The Real Meaning of Racism?

Submitted by Mat McConnell (United States), Nov 23, 2005 at 12:15

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Pipes, and especially the dictionary definitions of racism he provided. To believe there are no differences between races is to deny empirical reality. Several examples should suffice to illustrate my point: Blacks dominate sports such as basketball and Orientals dominate our very best schools. When was the last time a white won the vaunted NYC marathon?

The military taught me a much more useful definition. A bigot is someone who would deny an individual or group the same rights to which he believes he is entitled. A racist is a bigot who would deny a racial group the same rights to which he believes he is entitled.

Ultimately, however, a racist is anybody who is winning an argument with a liberal. That it has proven to be a devastatingly effective tactic to silence dissent is the reason the "definition" has been expanded, as Mr. Pipes notes. The sad thing is that this tactic works only because good people refuse to do anything about it. It reminds me of school yard taunts of "cooties" and "nincompoop". It's high time the adult equivalents of the school yard bully receive their due disgrace. We have only ourselves to blame for this ridiculous state of affairs.

The tragedy is that real racism (the military definition) is being trivialized. Courage anyone?

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