Are racists mentally ill - should they be treated as such?

[kainedamo]

This is something I considered ever since... well, ever since I was firts aware racism existed in the world.

It is something that pops into my mind anytime I hear a racist attempt to debate, or even speak, look at their message boards, or look at their websites.

Racists have qualities of people that are mentally ill! But I don't think racism is considered a mental illness.

Let me cover why I think of it has a mental illness. For one thing, it is because of factors many racists have in common. Number one, paranoia. Many if not all racists are paranoid. Number two, irrational fears. The fears that many racists have, while sometimes having some basis in fact, are entirely irrational. And other factors.

I watched a documentary about... whats the name of people who THINK they are sick and keep bothering doctors all the time, even though there is nothing wrong with them at all, except mentally? Well the documentary was pretty fascinating. And one of the people it featured, this guy, he was convinced that he was going to contract AIDS and pass it onto his family. The root cause of this fear is probably that he had a blood transfusion years ago - but despite several tests giving him the all clear for AIDS, he was still convinced he was going to contract it. So he washed himself and items around his house many times a day.

The psychologist in the documentary took the guy to a gay bar to see how he would react - and this was interesting. The guy was TERRIFIED that simply being in the presence of gay men would greatly increase his chance of catching AIDS. A tiny, tiny basis in fact - but blown completely out of proportion. But the psychologist insisted and he went in. He was incredibly nervous. He said he didn't want to drink from the glasses and stuff.

The next thing the psychologist did several days later, he brought the guy to see a gay man - with AIDS. He talked to the guy for awhile, and the guy with AIDS explained his condition and how its affected him and pretty much nobody around him has to fear catching AIDS. At the end, they shook hands. The guy with AIDS said now the only way you could catch AIDS from shaking hands with me is if my hand were cut with blood pouring out, and yours were cut. Even then its unlikely.

It struck me, watching this programme, that this is not only how homophobs behave. This is in a way the mentallity of racists. They come up with reasons for disliking people of other races. These reasons have basis in fact (sometimes) but its blown so out of proportion that it just becomes irrational.

Does anyone else agree?

 

[Motown Marvel]

this thread is racist!

 

[nosebleed.]

I don't know how ignorance (which is what racism is) could be constituted as mentally ill. If racism could be argued as a mental illness then its just fodder for racist/hate groups to perform illegal activities and have it justified in court as being something they cannot control due to their "mental illness".

 

[Kool-Aid]

Hypochondriac

 

[kainedamo]

Well, what I would like to see happen, is for racists to recieve psychological treatment.

If you lock up a neo-nazi 'cause he tried to burn down some asian family's home, when he gets out of prison he's still going to be a racist.

But if a professional, a psychologist can show him that everything he fears and hates about minorities is irrational, then maybe the neo-nazi can change.

In the same documentary as I talked about in my first post, there was a woman who was convinced she was going to get cancer or get a tumor. She had a headache one day during the show, and she kept saying to the psychologist she thought it was the tumor. Instead of telling her its NOT a tumor, he said to her "If I had x-ray vision, I could tell you if its a tumor or not, but I can't".

What that basically means is - it COULD be a tumor. Lots of people get tumors. Like how some racists fear that black people are going to mug them in the street. The black person walking towards you COULD be a mugger - but so could anyone.

The main point is - You cannot let fear run your life.

 

[Erzengel]

Racists are pretty much "conditioned" to be racists. Whether it be family, friends, a group they joined to feel accepted. It's not a mental illness as much as it mental conditioning.

 

[Canadian Rider]

Racism is a choice. A Stupid choice, but a choice nonetheless. People choose to be racist.

The Mentally ill don't get the help the need ... let's not clog up the mental wards with the KKK and others ...

 

[AndThePickles]

Racists are pretty much "conditioned" to be racists. Whether it be family, friends, a group they joined to feel accepted. It's not a mental illness as much as it mental conditioning.

Yet again, Erz says what I wanna say in a way that is better than I would say it

 

[kainedamo]

Racism is a choice. A Stupid choice, but a choice nonetheless. People choose to be racist.

The Mentally ill don't get the help the need ... let's not clog up the mental wards with the KKK and others ...

It's not REALLY a choice though, is it? Like Erz said, some of them are conditioned.

The prisons are over-flowing. There has to be a way to break the cycle of racism. Not only that, but there has to be an alternative to prison since prison so clearly doesn't work.

 

[Erzengel]

Yet again, Erz says what I wanna say in a way that is better than I would say it

But if you say with a flip of the hair, everyone would listen to you.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

If racism is mental illness then belief in religion most certainly is.

 

[AndThePickles]

It's not REALLY a choice though, is it? Like Erz said, some of them are conditioned.

Well, once a person is old enough and is exposed to other cultures I think it becomes a choice. Many racists are presented with information that contradicts their conditioning, but still choose to maintain their racist point of view.

 

[AndThePickles]

But if you say with a flip of the hair, everyone would listen to you.

I guess we need "SuperHeroHype: The Video Boards" then

 

[kainedamo]

So what should be done about racism, Pickles?

 

[AndThePickles]

So what should be done about racism, Pickles?

If I had a short, easy answer to that question then I'd be out changing the world, not at work posting on a message board.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Well, once a person is old enough and is exposed to other cultures I think it becomes a choice. Many racists are presented with information that contradicts their conditioning, but still choose to maintain their racist point of view.

but for the most part these people are raised with certain views and this shapes how they perceive things.
the other day I was looking for a picture of Liv Tyler because there's like, zero good pictures of her, and I ended up on a racist website where these people were upset that she was half jewish or something.
they had this long thread on Music and what bands were "tainted" by Jewness and some of them were devastated that Geddy Lee from rush is a jew.

the number of time I saw "nooooooo!" in that thread was Hilarious to me at first, but then it got rather scary.
it's like religion, it's for the most part conditioning but you can also choose something else based UPON that conditioning.

 

[Kritish]

Most racists have just been raised by bigoted parents. You never hear about some kid joining the Nazi party when his parents are liberals. They aren't mentaly ill, there're just misguided.

 

[Erzengel]

So what should be done about racism, Pickles?

It should be stopped.

 

[Kritish]

It should be stopped.

It's slowly dying out even now.

 

[tupelohoney]

Most racists have just been raised by bigoted parents. You never hear about some kid joining the Nazi party when his parents are liberals. They aren't mentaly ill, there're just misguided.

\

you dont get much more misguided than this....sad when parents teach their kids to act like this.

 

[kainedamo]

It's slowly dying out even now.

Not even close, unfortunately.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

It is not a mental illness.

It's interesting that young children know nothing of color boundaries. Yet via their environment and the way they are sculpted into adults they learn this trait.

Racism is a choice--not a gene.

 

[Kritish]

Not even close, unfortunately.

Bull ****, you have to realize that race relations have gone light years since the 50's or even the 90's. Things aren't perfect, but you cannot tell me that things have not changed.

 

[Kritish]

It is not a mental illness.

It's interesting that young children know nothing of color boundaries. Yet via their environment and the way they are sculpted into adults they learn this trait.

Racism is a choice--not a gene.

I wouldn't even call it a choice, It's like with serial killers where you realize that their parents are just as much to blame as the criminals themselves.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Prussian Blue did not come out of the womb like that.