3 in 10 Americans Admit to Racial Bias

[+Dave 2,322]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25310337

 

That is a lot higher than I thought it was. I can not recall anytime in my life where my father and mother ever saying anything bad about another race. With being in the USAF, and my father too, I grew up around all kinds of people and never thought they were any different than me. So I think I am fortunate in that aspect. In fact I can not recall in my travels, where someone was saying "Lets not let him do this because he's black."...or whatever. Just never witnessed it. I know it happens. But I have never seen it first hand.

[FastCargo 412]

Well, I think that's part of it...there's a lot of areas where people grow up, old and die without ever leaving a 50 mile radius. When you have entire communities like that, it can be real hard to shake outdated attitudes. I think that's one of the best things the military does...it forces people from different races to work together. You either get along, or you don't last real long.

 

That being said, racism goes both ways...I've seen attitudes in both directions that concern me.

 

Also, I don't take TOO much stake in this poll...they sampled 1,125 people...which means they drew their conclusions based on 0.0005 percent of the US population.

 

FastCargo

[Bounder 0]

Reality it probly higher,from 70 to now Ive seen it alot. It was so bad in the 70 the military had EO officers (equal oppertunity) to curb racial problems. In Texas in the military I still see alot directed at Latin Americans.

[column5 63]

A lot of people probably answer yes to such questions when they really aren't racially biased but culturally biased.

[Ruggbutt 45]

I've always judged people on their actions and interactions with myself, friends, family, etc. I know plenty of jaggoffs of all colors, it's not skin color that determines what kind of person you are. I don't know a lot of people who are downright racist, but people in general tend to have their prejudices (which is different than racism). Prejudice can be skin color related, but I've seen it with stuff as stupid as related to income, hair length (I used to be a rocker dude in the 80's/90's), what kind of car you drive, etc.

 

As for the poll, I don't buy it. I think the poll is low. And I think the poll is too simplified. Being caucasian and middle class with a blue collar background I can only give examples of what I've seen and heard from others in those circles. I've heard people say that there will be riots if Obama isn't elected. They cite the riots when sports teams have won/lost championships. I think some of the bias comes from generalizations. Plus, people tend to remember the bad things that happened. The good stuff just isn't "juicy enuf" when gossiping.

[ONETINSOLDIER 2]

I agree with ruggbutt on this one, azzholes come in all colors,

[Icarus999 70]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25310337

 

That is a lot higher than I thought it was. I can not recall anytime in my life where my father and mother ever saying anything bad about another race. With being in the USAF, and my father too, I grew up around all kinds of people and never thought they were any different than me. So I think I am fortunate in that aspect. In fact I can not recall in my travels, where someone was saying "Lets not let him do this because he's black."...or whatever. Just never witnessed it. I know it happens. But I have never seen it first hand.

 

You are totally right here dave, white racists have been delt with pretty effectively in the united states, they are a dying breed. This story however has no merit and msnbc has no credibility

as an unbiased news organisation. This is a white wash of a bigger story- Barrak obamas racial seperatist church. Yes racism will play a factor in the election, people will hold him accountable for his racist

belief system and not vote for him! This artical is a damage control piece pure and simple.

[Ruggbutt 45]

My dad happens to be a racist azzhole. One of my close friends who posts here (Cali) and I were going to lunch one day and my dad wanted to go. I had to tell him to behave. It's a shame when the kid has to verbally biatch-slap the parent. ;) The old man just doesn't get it that no one has any control over their skin color. The important thing they can control is how they act towards others. That being said, I don't see my dad much any more. It's easier on me and the fact that I don't lose a bit of my soul everytime I have to hear his ignorant BS..............LOL

 

Icarus makes a good point. News organizations are scared to call the race card on a minority. If we don't call everyone who is racist on it then things will never change. I expect to be treated like the next guy regardless of race, job description or social status. Treat racists the way they deserve, even the ones that happen to be in a minority group.

