OT "go back to your land immediately"

[Lanny]

All due respect, no. A social disease maybe but saying racists are just mentally ill let's them off the hook. Like they can't help it.

No, they can't help it until they're physically forced to accept it. Even then, it's their children that adapt and not them.

 

[calvin natt]

Yeah..don’t bail out a racist with the mental illness card. Mental illness is serious and horrible and not under someone’s control. Being a huge racist bitch is a choice.

 

[Lanny]

Yeah..don’t bail out a racist with the mental illness card. Mental illness is serious and horrible and not under someone’s control. Being a huge racist bitch is a choice.

No it's not. Statistics will tell you that. Why don't all these Southern racists just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better? There's more going on than just an evil spirit. That's the easy answer.

 

[Lanny]

Do people choose to be racist? Then why are there regions of more racism and regions of less racism?

As the song in South Pacific says, you've got to be taught, carefully taught.

You agree that normal people don't behave racist but offer no explanation for the racism of the abnormal. The easy way out is to say they just have an evil nature and let it go at that, somehow thinking that punishment will correct them.

 

[calvin natt]

No it's not. Statistics will tell you that. Why don't all these Southern racists just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better? There's more going on than just an evil spirit. That's the easy answer.

They don’t want to change? How about that? It’s not a mental illness. That’s a huge cop out. Pathetic really. Maybe they were raised to be racist because their families are that way. Still doesn’t make it a mental illness. That’s a slap in the face to anyone who has an actual mental illness.

 

[calvin natt]

Do people choose to be racist? Then why are there regions of more racism and regions of less racism?

As the song in South Pacific says, you've got to be taught, carefully taught.

You agree that normal people don't behave racist but offer no explanation for the racism of the abnormal. The easy way out is to say they just have an evil nature and let it go at that, somehow thinking that punishment will correct them.

yes. They choose to be racist.

 

[Minstrel]

No it's not. Statistics will tell you that. Why don't all these Southern racists just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better? There's more going on than just an evil spirit. That's the easy answer.

Do people choose to be bullies, or is it mental illness? Do embezzlers choose to embezzle, or is it mental illness? Why don't bullies just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better? Why don't embezzlers just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better?

If your viewpoint is that all bad behavior is "mental illness," then I think your view of mental illness is rather strange. If it's not, I don't really see how racism doesn't fall under the umbrella of bad behavior. Most bad actors don't think that they're bad actors, for many reasons. That doesn't absolve them of the choices they've made.

 

[Lanny]

They don’t want to change? How about that? It’s not a mental illness. That’s a huge cop out. Pathetic really. Maybe they were raised to be racist because their families are that way. Still doesn’t make it a mental illness. That’s a slap in the face to anyone who has an actual mental illness.

The easy way out is to say that they don't want to change. That's so obvious that I don't know why anyone would want to waste their time talking about it. That's like saying a painting is ugly because it doesn't say anything. Well, duh.

Try to explore why they don't want to change.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I choose to be a mentally ill dog.

 

[Lanny]

Do people choose to be bullies, or is it mental illness? Do embezzlers choose to embezzle, or is it mental illness? Why don't bullies just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better? Why don't embezzlers just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better?

If your viewpoint is that all bad behavior is "mental illness," then I think your view of mental illness is rather strange. If it's not, I don't really see how racism doesn't fall under the umbrella of bad behavior. Most bad actors don't think that they're bad actors, for many reasons. That doesn't absolve them of the choices they've made.

Try to think a little deeper about why people do what we don't want them to do. This is the thoughtful way of looking at it and not the easy way out.

Edit:
Push yourself until it gets uncomfortable. That's when you grow.

 

[Lanny]

Because I think Trump's heavy-duty campaigns have brought some of the crazies out of the woodwork. They're somehow now emboldened to do wacky, scary things. Errr....wait. Society has had to deal with these types since long, long before were were born.

Society has had to deal with them for a long long time but just not this many.

 

[Minstrel]

Try to think a little deeper about why people do what we don't want them to do. This is the thoughtful way of looking at it and not the easy way out.

Edit:
Push yourself until it gets uncomfortable. That's when you grow.

Answering questions that stretch your thesis also helps you grow. You failed to do that. You took the easy way out by avoiding my questions.

 

[Lanny]

I choose to be a mentally ill dog.

The doggie doctor is IN and he only charges on milk bone for each session which consists of joining in on the group looking for and chasing female dogs. This activity will take your mind off all your worries other that that bigger dog interested in the same female. That's gonna take more milk bones than you can get your greedy paws on to solve.

 

[Lanny]

Want to bet who they voted for president?

Yes, I do want to bet because I'm certain that I know that answer. Would it be someone who thinks Nazis are very fine people?

 

[Lanny]

Do people choose to be bullies, or is it mental illness? Do embezzlers choose to embezzle, or is it mental illness? Why don't bullies just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better? Why don't embezzlers just realize how wrong they've been and then change for the better?

