Philosophy Now Forum

It seems to be a fact that people of color are in the aggregate, across the world and across intranational demographics not quite as politically, educationally or economically well off as whites.

I think there are at least two possible explanations for this.

1. People of color are not as adept at political, educational, and economic endeavors as white people are.

OR

2. People of color are unfairly discriminated against.

If I believe #1 to be the case, then I am a "white supremacist" because I clearly believe that whites are better than or superior to people of color in the essential endeavors listed above.

If I believe #2 to be the case, then I am a "racist" because, as a white person, I live in and gain from a society that unfairly discriminates against people of color.

I"m kind of curious, is there a third option that isn't quite so hideous?

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:09 pm I"m kind of curious, is there a third option that isn't quite so hideous?

There is.

Abandon the stupid idea that you can make particular inferences about individuals from general statistical facts about populations.
Treat individuals on their individual merit: evidence collected first-hand carries more weight.

To demonstrate: Statistically caucasians are taller than asians, but if Sun Mingming was standing next to me I'd know damn well that I am in a scenario where the general statistical fact is particularly irrelevant.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:24 pm

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:09 pm I"m kind of curious, is there a third option that isn't quite so hideous?

There is.

Abandon the stupid idea that you can make inferences about individuals from general statistical truths about populations.
Examine individuals on their individual merit.

To demonstrate: Statistically Whites are taller than Asians, but if Sun Mingming was standing next to me I'd know damn well that I am in a scenario where the general truth isn't true in particular.

I can see where you're coming from, however, it seems like just about everything these days is broken into or lumped into populations in order to track who is winning and who is losing and whether or not society is more or less "fair" to everyone, and whatnot. And an anomaly would be just an anomaly. For example, Oprah Winfrey is incredibly rich, however, the fact that she is incredibly rich wouldn't seem to necessarily negate the possibility that discrimination of some kind exists against people of color. In the same way, Sun Mingming doesn't negate the fact that most Asians are shorter than whites. Some might even say that looking at people individually is just a way of legitimizing unfairness or else missing the forest by focusing on the trees.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