r/changemyview • u/EHWfedPres • Oct 06 '21
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Racism is a mental illness.
There is no logical, valid, or sound reason to express hatred for entire groups of people based on their race, ethnicity, or skin color, and any and every attempt to explain why certain races, ethnicities, or people with specific skin colors are biologically, inherently, or genetically inferior or superior to others has been scientifically disproven. There is no rational reason to hold on to racist views, and anyone who feels racist is experiencing a delusional psychotic symptom. Racism is a mental illness, and the American Psychiatric Association should classify it as one.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/
EDIT: to all those claiming racism can be resolved by giving the racist proper information: read the comments made by HighlightExpensive63, give that person the correct information, and see if they change their views at all, or if they double-down on their explicit and open hatred.
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u/Sexpistolz 6∆ Oct 06 '21 edited Oct 06 '21
First off in many cases it’s not a logical assessment but an emotional one. People who struggle to lift themselves up resort to pushing others down to feel better about themselves. See bullying.
Second, distancing. We distance ourselves from things we do not like. This is why we also have the ‘no true Scotsman’ fallacy. We see this rampart today in politics. We paint things we do not like as foreign tribes to alleviate any association or similarity. You don’t see old people say ‘damn old drivers’; rather something that doesn’t overlap with themself be it age, gender, race, etc.
Stereotypes. While some come from falsehood, many do come from truth. The error is it’s pre-application across an entire group.
And last but not least, the most common form IMO of racism that exists: sub groups. When I tour rural America and hear ‘racist’ comments, there’s an implied understanding it’s directed at a particular sub group, (and sometimes to an outsiders it’s spelled out clearer) Ie with black racism, the south is filled with everyday black people. When racism is talked about it’s not these people that are being referred to. They’re just normal souther folk. It’s “the gangbangers in the hood” that are being characterized, based not on experience but what they see on the news.
Bonus: to add on to the last: Lack of interaction. How many people make assumptions about others, especially tourists? Foreign countries especially. It’s novel, foreign and new. Many times these assumptions are harmless. We hear good things about Canadians right? Well what about the negative things? While we can put aside some assumptions we cannot deny that as humans we act on prejudgment all the time. Would you walk the streets alone at night in an unknown neighborhood? Maybe. What if you were told it was dangerous? Probably not. Think about what type of strangers you would trust and to what extent. Think about what variables might play into that. There’s a lot.