[eraser_tr 29]

Oh please, not everything is some kind of collusion, though MSNBC is generally pro-Obama. And you're associating one rant of a preacher looped for weeks on tv with everyone harping on it to that person's beliefs. The things he came out and said in some kind of weird defence of himself makes wright look crazier than that youtube clip.

 

There are so many factors that go into perception of others that its difficult to really pinpoint skin color.

Edited June 22, 2008 by eraser_tr

[+Jimbib 747]

Everyone has a prejudice of one form or another.

[+whiteknight06604 934]

Oh please, not everything is some kind of collusion, though MSNBC is generally pro-Obama. And you're associating one rant of a preacher looped for weeks on tv with everyone harping on it to that person's beliefs. The things he came out and said in some kind of weird defence of himself makes wright look crazier than that youtube clip.

 

There are so many factors that go into perception of others that its difficult to really pinpoint skin color.

 

Generaly pro-obama is the understatment of the year,MSNBC is the worst news organzation.they distort and outright lie on a nightly basis.they are an active obama cheer organazation.watch "hardball" and say they are not heavely biased and if you have the stomach watch that lieing sack of crap Kieth Oberman that guy is not only a proven lier but thouroughly in the Obama camp.It has nothing to due with one rant loop over and over it's a 20 plus year track record of nothing but anti white tirades and blaming everyone else for thier problems.Obamas inabliity to effectivly deal with that situation just shows he is unable to make claer desicions.how on earth can anyone sit for 20 years and listen to that hateful filth and not think to leave that church?He quates him in his books and was married by him and even after the hate spewed forth was disclosed to the press he was unable to distance himself from Rev Wright.Either he's very stupid and couldn't see the hate in 20 years or he made a concience decision to use the church to further his political carreer.he's the same as any politition he's calculating and decietful and his idea ofchange amounts to his awesome public speaking and his charisma.I have known somone who actually went to that church once or twice and she never went back after seeing the way things were there.she moved here from that area and lived here for a few years,i hadn't herd from her in a few years but when the rev wrong stuff broke on the news she emailed me to say that the reverends rants were well known in the community and she didn't believe anyone could be in that "church" for more than 10 minutes without understanding what was up.

[MAKO69 186]

WE are all in this crazy Sh@* Hole together, we must get along. I have said it befoew and i'll say it again . The next 20 to 30 years will make or break mankind. If we dont destroy each other, and make it out of the imediate future I think it will be down hill. To quote QUEEN. "The time will come when we can all be friends" . I am waiting.

[eraser_tr 29]

I flip through all 3 major channels. Figures like Keith Olberman and Chris Mathews have their views, it's not an endemic network bias like Fox's, they are essentially the PR department of the RNC. A while back one of the guys from CNNs morning show went to Fox, Bill something with an H. Aside from getting contacts, there was a gigantic shift in how he reported. And any news organization that still employs Geraldo is about as reputable as the national enquirer.

 

And his show is really more of a comedy like Stewart or Colbert. Do you actually think a show with a segment giving people the label of worst person in the world, is supposed to be taken seriously?

 

I've yet to be in a service where the preacher wasn't crazy, and the kinds of things the run of the mill evangelical ministers say makes rantings about racial oppression look pale in comparison. They really do deserve the nickname "The American Taliban"

 

OBama has already thrown wright under the bus, how else is he supposed to handle it? Curl up into a fetal position and take a beating like Kerry did after every attack on him?

 

Aside from expecting the public to understand things more complex than and inbetween "I'm close to him therefore our minds are one and the same" and "I completely disagree with him and have nothing to do with him whatsoever"

 

Seriously, think of all the people you're close to. Would it not be easy to find things they've said to be totally derranged? People that are so "normal" are more often than not, incredibly boring and not really worth knowing.

[+Dave 2,322]

I like Fox News......but I'm a Republican.

[+JimBeamer5 23]

Even Fox isn't what it was. Imagine of you will the madness of Pat Buchanan.

