Friday 30 October 2009

Over 200 hits but we still live with racism. =(

Wow, we smashed past the 200 mark today. I say we again since I am quite a substantial contributor to my own visitor mark. I can't help it, I just want to see my baby grow.

This site has no aim. No structure, I'm just ambling through it aimlessly. I simply assume you are here to listen (read) every thought I consider relevant enough to type out.

Move arm left. Scratch myself.

I watched more in the series of Race:Sciences last taboo on Channel 4 today. I really enjoyed the show. I promise not to give you peeps another lecture like last time, but I will summarize it somewhat...

Thirty people took part in a social experiment. All from different races, skin colors, backgrounds, etc. What happened though was that they were segregated, not based on their skin color but on the color of their eyes. This goes to show that racial discrimination based on the color of a person's skin was just as arbitrary as the color of a persons eyes. Next, the people with blue eyes were to be bullied. From the get go. Upon splitting the people, the brown eyed people were told that those with blue eyes were to be made to feel what it was like to feel persecuted. Telling them that they had already been abusive, rude and making fun of racism.

None knew though that they themselves were to be abusive towards those with blue eyes.

After a while though, some of the people with brown eyes began rebelling. Some arguing that blue eyed people aren't all necessarily racist. One brown eyed white guy decided he would rather be on the blue eyed team, receiving the abuse rather than dishing it out.

He got chucked out of the experiment.

His rebellion worked to the woman's favor though since, it showed she had the power to expel whoever she chose.

After a few moments a second white person walked out.

The psychologists analyzing the people noted that it was the white people who decided to walk out of the experiment because they refused to acknowledge that racism was actually an issue among other white people.

"People in majority positions, powerful positions, white people mainly, don't see that there's a problem with racism and it's a really fundamental problem, they just don't SEE there's an issue"

After this, the remaining people become more docile to her, bending to her whim. At one point she says "All you have to do is act white, do you know how to act white?" at which point the group began laughing at the notion of being white.

Then in come the white people with blue eyes.
Ahh, I'd give you a more in depth synopsis but I really think it's worth watching, here's the link:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-event-how-racist-are-you/4od#3005915

One really impressive part though was when a guy compared being discriminated against because he's fat, to being discriminated to for being black or brown.

"I go to the shop and want to buy a shirt but they don't have any in my size. Oh well I'll have to put up with it won't I?"

To which the organizer of the event says:

"You can lose your tubby, you can't change the color of your skin."

So by now, the blue eyed people, the people to whom this prejudice is being overtly directed towards are actually arguing that racism ISN'T a problem.

At one point, during their lunch break, one of the blue eyed ladies, annoyed that she is being called a racist and being treated differently, speaks among her blue eyed peers and says this:

"One third of my class are colored- are black children. I've got this one little girl, stunningly beautiful, who fell over scraped half her face, I admit I was slightly surprised that where she grazed her face it's all pink underneath. Right, did I expect it to be black? I don't know?"

FANtastic...

Another point in the show, a mixed race man says he doesn't pick his daughter up from school because she has fair skin and he has darker skin than hers. She goes to a school where she is the only person of ethnic origin and because she has very white skin, he doesn't feel comfortable showing her origin to her friends.

When the lady who I quoted just a moment ago (Terry Taylor- A school teacher{!}) frowns in confusion, he confronts her saying, that he does so based on the 34 years he has lived in the country and the experiences he has had throughout his life in Britain.

Terry Taylor then replied saying her ex-husband wouldn't pick up her child in scruffy clothes and long messy hair with bad breath. Thus he too was a victim of prejudice and having to conform to society.

The idea behind the test isn't to show racism on a more isolated person to person scale, more of how people in power, on a larger scale affect individuals like racism on the scale of system to person.



This show was FUCKING awesome.

Ok, so it became a bit of a lecture. Sorry. I'm off to bed now. Sayonara!

1 comment:

  1. Don’t worry dude, I’m sure ur not the only one contributing to your numbers =)
    I’m definitely going to watch the Race series as soon as I get time, sounds quite interesting.
    C.L

    ReplyDelete