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I'd never understand racism. Here is a true story: when studying in London, I met there another Greek in the same course and we became friends; in a parallel c

I'd never understand racism. Here is a true story: when studying in London, I met there another Greek in the same course and we became friends; in a parallel course of ours, there was this black dude from the Carribbean, to which we occasionally chit chat about our countries, our experiences, mostly over launch in the University cafeteria. After some time, we were regularly been eating together with this carribbean dude, we became sort of friends. And then my Greek friend dropped the bomb: "I don't want to eat with Jim, because he is black". I was dumbfounded!!! I didn't ask why, because it was so stupid... Here is another true story: my and my buddy (not the person in the above story, another one, close friend of mine) had the chance of meeting some nice girls at a local cafe. We approached them, and us being young and eager to meet some ladies, made the first move. Within them, there was this gorgeous black lady, tall, slim, amazing face, etc. I was natually inclined to her, so I made my move...after a few times we went out, me, her, my buddy, and a white friend of her, I noticed my buddy refused to shake hands with my date...I said 'what's up? why don't you shake hands with her?"...he looked at me with a blank stare and said 'I just don't want to'. Excuse me, what the fsck? It turned out my 'buddy' was an extremely racist person and considered all black people to be inferior. He wasn't my friend after a bit of time though. I truly have a serious problem understanding the people that are racists. It's one thing to be cautious when meeting someone, especially one that you don't know their value system, but to be blatantly racist and consider others inferior like that? I will never understand that...

wtdata 7y ago
Can't understand where you live, but I never, ever, saw this blatant display of racism in my life. Neither whiting the humble roots of my family and their friends, nor with the upper class with whom I studied with. I lived in a fairly diverse European capital and I did hear some badly though out comments there were obviously discriminatory (strangely, twice by people that are constantly reminding all around them how progressive they are). But never something extreme as anyone being anywhere near this racist to the point of not wanting to shake someone's hand because of their skin colour. Not with my close friends (and some were black) and not in any social interaction with unknown people. Much less happening twice with different close people.
TheChaplain 7y ago
You don't understand because you don't take time to sit down and actually listen to the person. IMO racism mostly stems from fear and plain ignorance, but that is easily cured if someone just takes a moment to listen, understand and then with gentle attempts to counter their fears or lack of understanding. So far I have not failed once to make people more understanding and accepting of diversity and equality, and that just by taking a moment with them.
- throwawayrstory 7y ago
  On some people, there is fear and ignorance. But some know very well what they're doing. I have posted my personal story below. You are free to disbelieve me
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  Some people feel like they need to have adversaries, enemies, or inferiors. Some desperate people are looking for a social group, any group, to fit in with. Unfortunately those people sometimes choose the easy/wrong people or groups to fulfill their desires. It's not always ignorance or fear, it can be a psychological need for connections or purpose that overrides common sense.
growlist 7y ago
It's worth treating everything on the BBC website these days with caution - stand back and observe for a few months and the tendency of their social engineering drive becomes absurdly clear.

wtdata 7y ago

Can't understand where you live, but I never, ever, saw this blatant display of racism in my life. Neither whiting the humble roots of my family and their friends, nor with the upper class with whom I studied with. I lived in a fairly diverse European capital and I did hear some badly though out comments there were obviously discriminatory (strangely, twice by people that are constantly reminding all around them how progressive they are). But never something extreme as anyone being anywhere near this racist to the point of not wanting to shake someone's hand because of their skin colour. Not with my close friends (and some were black) and not in any social interaction with unknown people. Much less happening twice with different close people.

TheChaplain 7y ago

You don't understand because you don't take time to sit down and actually listen to the person. IMO racism mostly stems from fear and plain ignorance, but that is easily cured if someone just takes a moment to listen, understand and then with gentle attempts to counter their fears or lack of understanding. So far I have not failed once to make people more understanding and accepting of diversity and equality, and that just by taking a moment with them.

throwawayrstory 7y ago
On some people, there is fear and ignorance. But some know very well what they're doing. I have posted my personal story below. You are free to disbelieve me
RandomBacon 7y ago
Some people feel like they need to have adversaries, enemies, or inferiors. Some desperate people are looking for a social group, any group, to fit in with. Unfortunately those people sometimes choose the easy/wrong people or groups to fulfill their desires. It's not always ignorance or fear, it can be a psychological need for connections or purpose that overrides common sense.

growlist 7y ago

It's worth treating everything on the BBC website these days with caution - stand back and observe for a few months and the tendency of their social engineering drive becomes absurdly clear.