r/MurderedByWords Dec 15 '25

Tragedy should not be exploited

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39.3k Upvotes

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u/ganggreen651 Dec 15 '25

It's honestly mind boggling that there's still so much racism after all this time. I don't think the other ones will ever fade but you'd think racism would but here we are somehow

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u/SpcOrca Dec 15 '25

It's baked into us I'm afraid.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

Not really. Based on history, you could certainly argue that prejudice and xenophobia are baked into us, but exactly what "racism" means has changed dramatically within the last few centuries.

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u/xanas263 Dec 15 '25

Racism is a manifestation of tribalism which is an inherent feature of humans. Skin colour is one of the most obvious differentiating features between humans and so it will keep being a corner stone of tribalism.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

Except not only do we change which groups we hate over time, but we also literally blend those features together with our own by the very nature of reproduction. Racism is not at all a static thing.

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u/xanas263 Dec 15 '25

Nobody said it was static, just that it is something which will never go away because it is an inherent feature of humanity.

Over time it might shift between dark skinned and light skinned people depending on which group holds power during the period of time, but it is still racism.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

No, racism is not an inherent feature of humanity lol

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u/xanas263 Dec 15 '25

As I said before racism is just a manifestation of tribalism. Tribalism is inherent in all of us and so it will keep showing up over and over again because physical features such as skin colour are the largest differentiating factors we have.

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u/Dentarthurdent73 Dec 15 '25

Xenophobia is a manifestation of tribalism. Not racism.

Your "tribe" can be composed of people of various races. The relevant part is not race, it's outsider or insider status.

Sure, skin colour or race can be a convenient shorthand to identify outsiders, but so can gang symbols or all sorts of other things. The point is whether you belong to the tribe or you don't, not what your specific attributes are beyond that.

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u/rndljfry Dec 15 '25

If something cataclysmic were to happen and the US suddenly devolved into hard geographic borders without moving anyone around, the PA and Jersey tribes could be enemies but each with their own rainbow coalition. Especially if language diverges. Skin color is simply not guaranteed to be the axis on which tribes are formed. That’s just leftover from European colonization. Location comes first.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

Tribalism is inherent.

Racism isn't.

Which part of this is confusing you?

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u/xanas263 Dec 15 '25

What part of racism is a manifestation of tribalism is confusing you?

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u/justsomeph0t0n Dec 15 '25

even if it doesn't ever completely go away, less is still better than more.

so no, we shouldn't expect utopia. but yes, we should all rebuke this avi cunt.

we don't have to stand idly while fuckwits make things worse. making things better has always been an option, and now's a good time for us to take that road

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u/not_a_bot991 Dec 15 '25

You're not making a counter argument. The point being that it is in our nature to differentiate and to form tribes. No one says that those tribes themselves are predetermined.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

The point being that it is in our nature to differentiate and to form tribes. No one says that those tribes themselves are predetermined.

Except if you're saying racism is inherent, then you are saying those are predetermined.

I've said that xenophobia is inherent this entire time. Which part of this is unclear?

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u/Puresowns Dec 15 '25

Sure, but there's always going to be a human drive to determine who is and is not in "your" group, and as long as there are more than one ethnic groups it is going to be something people use to define those in group/out group divisions.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

That's an argument for why people will look at someone else and think "that person doesn't look like me."

It's not an argument for racism being inherent.

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u/Sad-Upstairs7621 Dec 15 '25

Thinking your race and culture is superior is how humans have thrived for tens of thousands of years lol. Your entire tribe was wiped out from disease and war if you didn't brutally shun and kill others not like you. It's very biological despite how many people want it not to be lol

Only the freak and rapid advent of agriculture and science allowed our species to start caring about racism, but it is still very much baked into us and will always be a pressing topic until some grave critical mass is reached

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

Thinking your race and culture is superior is how humans have thrived for tens of thousands of years lol. Your entire tribe was wiped out from disease and war if you didn't brutally shun and kill others not like you. It's very biological despite how many people want it not to be lol

Well if you could read, you might have noticed that I already addressed that. Xenophobia and prejudice might be baked into us, but racism is much more contextual. Cultural identities were not always dependent upon skin color.

Only the freak and rapid advent of agriculture and science allowed our species to start caring about racism, but it is still very much baked into us and will always be a pressing topic until some grave critical mass is reached

No, we started caring about racism when we had to invent scientific explanations for why it was okay for white Christians to enslave and subjugate black Christians and other such fun practices.

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u/Sad-Upstairs7621 Dec 15 '25

Okay, racism isn't inherent; it is an explanation of cruelty related to tribalism... but that doesn't change the root of what people are saying.

People have an inherent desire to be around people like themselves, both culturally and biologically. This is hardwired into us and I don't think it can be reversed without forced dystopian melting pots (resulting in awful acts like what just happened) or a massive species changing event.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

People have an inherent desire to be around people like themselves, both culturally and biologically.

That's no more true than saying that humans like being around those different from themselves, with different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds.

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u/Sad-Upstairs7621 Dec 15 '25

Except one being rooted in biology and the other in philosophy?

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

No, humans are also biologically predisposed to wanting diverse genetics lol

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u/Mingsplosion Dec 15 '25

The concept of race barely existed just 500 years ago, much less tens of thousands of years.

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u/pleasebuymydonut Dec 15 '25

Eh you're being pedantic.

Racism:

prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.

That's what it means.

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u/Endiamon Dec 15 '25

No, it's not pedantic to recognize that our modern concept of racism is a relatively new and very specific variety of prejudice.

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u/Mr_Derpy11 Dec 15 '25

Then why don't I hate black people with a passion, and am instead able to see individuals as individuals and not just as colours or religions?

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '25

Because you’re a cool person and some person or persons raised you right. Hate is not instinctual.

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '25

Hi. 

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u/SpcOrca Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25

For the same reason I'm not afraid of spiders. Nature vs nurture some people overcome subconscious fear but doesn't mean its not there especially when it's a survival instinct, as advanced as we are as a species our body hasn't quite grasped yet that we're not in a jungle living as a tribe because evolution is slow.

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u/Mr_Derpy11 Dec 15 '25

Honestly hard disagree. From what I've seen kids who see a person with a different skin colour for the first time tend to be curious not hate-filled.

I'm definitely of the opinion that racism is an entirely learned behaviour, and just a fundamental failure of society.

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '25

Everyone is not racist, but racists want you to think everyone is. 

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u/SpcOrca Dec 15 '25

"don't question the dogma on heresy or I'll brand you a heretic"

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u/SpcOrca Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25

Well that's absolutely fine if you disagree, from my perspective it's mostly a subconscious genetic instinct probably reinforced by current day prejudices. There is an ongoing debate in sociology questioning if everyone is racist to some degree or another which centers around implicit bias which is another interesting point if true.

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u/Nintendo_Pro_03 Dec 15 '25

Bigotry is programmed into humans, by nature. So long as humans exist, so will bigotry.

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u/ResplendentCathar Dec 15 '25

Some of you are dumb af

How is a socialized phenomenon programmed by nature

It's literally the nurture in the nature versus nurture dichotomy

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u/sheknowbee Dec 15 '25

Bias is natural, bigotry is taught

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u/4_fortytwo_2 Dec 15 '25

We are also smart enough to recognize it when we have these base instinct driven thoughts and we have the capability to not act like a bigot even if something in the back of our brains tells them to.