Racism

I find more and more that the blinkered refusal to accept the reality of a situation applies as much to those who are against racism as much as those who are racist.



Is their much racial tension in where you live? I ask because it is something that I am clearly naive about. Allow me to explain further...
In certain otherwise dull Northern Mill towns, it has been recently reported that vigilante gangs of Asian youths have declared certain areas of the city "No-Go" for white people. This is in response to an increase in racist attacks on Asians. So they are meeting racism with racism which, in my naiveté, seems like an idea on a par with Adolf Hitler’s “Right then lads; lets invade Russia!” brainwave in terms of sheer stupidity.

The whole issue of racism gives me something of a mixed feeling. Not as to whether it is a good or bad thing, for it is beyond the doubt of any reasonable person that is an extraordinarily awful thing. No, what gives me the problem is just how one should apply the criteria to decide just what is racist.

Let us decide on a definition of racism before we proceed further. Racism is the belief that, regardless of whatever evidence to the contrary may exist, people are going to behave in a certain way. I'm quite aware that this is not going to be satisfactory to everyone, but I believe it is broad enough to encompass the ranged arch of racist behaviour.

We are living in a time of "political correctness gone mad" if you believe one point of view, or "building towards a more tolerant and multicultural society" if you believe the other. It should be quite clear that neither of these viewpoints are the whole truth. Whilst the former has all sorts of unsavoury associations with unpleasant bigots ranting away and then justifying themselves by trying to make out that it is us who have the problem, the news from Burnley, Oldham etc, as well as the quite frighteningly blinkered post on this webboard shows that the latter comment is equally as detached from reality.

To me, this begs the following question; are both camps equally as racist? Neither are taking account of the way things actually are, both are ignoring facts that are plainly obvious. The more racist point of view fails to account for the fact that large numbers of people of differing colours and creeds can and do live together in harmony. By the same token, the idealistic point skirts around the reality that an equally large number of people do not.

Racism in both of these forms is equally as destructive. The former generates hatred between man, and the latter allows it to spread unchecked. There is no doubt in my mind that the actions of the youths in Oldham are racist, but what can one expect after the Stephen Lawrence case, or the Conservative party's difficulty in keeping it's foot out of it's mouth, or the murder in Wales of an Asian man at a hospital? Equally, I found the post made on this board thoroughly distasteful in it’s unthinking bigotry, yet when we are spoon fed a constant diet of “Immigrants are responsible for all of our countries ills”, is it surprising that some people feel defensive and afraid of anyone who isn’t visibly WASPish? In my opinion, it's time to stop looking for someone to blame and face up to our collective responsibility to sort the whole mess out and get on with evolving as a race.