Current Events > Is it possible for someone to be racist and still be a good person?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like they do volunteer work, donate to charities, respected in their community, but they're highly racist and make no attempts to hide it.
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So basically, your average evangelical christian republican type?
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If you volunteer at a soup kitchen to make fun of the homeless you are not a good person.
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I don't think anyone doubts that people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were racist. They wanted the best for us colored folks, but they still considered them as not equal. Most would argue that they were good people.

Unless i'm high or something idk
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pinky0926 posted...

So basically, your average evangelical christian republican type?

how are they racist?
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Of course they can be good people.

Probably. Consider a highly racist fella who grew up in an all white neighborhood and never really left. His racism never actually comes to light because he's never interacted with a minority. If he's an upstanding member of that community, and his racism isn't affecting others is it really be used to call him a bad guy?
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Short answer is yes.
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no
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We can make allowances for those who don't know they're fucking up; we all make mistakes.

If they know they have a problem, understand its consequences, and they're doing it anyway, no.
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What if it's people who are like that and have interacted with minorities for years?
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tremain07 posted...

What if it's people who are like that and have interacted with minorities for years?

Are they being overtly racist to minorities for years, as in they are actively making other people's lives worse? Then no, they suck as people.
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lilORANG posted...

tremain07 posted...

What if it's people who are like that and have interacted with minorities for years?

Are they being overtly racist to minorities for years, as in they are actively making other people's lives worse? Then no, they suck as people.

No just kinda telling those people they don't trust them and throwing them out of their businesses or place of residence. Kinda like like this Cracker Barrel near my house that says they don't serve black people because apparently we do nothing but steal and blame whites for our own problems, I'm not joking, the owner actually told me this to my face when I tried to go in there one day against the advice of other people.
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There's a difference to being ignorant and believing stereotypes due to the lack of interaction, and not treating another person with respect just because of their ethnic background.

Racists are not good people by choice.
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I think it's possible to be racist in a non-hateful way. For example my grandmother always held the view that black people had low IQs, which is obviously racist, but in her 40+ year career as a hospital nurse she treated everyone with the same level of compassion and respect
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tremain07 posted...

lilORANG posted...

tremain07 posted...

What if it's people who are like that and have interacted with minorities for years?

Are they being overtly racist to minorities for years, as in they are actively making other people's lives worse? Then no, they suck as people.

No just kinda telling those people they don't trust them and throwing them out of their businesses or place of residence. Kinda like like this Cracker Barrel near my house that says they don't serve black people because apparently we do nothing but steal and blame whites for our own problems, I'm not joking, the owner actually told me this to my face when I tried to go in there one day against the advice of other people.

Well it is called the Cra...

*is modded*
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Has this person physically harmed a person they are racist towards? No? Then yes. Yes? Then no.
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YourDrunkFather posted...

tremain07 posted...

lilORANG posted...

tremain07 posted...

What if it's people who are like that and have interacted with minorities for years?

Are they being overtly racist to minorities for years, as in they are actively making other people's lives worse? Then no, they suck as people.

No just kinda telling those people they don't trust them and throwing them out of their businesses or place of residence. Kinda like like this Cracker Barrel near my house that says they don't serve black people because apparently we do nothing but steal and blame whites for our own problems, I'm not joking, the owner actually told me this to my face when I tried to go in there one day against the advice of other people.

Well it is called the Cra...

*is modded*

https://m.imgur.com/a/mPcpl
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Asherlee10 posted...

I think I would have a hard time believing that someone could be racist but not have other bad qualities that would equate them with being a bad person in general.

What makes a person bad, anyway? How many bad qualities do they need to have to be officially bad?

If someone isn't engaging in criminality or otherwise antisocial behavior and is clearly, evidently, and demonstrably a net good or contributor to society, even if they hold racially prejudice views, they're still a good person.

Isn't racism a gradient anyways?

TC was talking about overt racism but even then, everyone more or less older than our grandparents was pretty racist. Was the world solely populated by "bad people" before racial tolerance became a western value and norm?
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Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

TC was talking about overt racism but even then, everyone more or less older than our grandparents was pretty racist. Was the world solely populated by "bad people" before racial tolerance became a western value and norm?

Were they really racist or was that just how they were brought up.

I've heard plenty of old folk use not the best terms and they didn't think it was wrong at all. And plus, with a lot of the older generation they aren't paying attention to what words are wrong and what words are good. They grew up with everyone saying certain words and that's what they'll always say. Doesn't necessarily mean they are all racist.
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I judge someone as good or not based on what they do, not what they think. if someone is a total prick and out saving the world but for the most awful and selfish reasons, cool. People can think whatever they want, it is what they do that matters most.
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