[+whiteknight06604 934]

"not an endemic network bias like Fox's, they are essentially the PR department of the RNC"

 

all I can say after laughing is wake the heck up dude.to say MSNBC isn't a systemic bias but fox is flies in the face of reality.keep drinking the cool ade. last I saw Pat Buchanan is on MSNBC Kieth Oberman isn't opinionated he's dishonest to the core and an acticve particapant in MSNBC (and NBC) general steep slide to the left.MSNBC and NBC ratings have declined as they moved to the left but havn't added one and one and relized thats a big reason for their decline.Kieth Oberman belongs with the hate and slime merchants over at Moveon and the Huffington report or the sh!t bag Daily Kos.

Edited June 23, 2008 by whiteknight06604

[+DoctorQuest 125]

I like Fox News......but I'm a Republican.

 

Which sort of points out a major problem in the first place.

 

If you like or dislike a news source due to political affiliation then that speaks volumes to the "fair and balanced" claims of said news source.

 

I am realist. I understand all news sources may have a political agenda.

 

I prefer printed news sources. I use a variety. TV news is show-biz, period.

[ironroad 218]

Which sort of points out a major problem in the first place.

 

If you like or dislike a news source due to political affiliation then that speaks volumes to the "fair and balanced" claims of said news source.

 

I am realist. I understand all news sources may have a political agenda.

 

I prefer printed news sources. I use a variety. TV news is show-biz, period.

 

 

Agreed, TV news is what it is, entertainment. The talking heads are doing nothing but lying themselves when they try to come off as neutral and "fair and balanced". Those 24 hour news cycles are nothing more TV ads and Entertainment/hHollywood news that use controversy to keep people watching. I prefer to read the paper (but even the Washington Post and NY times has slowly turned into Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly.)

 

All news sources have an agenda, make $$$$, which IMHO is all fair, good, reasonable, and encouraged (people have to be paid), but do not try to dupe viewers with that neutral/balanced crap.

 

 

As for the issue at hand, everyone has some sort of biased or preconceived notions of people (it is part of being human and living in a "fad" driven society). Also to expand upon Rug's excellent post, there are racist and narrow minded assholes of every stripe, but not all racist fit that classic mold of an old white man sitting on his porch in Georgia with a shotgun in his lap. There are some people in society who are just closet racist but do not have the balls to admit (personally I have more tolerance of a person who is open and not ashamed of their narrow minded views from 1906) There are also a lot of people in the minority who are just as bad (mindset wise) as a member of the Klan. I have known some people that detested anyone else who was not from their country or region. I have personally known Latinos that hated blacks and whites (and vice versa), Asians who disliked whites (vice versa), and on and on.

 

Granted, being realistic type person I man do not expect (nor care if) everyone to join hands in a big world wide chain and sing "We are the world" and afterwards go pick daisies. But in this world, this global world, you better learn how to at least work with and or respect others who are vastly different from you if you want to survive. Your opinions are your opinions, but common sense, common courtesy, and logic should always trump all.

Edited June 23, 2008 by ironroad

[JediMaster 451]

My mother-in-law is pretty bad about it. She's an old NYC Jew and is the typical hypocrite with some black friends who are "different". However, she talks about Democrats almost the same way, so I get the feeling that to her black = Democrat.

 

I just don't care. I DO have an "irritation" if you will against Hispanics, but that mostly centers on their unwillingness to speak English after taking up permanent residence in the US (legally or illegally). A language is NOT "your culture." You want to speak it at home, fine. You want to speak it at work? No. A majority of them DO understand English but simply refuse to speak it and also pretend they don't understand it. THAT makes me mad.

It almost seems to be a xenophobia with them. My wife went to lunch with one years ago who confessed to feeling "uncomfortable" and thinking "everyone is looking at me." Why? No one around them was speaking Spanish! THE HORROR! So, you're speaking English in an English-speaking country but you're uncomfortable because no one is speaking Spanish and want to run to the areas where no English is spoken?

 

Florida is NOT North Cuba, no matter what they may want.

[eraser_tr 29]

uhhhh

 

Well in some cases its understandable. My grandparents were just too old to learn more than the most rudimentary english just to get by, whereas my mother, aunts and uncles speak perfect english. Though my mother still screws up Ys and Js.

