Can An Empathetic Person Be A Racist?

Englishman

Today this horrendous news item made headlines in the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3203287.stm

The BBC, much to the annoyance of H.M. Govt., showed actual footage of several police recruits displaying racist behaviour. One police recruit referred to Asians born in in the UK as being "No different to a dog born in a barn, he is still a dog". Wow. Another was photographed in a KKK hood.

(There is a video link to the clip at the site above. Don't miss it!)

One aspect of racist behaviour that I find to be total anathema is their presumption that all their fellow Englishmen feel the same way as the racists do. This comes across when they try to start a conversation with another perceived white person about those "F*****g n******s or those "Asian b*****s, almost as though we both have some common enemy. It's that automatic assumption that I will feel the same way that really pees me off, as though I had majored in the same moronics degree that they have excelled in so well.

When one confronts their presumption, as one must, one usually receives a mouthful of insults, chief amongst which is the declaration that I am a "N****** Lover", or worse, the old "Don't you love your country" ploy.

It's the assumption that shows the total lack of empathy of this particular mindset. Labellers, all of 'em!

..And IF that IS labelling on my part, then at least it's justifiable labelling!

Englishman.

franklin J

Hey Englishman,

I hear you, so does everyone else on this forum, I am sure.

It sounds suspiciously like the teachings of the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society.

Frank

czarofmischief

Empathy is the imagined sharing of emotion with another INDIVIDUAL. Since racists refuse to acknowledge that members of their hated group are inidividuals that do not all act the same way - then empathy can't apply. Empathy starts with the basic willingness to imagine oneself in the other individual's position. They have closed themselves off to the experience of empathy with their false doctrines of racial behavior.

It's a shame that the whole race debate turns inevitably into a Social Darwinian ethics / mass murder revulsion, since the question of how much of our behavior is inherited v. environmental conditioning is a fascinating one for me, since nobody can answer it.

Can an empathetic person be a racist? Yes. Since they will probably be empathetic to those they view as individuals, like their family for instance. Can a racist be empathetic? Not in context of his racism, which views his own race as supreme and all others as "dogs in the barn".

Drop racism. I'm a Republican, and I hate what racism has done to my party and to my country and to my fellow Americans, white and black alike.

MLK was right when he said that when blacks are equal to whites, it will be the whites who will truly be set free, because racism ultimately denigrates the racist to the level of tyrannical, terrified barbarians.

Sigh...

CZAR

Simon

I found it a bit annoying what a fuss the government made about the BBC reporter (of course, they do have a thing about the BBC). If anything, they've done a service by highlighting a huge problem.

To have police officers saying that they would like to kill people because of their color is abominable. I hope they are prosecuted for something. They shouldn't get away with just resigning IMHO.

core

Can an empathetic person be a racist - why yes - most racists are not members of the KKK or British National Party - they appear normal - but hold prejudices/dislikes/opinions which most of us would be appalled at, yet they do not kick dogs, mug old ladys or parade around shouting obscenities - the dangerous racist is the "ordinary" person who (as world history shows) can be whipped up by a charismatic leader into acts of racism which are physically manifest - the (former) policemen on this TV show are nutters but most racists are not nutters - see info from the (UK) Race Relations Board and you will understand that racism is not clearly manifest - it is largely our of sight