as a social pariah is a strong evolutionary trait. It's hard for genes to be passed on, if those genes are riding in the body of someone everyone else thinks is an unlikable asshole. Deep down we all want to be accepted, so we can be fruitful members of the tribe and pass on genes. Very few of us actually desire to be friendless misanthropes.

Racism is socially unacceptable in wide portions of our modern society, so people don't want to be viewed as such because of, well, everything I said above.

Some people, of course, don't care. Much like how birth defects do happen and people can be born without arms, legs, eyes and so forth, personality defects do manifest as well. It's not a perfect system and from time to time examples arise that are 'broken'. There's a few of them in this thread, for example.

Your tribal analogy is cute. But tribes of blue people generally don't like or trust tribes of red people.

[ItsTheSheppy]

Originally Posted by BuzzCutPsycho

Your tribal analogy is cute. But tribes of blue people generally don't like or trust tribes of red people.

That's because tribes of blue people used to have to compete for resources with the red people tribe. So it wasn't a good survival trait to immediately trust those who may have a vested interest in your removal.

Today's racism and nationalism and religious violence and so forth are all hold-overs from the more primitive centers of our ape brains that said that YOUR tribe was okay, but OTHER tribes were not. That stuff doesn't just go away because we have high speed railroads and satellites now. We just have to be conscious of its existence and careful not to succumb to it.

Many of us, however, do not put in the effort.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by BuzzCutPsycho

I find it amusing that people actually care about being called a racist.

I have zero tolerance for racism of any kind.