2008 Woodie Awards
Race is still an issue
Kaley Relaz
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Opinion
Sex, politics and religion are commonly known to be the three taboo topics of general conversation. But all of the recent commotion surrounding the issue of race in politics has me questioning why it's not No. 4 on that list.
It has always seemed to me race is a topic that makes us uncomfortable to discuss in the same kind of company sex, politics or religion would. Because it's a topic we all have a wide variety of opinions and feelings about, many people avoid a conversation concerning race to avoid making ourselves or someone else uncomfortable.
But since the United States of America is the most diverse nation in the world and race is still a touchy subject, shouldn't we be discussing it?
We never hear people label themselves as racists. Not many Americans admit to being "prejudiced," which Dictionary.com defines as, "unreasonable feelings, opinions or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious or national group."
It's obvious why we don't admit these feelings, but I believe that very inability to recognize our hidden racial biases is responsible for the slow progression of tolerance in the U.S.
Although we are highly developed creatures, we are descendants of the animal kingdom and share instincts with our animal counterparts. Humans and animals alike instinctively know to survive and procreate. We both are also instinctively aware that other beings may be interferences, so it's natural for us to develop fear and to display aggression toward others we feel are a threat to our survival and procreation processes.
Nobel Prize winner and behavior scientist Konrad Lorenz interpreted a combination of Charles Darwin's natural selection theory with Sigmund Freud's theory of aggression to explain this natural behavior: "Aggressiveness is beneficial and allows for the survival and success of populations of aggressive species since the strongest animals would eliminate weaker ones, and over the course of evolution, the result would be an ultimate stronger, healthier population."
It has always seemed to me race is a topic that makes us uncomfortable to discuss in the same kind of company sex, politics or religion would. Because it's a topic we all have a wide variety of opinions and feelings about, many people avoid a conversation concerning race to avoid making ourselves or someone else uncomfortable.
But since the United States of America is the most diverse nation in the world and race is still a touchy subject, shouldn't we be discussing it?
We never hear people label themselves as racists. Not many Americans admit to being "prejudiced," which Dictionary.com defines as, "unreasonable feelings, opinions or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious or national group."
It's obvious why we don't admit these feelings, but I believe that very inability to recognize our hidden racial biases is responsible for the slow progression of tolerance in the U.S.
Although we are highly developed creatures, we are descendants of the animal kingdom and share instincts with our animal counterparts. Humans and animals alike instinctively know to survive and procreate. We both are also instinctively aware that other beings may be interferences, so it's natural for us to develop fear and to display aggression toward others we feel are a threat to our survival and procreation processes.
Nobel Prize winner and behavior scientist Konrad Lorenz interpreted a combination of Charles Darwin's natural selection theory with Sigmund Freud's theory of aggression to explain this natural behavior: "Aggressiveness is beneficial and allows for the survival and success of populations of aggressive species since the strongest animals would eliminate weaker ones, and over the course of evolution, the result would be an ultimate stronger, healthier population."
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It's easy...
posted 3/31/08 @ 4:51 PM CST
Generally speaking, if you talk about racism and you are white, you are a racist. If you talk about racism and you are black you are a civil rights activist doing good for the community. (Continued…)
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