Group A.
- Do you have a friend belonging to a different race/ ethnic group/ skin colour?
- Have you had a guest belonging to a different race/ ethnic group/ skin colour in your house for a meal/ dinner in the past 6 months?
- If you were in a position to hire someone, you would choose the candidate based on ability and qualifications rather than race/ ethnic group/ skin colour?
- Do you feel offended when people make racist jokes about race/ ethnic group/ skin colour?
- Have you cracked a joke making fun of people belonging to a different race/ ethnic group/ skin colour in the past 6 months?
- Do you think that your race/ ethnic group is genetically superior than others?
- Do you think that your race/ ethnic group is superior to others because you were chosen by God?
- Do you mind living in a neighbourhood made up of mixed ethnic groups / races?
- Have you ever discriminated against someone based on their race/ ethnic group/ skin colour in the past 6 months?
- Are you a member of any organization whose membership is restricted to a particular race/ ethnic group/ skin colour?
In Group B, a "Yes" earns 0 point and a "No" earns you 1 points.
If you score between 5 and 3, you might be racist even though you don't realise it.
If you score 2 or less, YOU ARE RACIST.
9 comments:
Hello, I think you are generalising a bit with the Q&As & the score..& what is the basis of this score. I have realised in my own experience that it depends on a whole lot of other reason to be Racist or to have superiority complex.I think that by letting ppl thru this questionnaires, you might be somewhat misleading them.that's my 5cent comment!
Diana
Thanks for your comments.
Yeah! My intention is to get people to think. I have adopted some of the questions from established studies on racism but mine have not been simplified and have not been tested statistically.
However, I am not looking at the reasons why people become racist but whether they ARE racist or not. Is there any question you feel that does not measure racism.
No I'm not racist. Never was and definately don't want to become one.
Lillian: I wish everyone thought like you.
Yes, the questionnaire was a way for people to start thinking but there was a fatal error in it. The use of the word "Race" is not appropriate as it is actually discriminatory! It is a social construct for people to dominate/discriminate on the fact that people are superior or inferior based on skin colour, hair texture etc. This was extensively used when slaves were brought in from Africa and in the Apartheid origin to justify why it was ok for people to treat people of “inferior” races differently. To cite an example, apparently the shape of head of the “Negroid Race” rendered them stupid and that is why they needed to be slaved and taught the Christian way (utter bullshit!). They tried to prove this by writing all sorts of books and explain possibilities but of course there has absolutely been no scientific proof or conclusion. This long accepted theory was shattered when Jesse Owens became a famous Olympian and he turned out far superior in his sporting abilities than his white counterparts. Well they came up with another racist explanation- apparently since Africans lived in jungles, they had the physical capability of animals and hence Jesse Owen naturally had his ancestor’s animal genes. Jesse Owen was born and raised in the USA and was the grandson of a slave! Of course this is now used to describe every black person, they might not be smart but they are good in Sports!-utter nonsense again! The USA still uses the term “Race” and has come under fire in many places. There is only one race- the human race and there are more genetic differences in a group of Gorillas than Human Beings. There was a funny article of how a group of penguins would have looked at a bunch of tourists from all over the world and still not see anything different from each-other. It is funny how we love classifying each other and find reasons for it. There is a link with a lot of references to the term “Race”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race
Another interesting documentary on the concept of “Race” was done by BBC. I will let you know when I find the link. There were a lot of interesting discussions and how a "white" English man would have more genetic similarities with someone in Africa than his "white" English neighboor.
Something quite interesting on the human history across the variation in the distribution of wealth, health and life-styles of people is well documented by Jared Diamond in his book “Guns, Germs & Steel”. Please check this website out: http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/ It all started when a guy from Papua New Guinea asked Diamond “why does the white man have more cargo?” It is very interesting. Ok do let me know what you think now of the use of the term “Race”. I think it should be taken out from the questionnaire; the questinnaire should be on cultural and social differences and discrimination based on ethnicity, community, religion, sexual preference etc. Ciao tamo and love to Ez, Rahil and Iman
Jules
With the penguin story I meant to say, "The penguins would have gone to eachother and said-Humans,they look all the same. How could they tell the difference from one other?"- I typed too quickly! take care.
Jules
Wow! That's a really long comment from your Jules. Thanks.
I over the past year or so have become very entrenched in a culture that is not of my own, so to speak, even though we both live in the same country and both of us were born outside of the country. Meaning, they classify themselves as their country of origin. So with this new culture thinking of themselves as a different culture, which I wouldn't have thought, everything seems and is extremely racial and racialised but only occasionaly racist when it uses belittling or superiority as a tool through racialism. Everything is segregated as in this is white, black, brown etc. and it's very vocal. I felt I had to come to the point of trying to find the even ground ie, ok we all are different and it's ok to make those differences known and it's not bad to be vocal, make gentle jokes, or make assumptions. This is different from my upbringing where we were not taught we were anything different and we were taught to have respect for others by not making things so obvious and blatant. Russell Peters is a Canadian comedien of East Indian descent and uses racialism as the basis of his act and I was introduced to him by my partner who found him very entertaining. I was a little leary to watch but found myself very happy, entertained, and impressed by his humour. But more importantly at the acknowledgement and route he has taken with racialism and the way we are all now having to adjust and cope living together in close and mixed communities and communities where the levels of what is or isn't acceptable, particularily with racialism or racism, overlap. I have found myself taking on more of an approach like Russell Peters or like my partner where it's ok to be different and acknowledge it and also to have fun with it by means of humour etc, as long as it isn't done with intent to hurt or belittle. My question is, am I correct in taking on these new traits or where is the even ground? I would prefer it personally if we didn't make an issue out of these things at all but that seems impossible now as the world seems to think in these terms. I have joked like this in what I thought was a very innocent way, trying to make things lighthearted, with people of all backgrounds but making it very known it is ok that we think of ourselves differently if that's what we want but not ok to belittle, and I hope I haven't ever offended anybody which has led me to this site. Where is the even ground and what path should we be taking?
Hi Anon,
Thanks for your comments. I agree. I think people sometimes are going overboard about the who anti-racial thing. We are all different and I guess we can make fun of each other but in a harmless way.
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