<p>Who said the Virginia shootings were committed by Chinese or Taiwanese or Indian?</p>
<p>Deviating from the topic a bit, I do believe that racism is natural. As long as we perceive visual differences between ourselves and others, the color of one's skin usually sticks out the most. It is not completely learned. It's racism that people feels prompts them to act out in violence or discrimination that we don't like.</p>
<p>I wouldn't know what to do if I knew someone who got shot today. I hope the best for the families.</p>
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I don't believe that racism is natural. As far as I'm concerned, it's completely learned...and can be completely unlearned.</p>
<p>People aren't born with prejudice, but they are born with instincts that tell them to beware of possible danger. That's why some people fear or are cautious of folks who dress in black, who are heavily tattooed, who dress in gang colors, etc.
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<p>They are born with brain modules that adopt in such a way as to help them distinguish between "good" and "bad", "disgusting" and "non-disgusting", etc. Society conditions them in such a way as to help them to identify what's "good" and what's "bad." Our brain is developed in such a way to assign normative conclusions to different groups of people. </p>
<p>But yes, it's not necessarily inherent in human nature. Just as polygamy isn't inherent in human nature. What is natural, however, is a propensity towards racism/polygamy. Society can have ways to prevent most person from racism/polygamy.</p>
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[quote]
They are born with brain modules that adopt in such a way as to help them distinguish between "good" and "bad", "disgusting" and "non-disgusting", etc. Society conditions them in such a way as to help them to identify what's "good" and what's "bad." Our brain is developed in such a way to assign normative conclusions to different groups of people.
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<p>Which is why I say that racism is completely learned and can be unlearned if people are willing to accept new information which disproves their beliefs. Just as folks can realize that not all people who dress or look a certain way are dangerous just because someone who looked like them were.</p>
<p>32 people.
Worst in US History</p>
<p>I am so sad, m neighboor was in the same dorm. Thankfully he was on the 4th floor (while gunman came from the 1st) was immediately went to his dorm room. Please pray everyone</p>
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"The eerie yet telling coincidence is that many of the college campus shootings in recent history, from the Iowa shooting to Virginia Tech shooting today have been committed Asians (Chinese, Indian, Taiwanese...)."</p>
<p>You've got to be f***ing kidding me...</p>
<p>Talk about the most racist bull I've heard all day.
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Um...what was the race of the shooter in Seattle last summer? What was the race of the shooter in Utah a couple months ago? Need I go on?
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<p>First of all, I was talking about COLLEGE CAMPUS shootings, not high school shooting or Amish elementary school shooting. I simply said "many of the college campus shootings", in recent history, which means more than 3 incidents. I got my information from NBC news which you can watch for yourself and wikipedia. I based my comment purely on facts and I didn't make any judgement, all I said was "an eerie yet telling coincidence", I didn't accuse or blame anyone. My intention was to point out the fact that there haven't been many university shootings, and the few of them involved Asians. And I left it there and didn't make any further interpretation. How is this racist in any way? If someone says the majority of the inmates in prisons in the U.S today are black, do you accuse him of racism?
BTW, I am Chinese.</p>
<p>oh my god!! it's 33 now.</p>
<p>this is CRAZY! absolutely horrible.</p>
<p>as far as the shooter goes, he wasnt BORN evil. he obviously was in a very bad place and 'broke'. it's horribly selfish to take so many lives with him like that, but then again, he is a product of our society, just like anyone. :(</p>
<p>"Deviating from the topic a bit, I do believe that racism is natural. As long as we perceive visual differences between ourselves and others, the color of one's skin usually sticks out the most. It is not completely learned. It's racism that people feels prompts them to act out in violence or discrimination that we don't like.</p>
<p>I wouldn't know what to do if I knew someone who got shot today. I hope the best for the families."</p>
<p>Racism is NOT natural. Period. Racism is a social construct by which our society has propagated for so many years. Even worse, it serves to categorize society in such a way that harms and gives advatnage to certain categories. If a 4 year-old child isn't taught who's black or chinese based on skin color, he or she wouldn't be able to distinguish individuals perceived in society as comprised of different races.</p>
<p>Physical differences exist.</p>
<p>Our senses develop in such a way as to notice these physical differences, such that we can categorize people based on such physical differences.</p>
<p>Normative attitudes towards such physical differences, however, are partially societal and partially genetic (just like anything).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Which is why I say that racism is completely learned and can be unlearned if people are willing to accept new information which disproves their beliefs. Just as folks can realize that not all people who dress or look a certain way are dangerous just because someone who looked like them were.