If your viewpoint is that all bad behavior is "mental illness," then I think your view of mental illness is rather strange. If it's not, I don't really see how racism doesn't fall under the umbrella of bad behavior. Most bad actors don't think that they're bad actors, for many reasons. That doesn't absolve them of the choices they've made.

Psychiatrists and Psychologists study these abnormalities intensely and try treating these people. Are they, as Sly would put it, barking up the wrong tree?

 

[Minstrel]

Psychiatrists and Psychologists study these abnormalities intensely and try treating these people. Are they, as Sly would put it, barking up the wrong tree?

Psychiatrists and psychologists don't study racism, bullying or embezzling as mental illness. Any racist, embezzler or bully could have mental illness, as anyone could, but they are not classified by any credible mental health organization as mental illness. I will say that bullying sometimes does appear as a symptom of other issues, some of which could be mental illness (depression, social anxiety, etc). Bullying, itself, isn't a disorder, though.

 

[crandc]

Lanny, why racism is an involved topic not really suited for chat room. Basically people embrace racism because they get something out of it. Studies have shown hatred of a real or perceived enemy makes people feel stronger. Look at Trump rallies! It gives a scapegoat for anything wrong in their lives. Racism is promoted by the powerful to divide people, as LBJ said, convince the lowest white person they are better than black people and they will vote and act against their own interests if it hurts black people more.

In a racist society no one is immune. No matter how much I despise racism I know I can't be entirely free of it and as a white woman I benefit, like it or not.

But there is a difference between recognizing we as re all impacted by racism and enthusiastically embracing it.

Babies aren't racist. It's taught.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Yeah..don’t bail out a racist with the mental illness card. Mental illness is serious and horrible and not under someone’s control. Being a huge racist bitch is a choice.

buut. It would then make it illegal and we could round the racists up in a padded cell.
And in some instance i don’t think its any more a choice than it is vocal accents. You learn from the environment you are brought up in. if a child, from birth, is taught to be racist. It might be their norm.

 

[julius]

Because I felt like it, tiger.

Interesting take.

 

[julius]

No, they can't help it until they're physically forced to accept it. Even then, it's their children that adapt and not them.

Racism is a belief system. Mental illness is not.

 

[yankeesince59]

It's a case of "nature vs nurture".

 

[ABM]

Interesting take.

Plenty of us say things in here....just because we want to. Sometimes, germane to the topic at hand, sometimes not. This place is a veritable free for all of passions, goofiness/frivolity, anger, craziness, and levity. Not everything has to correlate, does it?

At any rate, I wasn't being sarcastic relating Trump, nor trying to derail this thread in any way. My basic point was, while Trump's intentions regarding immigration, to me, seem to be sincere/strategic as it relates to ISIS, etc., I think this immigration thing as a whole has gotten way out of wack and completely divisive. And, we get wacko behaviors like the lady shown in this thread. Whether Trump is President or not, though, fringe behavior will always exist. Always.

 

[julius]

Can someone who is racist also have a mental illness? Yes. That doesn't mean racism is a mental illness. I do think, maybe, that mental illness might have be some triggering factors (for some) though, and they share some common similarities. I don't think that's being argued.

I think in a lot of cases, racism is contagious. If you grew up in a household with racism, or hung out with a group of racists, you would learn some of the behaviors. One of my sisters, who grew up in the same household as the rest of my siblings, at one point was racist. The path she chose in life lead her to hang out with people who were bigoted and racist. So most of her viewpoint on things were tinged with a slight racist hue.

The rest of my siblings and I did not share the same group of friends as she did (she hung out with red necks and white trash). She was the first person I ever heard tell multiple racist jokes or make blatantly racist comments.

She and I both suffer from depression and anxiety, but I don't share her racist views (despite apparently some of twitters belief that those on the left are antisemitic). Her behavior was *learned*. When she made the choice to change careers, and further educate herself (she chose not to go to college out of high school, whereas my siblings and I did*), she noticed that the new people she hung out with were now no longer racists people. She went from thinking being gay was an abomination to now being known as the friend who will perform lesbian and gay weddings for her friends free of charge.

It was because she was introduced to people she used to fear/hate, and realized how the're no different than she was.

You can introduce me to as many people without depression and anxiety, and it's not going to change whether or not I have depression or anxiety.






*I am not saying that going to college/being more educated = better or that they're the only people who aren't racist. It's that in this case, she went to work with people who were uneducated AND racist/bigoted. Obviously there are racist people who have PhD's, and not racist people who never finished HS or went to college.

 

[andalusian]

Do people choose to be racist? Then why are there regions of more racism and regions of less racism?

