are Americans innately racist?

[alecgraham]

There are all kinds of things going on in the initial post, so I hope you don't mind if my response is also scattered, Financial War.

# You seem to be concerned that it's taboo to make fun of black people, while Americans are still getting away with making fun of Chinese. (?) Sure there are persistent stereotypes and racism, but I'd like to think we are making progress. We don't just have Obama; we also have Gary Locke.

# Australia has been a horribly racist nation throughout the ages, and the Chinese suffered greatly there. (Not that two wrongs make a right. I'm just pointing out that obvious: Racism is not unique to the U.S.

# Olympics: I think noyhauser has already covered what I was going to say about cheating on a state level, so I'll just add that I really don't think this accusation has its roots in racism. Carl Lewis accuses British runners of doping.

# Also, I know you don't want to hear this, but China has a rather well-earned reputation for cheating in other areas. Some of it is international, such as industrial espionage -- I guess all nations are guilty of that. And some of it is domestic, or domestic/international-- intellectual copyright violations, mass software and video piracy, product copying, etc. And there are the concerning safety scandals: the milk scandal, the toothpaste scandal, the pet food fiasco. So...add that to suspicions of cheating at sports by nations led by totalitarian regimes, and it's easy to make these allegations.

# Shi wen was impressive! Her performance was so unbelievably good that for some it is, well, literally unbelievable. I'd be flattered if I did so well that people assumed I was cheating.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

I'd like to think we are making progress.

It would help to have a positive attitude I guess, but mostly what I see is a cycle of one pariah switched for another. Even though I get the feeling there are fewer pariah groups to choose from, I also get the feeling those groups contain more people.

Also, I know you don't want to hear this, but China has a rather well-earned reputation for cheating in other areas.

Ah, the big picture! You have a really good point there. Although I have to admit, I completely support Chinese copying of the characters that Disney has appropriated, because I do not approve of Disney. In the same vein, other copyright infringements I also support, as the copyrights have passed their time but were extended via what amounts to corruption. And Disney is a major player in the subversion of our government and law when it comes to copyrights.

 

[alecgraham]

It would help to have a positive attitude I guess, but mostly what I see is a cycle of one pariah switched for another. Even though I get the feeling there are fewer pariah groups to choose from, I also get the feeling those groups contain more people.

There will always be whites who hate blacks, blacks who hate whites, etc.
I had a contractor working on my kitchen complaining about Asians stealing his jobs one day, and the next day he stated that "the Jewish religion is all about money." Why? Because he heard about a congregation pitching in and buying a member a house when hers burnt down. :-|

But, I'd like to think that the younger generation is a little less racist, a little less homophobic, a little more accepting of everyone. And I do think that.

 

[AquaLung]

Just look at the stats

Doping at the Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American guilty of doping

1972 Rick Demont
1976 Mark Cameron, Philippe Grippaldi
1992 Bonnie Dasse, Jud Logan
2000 Marion Jones, Antonio Pettigrew, Jerome Young
2004 Crystal Cox, Tyler Hamilton
2008 Courtney King
2012 Nicholas Delpopolo

Chinese guilty of doping

1992 Wu Dan

List of doping cases in sport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United States 120 cases vs China 7 cases

Yet in the American (and some Western) media and average Americans perception, Chinese are a bigger cheaters in sport. I just can't figure out why the American media and coaches have the audacity to suspect Ye shiwen of doping and not Michael Phelps?

Have a look at the stats again, the amount of dopers of white descents compared to Asians descent.

MMA is another good example of American racial/ethnic/national pride gone wrong. We (Americans in general) just cannot deal with the idea of an Asian male beating a White, especially American male in a form of physical combat. I think the best Japanese fighters are kept away from organizations like the UFC until they're past their prime. And this idea of White combative superiority is obvious in the movies as well.

One of the brighter spots in sports would be Major League Baseball which is not physical combat. And since it's a team sport representing a community, a Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese player can be embraced by it's community if they contribute to their team. The NBA could be considered a bright spot, except for unfortunate comments made about Yao Ming, and another Chinese player (can't remember his name) that reveal a racial prejudice in America.

But this problem is probably universal. And to get back to the original question, race is what Americans focus on the most, as opposed to ethnicity like most countries. So that's why racism would be prevalent as opposed to ethnocism like probably most nations.

 

[alecgraham]

...
The NBA could be considered a bright spot, except for unfortunate comments made about Yao Ming, and another Chinese player (can't remember his name) that reveal a racial prejudice in America.
...

Jeremy Lin?

 

[AquaLung]

Yes, I believe so. Going on memory, without googling, I think he was/is with the Knicks.