by Tom Koecke

Created on: July 18, 2007

Racism: Do You See It?

Shecky Green was talking about how, as a child, he and his friends did not notice their races. They did not care that he was Jewish, and he did not care that one was Italian, another was Irish, and a third was Black. They were just kids. He added that one of their favorite pastimes was getting together to fight with the Polocks.

Though his irony may bring a chuckle, it is also profound. We see ourselves as part of a progressed society in which classes are less determined by race, and more determined by individual achievement. However, even as we accept the standard of equality with individuals from some races, we within those "equal races" band together to fight people of other races out of ironic disregard for equality.

Thoughts, like everything else, are subject to universal laws. If many people think the same thing about a race, the similar thoughts amass creating gravity. The reasons for these similar thoughts differ, but the reasoning is consumed by the gravity of the similar thought. This grave thought begins consuming the reasoning of many people who share similar conclusions. The growth of mass of the grave thought is measured as increase in popularity. If it becomes popular enough, it becomes common sense.

Some common sense is quite reasonable. We should, indeed, look both ways before crossing streets, and we certainly should not drink to excess and drive. Those who do not exercise common sense serve as examples to persuade others, particularly young people, to understand the reasoning behind the grave thought.

Racism is a type of thought that becomes popular for its conclusion without regard for the reasons for its gravity. The Japanese did not bomb Pearl Harbor because of racism, nor did the Americans bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of racism. The events were because of nationalism, and were acts of war. The internment of Japanese-Americans, however, is viewed as racist. It is popular to do so. However, if ten people who believe it was racist were asked the reasons they concluded the action was racist, we would be lucky to have as few as five or six different reasons. We may even find ten different reasons for concluding it was racist. We would find the same occurs with those who gravely conclude interning Japanese-Americans was not racist.

It is because we fail to examine our different reasons for arriving at the same conclusions that we fail to understand that those with similar conclusions actually disagree. The mass of grave

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