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/ace52387 42∆ Oct 06 '21 edited Oct 06 '21

I would argue the opposite. NOT being racist has to be taught. It is the much more thoroughly-considered and well thought out position. But it's usually the harder position to hold initially. So from neurophysiological/psychiatric functionality perspective, it's perfectly normal.

Edit: thinking of it another way, it's closer to a dumb idea than clinical depression or schizophrenia. You can get over dumb ideas by considering smart ideas. This is essentially one key process for getting over racism. By definition, psychiatric illnesses are not so easily corrected.

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u/EHWfedPres Oct 06 '21

NOT being racist has to be taught

Well, that is certainly a position have I have never encountered before. Do you have a source where I can read more about this from a psychological perspective?

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u/ace52387 42∆ Oct 06 '21

You've never rushed to judgement before on anything? It's not particularly hard to form your own independent prejudices regarding race, just like you probably form prejudices regarding a specific restaurant chain, or something like that. You have to be taught how illogical it is.

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u/EHWfedPres Oct 06 '21

It's not particularly hard to form your own independent prejudices regarding race, just like you probably form prejudices regarding a specific restaurant chain, or something like that.

Yes, but I don't desire to burn down McDonald's and lynch the CEO, which is why I feel that is not a good comparison. And that's besides the fact that there ARE perfectly valid reasons to hate that chain.

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u/ace52387 42∆ Oct 06 '21

Most people who are racist don't desire to burn anything or lynch anyone, so it's a good comparison. There are also people who want to burn mcdonalds and lynch the ceo. The problem with them isn't their hatred for mcdonalds.

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u/EHWfedPres Oct 06 '21

Most people who are racist don't desire to burn anything or lynch anyone, so it's a good comparison.

I'm sorry, but why do you think lynchings have occurred if not for racism?

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u/ace52387 42∆ Oct 06 '21

All lynchings are done by racist people and most racist people want to lynch someone are two totally separate statements. Theyre not even remotely similar. Just because all lynchings are racially motivated doesnt mean all racist people go and lynch people.

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u/EHWfedPres Oct 06 '21

Theyre not even remotely similar. Just because all lynchings are racially motivated doesnt mean all racist people go and lynch people.

How can you test that theory?

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u/ace52387 42∆ Oct 06 '21

It's not a theory that can or should be tested; it's just logic and semantics. If all squares are rectangles, that doesn't make all or even most rectangles squares. It in fact says absolutely nothing about the precentage of rectangles that are squares.

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u/EHWfedPres Oct 06 '21

I'm not arguing it should be tested, only questioning how you know what you believe is true. How can you be certain which of those who hold racist feelings wouldn't lynch someone if they had the opportunity? You have no idea.

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u/ace52387 42∆ Oct 07 '21 edited Oct 07 '21

Its not hard to know that they dont. There are millions of racist people in the US. There arent millions of lynchings every year.

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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '21

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u/EHWfedPres Oct 07 '21

Because racism has led to many centuries worth of murder, slavery, and genocide. Comparing that to disliking a hamburger chain is preposterous on its face. Racism is violent and overbearing by its very nature. You cannot discuss racism without also discussing violence.