OED From the Oxford English Dictionary cd-rom: racism a. The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race. (Note - it is not about hate, or power, or discrimination in terms of treatment. It is literally ANY difference in characteristics!) I thought racism was hatred based on race. If all it is is the belief that differences come from race, it should not be an evil thing at all. In fact, nearly all liberals seem to believe this is a different sort of way, only they believe that it is a consequence of the politics, not genes of race. -----Original Message----- From: Steven D. Tripp [SMTP:tripp@u-aizu.ac.jp] Sent: Monday, January 18, 1999 6:12 PM To: Ichee@aol.com Cc: rushton@julian.uwo.ca; hbe-l@a3.com; Arthur T. Hu; Edmond J. Inomoto; Fallows@aol.com; jdiamond@physiology.medsch.ucla.edu; JHManners@aol.com; marek.kohn@mcr1.poptel.org.uk; Jonathan Marks; chasmurray@earthlink.net; Douglas F. Newman; Frank Salter; Stephen Seiler; AD453@aol.com; SEWARD@aol.com; Jeremy Taylor; Steven Valles; Jeffrey Valles; Glayde Whitney; clane@tnr.com; darwin-and-darwinism@sheffield.ac.uk Subject: Re: Robert John 2 and Taboo topics/was Elegy for MJ Ichee@aol.com wrote: > H... > the early 1920s. I must say that I've always meant to see what the O.E.D. > says. From the OED cd-rom: racism ("reIsIz(@)m). [f. race n.2 + -ism; cf. F. racisme (Robert 1935).] a. The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race. b. = racialism. 1936 L. Dennis Coming Amer. Fascism 109 If..it be assumed that one of our values should be a type of racism which excludes certain races from citizenship, then the plan of execution should provide for the annihilation, deportation, or sterilization of the excluded races. 1938 E. & C. Paul tr. Hirschfelds Racism xx. 260 The apostles and energumens of racism can in all good faith give free rein to impulses of which they would be ashamed did they realise their true nature. 1940 R. Benedict Race: Science & Politics i. 7 Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed. 1952 M. Berger Equality by Statute 236 Racism, tension in industrial, urban areas. 1952 Theology LV. 283 The idolatry of our timeits setting up of nationalism, racism, vulgar materialism. 1960 New Left Rev. Jan./Feb. 21/2 George Rogers saw fit to kow-tow to the incipient racism of his electorate by including a line about getting rid of undesirable elements. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 571/2 Racism is a newer term for the word racialism... There is virtual agreement that it refers to a doctrine of racial supremacy. 1971 Ceylon Daily News (Colombo) 18 Sept. 8/5 Mr. Seneviratne is welcome to his ideal of inter-racial marriages as panacea for Racism. 1972 J. L. Dillard Black English iii. 90 In the British sailors reactions to the slaves.., the very early existence of racism is as well documented as the difference in language. 1974 M. Fido R. Kipling 50/2 In The Story of Muhammad Din he wrote one of the most economical and bitter attacks on British racism ever penned. 1976 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 4 Mar. a2/4 The Vatican radio said,..Racism might have different faces but it will always be reprehensible. 1977 M. Walker National Front vi. 155 A strike of the Asian workers against racism in the factory. racist ("reIsIst), n. and a. [f. race n.2 + -ist.] A. n. = racialist n. 1932 M. Eastman tr. Trotskys Hist. Russ. Revol. i. 27 This brief comment completely finishes off not only the old philosophy of the Slavophiles, but also the latest revelations of the Racists. 1934 H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. I. iii. 107 So much for the Hitlerite stage of my development, when I was a sentimentalist, a moralist, a patriot, a racist. 1940 R. Benedict Race: Science & Politics vii. 214 Classic German racists..ascribed all achievements beyond the Alps to infiltrations of northern blood. 1959 New Statesman 30 May. 754/2 They see nothing to be gained..if they are dismissed and replaced by fanatical racists. 1965 San Francisco Examiner 15 Apr. 34/5, I recently heard a man denounced as a racist for having observed that the rate of illegitimacy in New York is 14 times as high among the Negro population as among the white. 1973 A. Dundes Mother Wit p. xii, Folklore has been used as the tool of racists. B. adj. = racialist a. 1938 E. & C. Paul tr. Hirschfelds Racism xv. 201 Elective affinity laughs at the maxims and prohibitions of racist wiseacres. 1938 Mag. Digest Aug. 22 The racist revue, Archiv fr Biologie und Rassengesellschaft, one of the organs of the National Socialist Party, published an article..on The utility of aerial bombardments from the point of view of racial selection and social hygiene. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 14 Nov. 6/2 On Thursday..Rome approved new decrees increasing the severity of Italian Fascisms new racist principles. 1940 R. Benedict Race: Science & Politics vii. 188 The racist traditions..of the fair, blue-eyed narrow-heads. 1957 P. Worsley Trumpet shall Sound App. 268 Racist doctrines and rule by force worked to a degree in the short run of Nazidom, they failed in the (not very) long run. 1960 Guardian 23 Mar. 8/2 The President is trying to knock out the racist props from under the present immigration law. 1970 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness (1973) 167 Im too mature and sophisticated to get sucked in by racist arguments. 1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Nov. 8/4 [Mr. Levesque] cant bear any suggestion that he or his party could be racist, could treat non-francophones as second-class citizens. Hence ra"cistic a. (rare). 1950 E. W. Count This is Race 734 Combating racistic theories. 1963 Observer 7 Apr. 22/2 This society is dedicated to pleasure and not over-concerned with the big racistic abstractions. -- Steven D. Tripp +-------------------------------------------+ University of Aizu |+-----------------------------------------+| Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan || Lat 39.5 N Long 140 E GMT +9 || tripp@u-aizu.ac.jp |+-----------------------------------------+| fax +81-242-37-2599 +-------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ Arthur T. Hu wrote: > > I thought racism was hatred based on race. If all it is is the belief > that differences come from race, it should not be an evil thing at all. In > fact, nearly all liberals seem to believe this is a different sort of way, > only they believe that it is a consequence of the politics, not genes of > race. > Arthur, The problem is that today the terms racist and racism do not mean what the primary OED definition says, otherwise they would just be terms indicating that someone was generally competent and had most of his facilities available to observe the world around him. In other words, that they could see that races do differ in characteristics and that the needles of pine trees are normally green. No, today it is a term used merely to condemn someone. The terms have become pejoratives designed to give power to the user and take power from the person given the label. Several years ago The Economist noted that the correct definition of a fascist was someone who believed in the corporate state. Yet in real life, the term, like racist, is never used descriptively. If someone called you a fascist would you ever suspect that they meant you believed in the corporate state? Facts (that races differ or that Hu is generally a Chinese name) are value neutral and thus cannot be morally bad. Can anyone condemn a fact? Ideas (that these differences might have societal consequences -blacks dominate basketball, whites and Asians physics) should likewise not be subject to condemnation in a rational world. After all, an idea is only either incorrect (the world is flat) or correct (the world is more-or-less round). If correct, then it should be accepted as true, if incorrect, it should be rejected. Is it morally bad to have an incorrect idea? No, it is only morally bad to continue to hold an incorrect idea in the face of insurmountable evidence that the idea is false. Louis Andrews