Culture can be changed, race cannot. Not all cultures are good, not all are bad, most likely are a little of both.
If a person challenges the practices of a culture, say for example the cultures of cannibals. They thought their culture was completely reasonable and they had been doing it for a long time. Unlike a persons skin color (sometimes called race or ethnicity) we can change our cultures. We are not stuck for example being cannibals without the ability to change.
So if I or anyone challenges a culture on its behavior and we say we don't think it is a good idea and present the reasons why. A person does not have to change, yet the issues we find with the culture have been pointed out. We may even have pointed out some bad things that likely are happening to a person due to the consequences of cultural actions. If they choose to stick with the culture and do not want to alter it or even ditch it completely then they are left with being responsible for the consequences of their choice. This is a choice. We can all make choices. When it comes to our skin color we cannot.
So attacking a culture is not about racism. It is about attacking behaviors, ideologies, and beliefs. Some people may not like this. If they happen to be the popular movement backed by the media and powers that be they likely will be able to make any attacks look bad. They may even call it racism, though it isn't, as it has nothing to do with race. They can get away with it when backed by popularity or power.
Though the thing is that most of our conflicts at some level actually are cultural in some way. In fact, racism itself is just part of a culture. We are not born with hate and superiority feelings towards other races. As with all cultures it is learned, or evolves from watching some popular person.
Why did I bring this up? I just wrote a piece about culture potentially being the actual causal factor in abnormal amount of deaths for blacks due to police killings rather than it actually being a racial issue.
The person said I was attacking black culture. That could actually be insulting to black people. Why? It presumes that black people are unchanging and only have one culture.
In reality black people have many cultures and are likely part of just about every culture. Culture does not necessarily require a person be of a specific race or color unless an aspect of that culture is in fact racism. Most cultures are open to pretty much anyone to be part of.
The culture I described in my post did in fact mostly arise from certain black neighborhoods in the United States in the 1980s. It has evolved and expanded since that time. Yet, it isn't "black culture". Many people have embraced that culture of all colors, races, ethnicities, etc. It also has evolved and mutated over time as cultures do.
Yet there are many different cultures embraced by black people. A lot of them do not embrace that particular one at all. In fact, the things we are complaining about today don't seem to be as much of an issue prior to the arrival of this culture. Though it is possible they were an issue and just under reported at the time. I wouldn't state that is the case though, as it would require actually looking and finding out.
The gang aspect did exist prior to the 1980s culture. Yet the 1980s culture was fueled by both a new music, and a new dance which set the world on fire. It spread like wild fire due to the uniqueness of this new art. The arts themselves are quite wonderful additions to the world, yet the sentiment and attitude that also seemed to hitch a ride with the art might actually be a causal factor for why blacks kill so many blacks, and potentially why there is a higher chance of a fatal interaction with law enforcement. This is a speculative hypothesis on my part. I explain why I am saying this in the other post.
I did want to state that RACE and CULTURE are not intrinsically interwoven UNLESS that culture is racist in nature.
The culture I am referring to is not racist in nature.
Humans have the choice to do what ever they want, even as kids. Each choice a person makes shapes there future, the reward or consequence is on the person that made the choice. One can be influenced in there decision by many factors, but the end result is always on the person that made the choice. In the end, I believe that it does not matter what race, gender, or culture you are, your decision is yours and yours alone. I also believe, we as humans like to use external blame, to justify our actions. To point a finger at someone or something else, to get out of taking full responsibility for our own actions. I feel the majority of humans are born with a sense of right and wrong, and either nurture that sense or get numb. Humans really need, as individuals, to start taking full responsibility for every action they take. Only then can humans really start to evolve into a better species.
Well said. I agree of course but providing examples and approaching it different in various posts might make sense to more and more people. Or I may just confuse things more...
No you did a great job of explaining, I was really impressed at how you explained yourself. It really is nothing new with you, you always do great work. Thank you by the way for that article.
You're being far to logical @dwinblood.
I'll go read your other post but the people who play the race card do so because it works for them. In most instances people will back down for fear of being labeled as a racist and the others will react violently, which wins the argument for the race-baiters too.
We've reached a point where there aren't enough people interested in finding a solution any more, at least, not a non-violent solution. And they're too ignorant to understand that more often than not, what replaces the old system is worse than the old system.
I fear the die has been cast.
Conflation of race and culture is a logical no-go and I think you expressed that clearly enough in the other post. Identity politics today are very invested in conflating race and culture however so that identifying misappropriation targets is easier (I suspect). If you recall the white guy getting harassed for his dreadlocks, I would bet money he was more acculturated to reggae than the woman harassing him, but the conflation of race with culture on her part caused her to assume he was appropriating something she considered hers by sake of her skin color. Sad state of affairs these days.
Yeah I agree. I felt the need to write this article due to a particular reply I received on the other post in which the person replying referred to it as "black mans culture".
For a detour from our normal fare, you might like Meeting Athena. I have been working on a number of different projects recently, I felt like I was drowning in the SJW subject matter there for a few days and needed some diversity. I am however working on wrapping up the initial cycle of posts on SJ with some possible solutions, should be interesting I hope.
I am feeling that too. Feeling bogged down and dragging due to it.
I may need to do some different posts for a bit too. :) I have some projects I've had on the back burner that I could do instead in terms of posts.
It is very hard to change cultural beliefs unless a person is immersed in another culture. Most individual biases are actually cultural biases that have been socialized into a person.
Obviously, we can use going off to college as a prime example of this.
Traumatic events can open a person up to a change in belief as well, in particular when a belief system fails them in some terrific way...
...but that is still hard when the immediate culture continues to reinforce the cultural belief.
I will disagree with you in that what we could call ghetto culture is incredibly racist. I used the example of acting white in your last post
And a final point, in any culture, ghetto culture or otherwise, you will find people that have strong minds and strong wills; those people tend to have iconoclast beliefs, and may reject complete swaths of the prevalent culture they grow up with.