Three ways to live

One of the readers of my blog asked me to give an opinion on racism.

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary, racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Governments in most developed countries have made a very good job at sweeping this problem under the carpet. The most common solution used is the suggestion to avoid negative judgments about other races. As a result, on the surface we all smile and say nice things, but deep inside there is not much change.

The fact is that we cannot avoid making negative judgments. If we think something is bad, it’s difficult for us to pretend that it’s not. I would like to suggest that racism is not caused by negative judgments (which are unavoidable), but the following two reasons:

1. We mistake race for culture
2. We mistake abilities for identity

Let me elaborate. Cultural setting has an enormous influence of how we think or behave, and even what abilities we have. But we should not tie this to the race. For example, many Russians are very strong in science, due to great encouragement and support from Russian culture; it has nothing to do with Russian genes. On the other hand, Russia has very poor service sector, which is again a product of long exposure to communism, rather than genes. How can you be sure it’s the culture, not the genes? Bring up a child in a different cultural setting, and he will hardly be any different from other children in the same settings.

However, seeing the difference between culture and race is not enough. Some can still say, “OK, our race is not superior to theirs, I admit. But doesn’t the fact that our culture is superior makes us better people? If these people were as good as we are, they would have been able to build a culture just as good as ours”. This belief stems from mistaking our ability for identity. Very often seeing poor people and noticing our better education or better job or better house makes us feel we are better people. Wrong! What would you have become if you have been brought up in the same family, were given the same food, housing, and education as this poor person? Do you think you would do as well? The truth is our achievements are primarily due to our luck of being born in a family that enabled them.

What then remains of racism? There could be, what I call “superior” or “inferior” cultures, at least in some aspects. But there is no such thing as “superior” or “inferior” races, or “superior” or “inferior” people. Our perceived “superiority” is often due to being born to a good family or hard work of our forefathers, rather than our own achievement.