I promise I actually get this back on topic by the end of the post...
> >But if the statements that racism is not merely prejudice, but > systemized > >prejudice and that the refusal to differentiate racism from prejudice > >allows racism to flourish, > > I understand 'strong' to be used in a philosophical sense, of claiming > more where another might claim or has claimed less (a weak claim, which > is not to be understood pejoratively): Could be. But the juxtiposition of the "strong" characterization of my post with a call to change topics did not strike me as this usage. > Obviously they are both up for discussion, > though as my own postings indicate I agree with the first and can see a > possible case for the second: that by treating all prejudice (which > might be regarded as the weak claim that foreigners, etc., are > different > in ways that the prejudiced person does not like) as racism (the strong > claim that that is so by genetic inheritance), one encourages > the merely > prejudiced to go the whole hog and become what one says they are. This isn't my second claim. My claim is that racism is systematic and the refusal to see this enables racism to occur. Racism doesn't express itself merely as the prejudice of individuals but as a "whole that is larger than the parts". For instance, mere racial prejudice might produce a loan application system where people of like race are more likely to approve loan applications or police officers who are more likely to pull over drivers of other races. This is not what we see. Instead, in America at least, black people are more likely to experience a systematic bias that expresses itself in repeated disadvantages seemingly from all sides. As for Vergil (see I got it back on topic), the question of racism in regards to his native environment needs a look at the ways Roman society systematically disadvantaged groups. -Yvonne ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