 

The whole hip-hop/street thuggish culture thats fairly big among people around my age and younger just gets on my nerves. It has nothing to do with skin pigment or background, I just find it disgustingly trashy. Look "dawg" being born in a nice part of the bonx and your parents moving to the suburbs when you were 5 does not make you some big bad "gangsta" so stop trying to talk like Dave Chappel, referring to women as either "bitches" or "hoes" and ditch the attitude. Especially when you personally know people from bad circumstances that are regular civilized people. That, and "uber-guidos" like the guy in that haircut youtube clip. I guess it can be boiled down to people trying to flaunt an image of something they're not.

[Ruggbutt 45]

I DO have an "irritation" if you will against Hispanics, but that mostly centers on their unwillingness to speak English after taking up permanent residence in the US (legally or illegally).

I live in Arizona, it's out of control here (at least until recently). It's illegal aliens that piss me off. 2% of the illegals in this country do work Americans don't want to do. The rest are taking jobs that Americans want. Crime has risen 68% and it's directly attributable to illegal immigration. We don't usually have cops killed in Phoenix, but last year we lost 3 and their killers went back across the border and Mexico won't give them back to us, cuz AZ has the death penalty. Theft from employers is rampant, my brother in law had 250 illegals working for him, and they would steal work materials (he's a painting contractor) and you'd see them at the swap meets with tables full of stuff they stole from him. The absolute worst part about it is there's no accountability for them. They use fake social security numbers to get fake drivers licenses. No car insurance, no paying for their license plates so the state misses out on all those taxes to pay for our roads. The few times the illegals had demonstration marches last year the freeways in the morning were much less packed and easier to traverse. So we know they're using the roads, just not paying for them. Several county hospitals have been shut down cuz the illegals go there for everything, including having a headache. Can you imagine going to the hospital for an aspirin? So the hospitals have closed cuz lack of funds and now the Americans who live in those parts of town (poor areas) can't get health care they deserve and were getting before the illegals sucked the life out of the hospitals. Let's not forget they pay no taxes. They claim max amount of dependants (11) and have almost nothing (something like $14 out of a $400 paycheck) witheld for social security. They figure that's a fair price to pay for using a stolen SS number.

 

I think it's a damn shame that people who flaunt the laws in this country and don't contribute to the system take away things from low income Americans. It makes me sick.

[sparkomatic 7]

- my grandfather taught me to never judge a person for two reasons

 

- he also said that race was no excuse for not liking someone

[Ruggbutt 45]

- he also said that race was no excuse for not liking someone

Exactly! If someone is unlikeable, those traits will show quickly enuf.

[ironroad 218]

What really bothers me is that whenever there is an illegal "immigrant" protest in this nation as of late (usually with in the past decade) the mass of immigrants fly the flag of the nation they came from.

 

Now I am all for immigrations and new people coming to this country (I am for it to my core, even though my ancestors have been here since the beginning.) But illegal immigration makes a mockery of this country and it is unfair to the masses who come here and have to wait in line to enter, wait for a work permit, and then wait X amount of years to be naturalized. And they have to suffer because certain groups of people (within and outside of this country) refuse to follow the rules that everyone has to abide by.

 

I have friends who legal immigrated here over a decade ago yet they still are wait for their papers to processed. They have been here long enough that they are starting to lose their accents and pick up ones from the regions they live in.

 

Illegal immigrants on the other hand want ALL of the benefits of being a U.S. citizen but none of the responsibilities. All they want to do is make their money, use our services, curse America and complain of how their country was so much better.

 

"Jobs Americans" do not want to do...please American will do them.

[+Zurawski 33]

You find me one person who has not ever formed a racial or cultural bias at one point in time, and I'll show you someone who is lying through their teeth or is clinically brain-dead.

 

It's impossible in this day and age to not form opinion on people based on multiple factors... race and culture not withstanding.

 

 

 

I have no moral high ground... I fully admit to forming personal opinon based on race and culture.