Education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_educational_attainment

Sort by Bachelor or Advanced rank - and you will get to see who are the people that will lead these states at some point and thus will be influential on a lot of things. When you have less educated people you have less variance in the people that lead and set the agenda - and this leads to generational problems - which makes conspiracy theories, tribalism etc...

I do not believe it is mental health.

 

[julius]

Education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_educational_attainment

Sort by Bachelor or Advanced rank - and you will get to see who are the people that will lead these states at some point and thus will be influential on a lot of things. When you have less educated people you have less variance in the people that lead and set the agenda - and this leads to generational problems - which makes conspiracy theories, tribalism etc...

I do not believe it is mental health.

I was surprised by Arizona's ranking....but then again I'm not.

 

[julius]

Education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_educational_attainment

Sort by Bachelor or Advanced rank - and you will get to see who are the people that will lead these states at some point and thus will be influential on a lot of things. When you have less educated people you have less variance in the people that lead and set the agenda - and this leads to generational problems - which makes conspiracy theories, tribalism etc...

I do not believe it is mental health.

It would be neat to see how many of the states in the top 10 in HS graduates, bachelors degree or higher and advanced degree, tend to vote democratic, vs the bottom 20 of the same.

Tho a rather surprising ranking was California. They were 2nd worse in citizens with a HS degree, but make up for it in # of bachelors and advance degrees. Similar to how NY is #40 (or #11 if you inverse it) and #10 Bachelors and #6 for Advanced Degrees.

California is 15 in bachelors, and 15 in advanced. And only one state in the bottom 11 crack the top 25 in either bachelors (New York), and only New Mexico joins California and New York in cracking the top 18 in advanced degrees.

 

[Minstrel]

It would be neat to see how many of the states in the top 10 in HS graduates, bachelors degree or higher and advanced degree, tend to vote democratic, vs the bottom 20 of the same.

Tho a rather surprising ranking was California. They were 2nd worse in citizens with a HS degree, but make up for it in # of bachelors and advance degrees. Similar to how NY is #40 (or #11 if you inverse it) and #10 Bachelors and #6 for Advanced Degrees.

California is 15 in bachelors, and 15 in advanced. And only one state in the bottom 11 crack the top 25 in either bachelors (New York), and only New Mexico joins California and New York in cracking the top 18 in advanced degrees.

California is somewhat unique in how large it is. It both has huge urban centers (the Bay Area, the greater Los Angeles area, to a lesser extent the greater San Diego area) as well as huge parts of the state that are largely rural, farming communities. The Central Valley (which accounts for the majority of the state that isn't coastal) is virtually no different than farming communities in the middle of the country. So you have both ends of the spectrum--large populations of people who don't need or pursue high school degrees and large populations of people who pursue higher education.

New York, while not as large in terms of land area, has a similar quality, with one massive urban area (and then another small one around Buffalo) and the rest of the state being more agricultural.

 

[Lanny]

Lanny, why racism is an involved topic not really suited for chat room. Basically people embrace racism because they get something out of it. Studies have shown hatred of a real or perceived enemy makes people feel stronger. Look at Trump rallies! It gives a scapegoat for anything wrong in their lives. Racism is promoted by the powerful to divide people, as LBJ said, convince the lowest white person they are better than black people and they will vote and act against their own interests if it hurts black people more.

In a racist society no one is immune. No matter how much I despise racism I know I can't be entirely free of it and as a white woman I benefit, like it or not.

But there is a difference between recognizing we as re all impacted by racism and enthusiastically embracing it.

Babies aren't racist. It's taught.

You can't tell me that Trump isn't mentally ill and that he doesn't attract others who are mentally ill.
I was taught to be racist. My whole town was predominantly racist as was my grandmother and to a lesser extent my father but somehow I felt uncomfortable with racism and felt it wasn't right. Only my church that I went to more often than anyone except maybe and I do mean maybe our priest, never ever said or did anything racist. Perhaps that helped me out.
Anyhow, I'm as anti racist as any white man can be. Maybe that's because I can relate to anyone who is disadvantaged and downtrodden. You know what? I'm going to attribute some of my caring to what I learned about love and caring from my faithful companion, my dog.

 

[calvin natt]

buut. It would then make it illegal and we could round the racists up in a padded cell.
And in some instance i don’t think its any more a choice than it is vocal accents. You learn from the environment you are brought up in. if a child, from birth, is taught to be racist. It might be their norm.

No. It’s not like an accent. Everyday people do things contrary to their parents beliefs or actions. This is such a disgusting cop out

 

[Orion Bailey]

No. It’s not like an accent. Everyday people do things contrary to their parents beliefs or actions. This is such a disgusting cop out

im not saying i agree necessarily, im saying it might be a means to round them up and isolate them.
Woukd you be okay with it being deemed a mental illness if it meant the ability to round up verify racists and lock them up with psychological treatment, providing no ability for these people to push their racial mindsets on others?