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An interesting thing I saw a while back is someone did a search on Google books for the word racism. The word itself only came into use in early 1900s....I often wonder, does the existence of the word help create the concept or not...? (to be clear, I'm not saying race-tribalism is a new thing), but have we mind-tricked ourselves into this situation?
Steven Pinker would disagree because language/speaking and thinking are two different things.
I experienced Schadenfreude before learning there was a German word for it
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I fully agree that actively hating any group is not only stupid, but morally wrong (and a sin). Each person should be judged as an individual (as best as we can).
But here is where things get complex. What about preference? Should we be morally outraged regarding preference?
Part of my sneaking suspicion is the word "racism" is a lie. If I said "I don't like pickles", does that mean I hate them? Like do I have an active hatred that wants to uproot and kill all cucumber plants, do I want to actively break open pickle jars? Obviously not, I'm expressing a preference.
Therefore when someone says something racist, is that "active hatred" or is it a preference? I don't have a good answer for that because I think its a continuum.
I think if a black man says "I don't want my daughter to marry a chinese man", I don't think that expresses an active hatred of chinese. I think its a preference.
However if someone says "all black people should be killed", then I do think that expresses an active hatred and is morally wrong.
But in our modern use of word 'racism' both would be considered racist (assume a white said both to make it clearer).
As long as we have a morally loaded word that can be used to batter opponents, then it will continue to be used as a strategy.
An interesting thing I saw a while back is someone did a search on Google books for the word racism. The word itself only came into use in early 1900s....I often wonder, does the existence of the word help create the concept or not...? (to be clear, I'm not saying race-tribalism is a new thing), but have we mind-tricked ourselves into this situation?