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<p>The key word is "willing to accept new information which disproves their beliefs." However, many people are not willing to accept such information. Once people form their mental categorizations of different people and assign normative values to such mental categorizations, it's difficult for them to "unlearn" their habit, especially when their closest friends and peers also hold the same attitudes. This is why the Civil Rights movement needed a few generations to really take hold.</p>
<p>==</p>
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as far as the shooter goes, he wasnt BORN evil. he obviously was in a very bad place and 'broke'. it's horribly selfish to take so many lives with him like that, but then again, he is a product of our society, just like anyone.
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<p>Yes, which was the point I was trying to convey all along. Some people, however, have genetic predispositions towards such actions. They must be identified as such, but they should not be hated. For an alienated person hated by (most of society) has incentive to unleash his revenge upon society.</p>
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Physical differences exist.</p>
<p>Our senses develop in such a way as to notice these physical differences, such that we can categorize people based on such physical differences.
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</p>
<p>Just because you notice physical differences doesn't mean you have to A) attach negative connotations to certain features and B) even consider the person with said features to be different. Your sibling may be taller than you with black curly hair and freckles, while you're short and blonde, but does that make you two of a different race?</p>
<p>"Who said the Virginia shootings were committed by Chinese or Taiwanese or Indian?"</p>
<p>The news said the shooter was asian</p>
<p>
[quote]
Just because you notice physical differences doesn't mean you have to A) attach negative connotations to certain features and B) even consider the person with said features to be different. Your sibling may be taller than you with black curly hair and freckles, while you're short and blonde, but does that make you two of a different race?
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<p>Key phrase I wrote afterwards:
"Normative attitudes towards such physical differences, however, are partially societal and partially genetic (just like anything)."</p>
<p>Negative connotations are a subset of normative attitudes.</p>
<p>Oh come on, lets not jump to conclusions. Just because the shooting took place at the engineering and science hall does not imply that an Asian was the killer. I'd be darned if it was indeed an Asian. Sad, Sad day...I bet some of those students were just weeks away from their graduation.</p>
<p>Thank god he wasn't Black, or there might've been some REAL racial firestorms. The people who probably see Don Imus as a martyr for their cause would've used this incident to justify some kind of race riot. </p>
<p>Personally, I'm stunned that an Asian was behind the worst campus massacre in American history. I wonder how this will affect the Model Minority image.</p>
<p>Who cares if the guy is Asian or Black or White? You cannot put stereotypes on people and conclude certain things couldn't happen to certain groups of people.</p>
<p>how was the campus not shut down in some way after the first shooting? even if police were guarding entrances to buildings at the most, 30 lives could have been saved.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, I do not believe the race of the shooter matters in the slightest. I was just answering a question posted by another poster.</p>
<p>"The lone gunman at Norris Hall was male, and he took his own life. They would confirm no further details." (NYTimes' and various other sources including the AP-- most recent update...) (7:00 pm?)</p>
<p>Where'd you get Asian from that? I may be sounding a bit paranoid with this thread, but I find it dangerous to spread misinformation. Please give us a source other than: "the news..."</p>
<p>I bet the shooter was actually a raging CC'er who didn't get in</p>
<p>But on a serious note now</p>
<p>They say he was looking for his girlfriend. See, if he posted a thread on CC about his relationship, and got some random advice, he wouldn't have ended up killing people.
...maybe just some other CC'ers if their advice didn't work</p>
<p>Well WindCloudUltra, I am obviously not the only one who saw it as many posters believe the shooter was asian. They initially reported it on MSN but have since deleted that detail (probably because race is not the cause of this tragedy). Similiar to how they initially reported that the gunman shot himself and then said they could only confirm that he was dead (and now of course are back to saying he shot himself). Why do you believe race matters so much? If you look at the other threads as well you will see that students who saw the shooter are reporting that he was asian. To be fair though people think I am asian when they see me even though I am not.</p>