You know, Redneck, I agree with you, racism is normal and human, so is violence, lying, stealing, aggressive behaviour of all kinds, tantrums, ignorance, arrogance, selfishness and egotism. Watch small children and you will see all these behaviours, oh, except for racism, actually. They can't see the difference between one kid and another, they are all competitors for attention, for the toy we want when we are small, regardless of who their parents are. I think racism may be learned, but is a natural outgrowth of many of the negative (but necessary for survival) traits humans display.
The thing is, though, Redneck, as a decent parent you work to minimise your children acting out their negative feelings. Not to stop feeling them, you understand, but to learn to control them and channel them and not take them out on others. Its called growing up and maturing. Something those who continue to boast about their racist attitudes and behaviours, it seems, have yet to do.
Yes, we all have racist feelings and attitudes, its just some of us have learnt that they are immature and stupid and that the consequences of acting them out are bad for all of us.

Redneck - I'll nibble.. but not 300 words. I'll reserve that much effort for where it may make a difference (i'm a freelance political writer).
I agree with your observations on 'group dynamics', this is the way things have & still do work in places. I also agree with Enaj - couldn't have said better myself. Redneck, If you get the opportunity, watch how 5 yr olds of different nationalities interact. They do not 'hate' each other .
Racism is a 'higher concept' in learning. We do not know of it until told by peers or parents. As Enaj says, one must do ones best to counteract discrimination of all kinds.
Racism is being gradually removed from social acceptance. Government endorsed, negative race-based discrimination no longer exists in Western society. Sometimes we even feel guilty about past misdemeanours. It is component of violence, in the social sense. Its illegal (in one way or another) in at least all western nations. It is well & truly on the decline.
Your attitudes are well& truly in the minority, Redneck.

Good post, Enaj.

On the subject of violence, society has paradoxical views. Laws exist in every organised society to prevent violence within the group. But every society also teaches it’s young that violence directed outside the group that benefits the entire group is admirable behaviour. Even the Christian God made that distinction in His Ten Commandments. The Commandment states “Thou Shalt Not Murder”, not ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill.” In other words, violence within the group is murder, but killing for God, King or country is tacitly OK. I put it to you that “violence” is just like “racism”, it is not evil by itself. It all depends upon situational context. “Racism” can be defined as “Loyalty to your own people.” What is wrong with that?

You are correct that children do not recognise race unless it is culturally conditioned into them. The lion cub will happily play with the lamb. But when the lion becomes adult, it begins to look at sheep in a different way. You are suggesting that humans should remain children and never grow up.

Selfishness is a good example too. Is selfishness a negative moral absolute? No. Each and every one of us is primarily concerned with our own self interest. But mature people learn from their culture to limit their selfishness for the good of the community as a whole. Because humans are social animals which learned long ago that it is from the group that individuals receive protection and support. To be entirely selfish is to be useless to the group and totally selfish people risk banishment, imprisonment and even execution.

To summarise, selfishness is not evil. Every person balances the amount of self interest he or she will consider appropriate and how much they should sublimate their selfishness for the good of the group. Racism is not evil either. To what extent people are loyal to their racial group and concerned with it’s self interest and survival, and how much they sublimate that self interest to the welfare of the human race as a whole, is a matter of situational context.

Yes Redneck,

I agree with you, what I would actually call racism is spitting on someone due to skin colour or beating up someone just over race, with no other issues involved. Natural loyalty to your kin is an admirable quality in a human. To call loyalty “racist” is a manipulating and crude strategy of the PC agenda. PC tactics often use the “racist” card to censor discussion by socially shaming people into silence. To be labelled a racist you “loose” the debate by default, “oh your racist” bang PC wins. Judgment is also demonised by the PC as is not being part of a minority.

Today the PC fad is in decline, as its spokespeople have defamed their own causes with overkill on censorship of opinion etc. This is a shame in ways as some of the original PC intentions were fairly decent, saving the planet, human rights n all that. I actually resent the PC for destroying the credibility of these serious issues.

Redneck, I’m glad you are taking on this argument, It’s a hard one in today’s social climate and language.

Actually, five year olds do display racism.

They say things like: whats wrong with your eyes? what happened to your skin? are you covered in chocolate?

Swilkie and Enaj sound like bubble-wrapped idealists (clueless in the real world). You both need to be re-educated.

davo, noticing a difference in eyes or skin colour is not racism. Refusing to share your toys with the kid who is different because they are different is racism and I have not seen much of that in young kids except where it is well trained into them.

And I'd rather not see you "reeducated", the kind of societies that do that don't tend to be real nice places to live.

Redneck, despite my disagreement with many of your conclusions I'm appreciating the manner you are putting your points. It is one of my life goals to strike a healthy balance between self interest and the good of the community. It seems that you are saying the same thing but see the balance point in a different place to where I see it.

enaj, thanks for your thoughtful posts on this issue.

R0bert