Ramblings About My Life..

I was half-expecting a slow start to things upon my return to Sheffield - I could never have been further off the mark in my assumption. Barely a day after I unceremoniously dumped my luggage in my room, I was asked by a friend of mine to play the role of mediator in a relationship problem of a friend of hers. This friend of mine couldn't have chosen an individual less suited to the task than me. First of all, I am unfamiliar in the role of mediating - due to my fiery temper, I usually am one of the antagonists in arguments or fights (although I am working hard to contain my temper). Secondly, the aforementioned problem is a relationship problem. My principle on this kind of things is "I shall not interfere at all" - what goes on between two individuals is beyond my caring unless I am directly implicated in it. Finally, my communication skills aren't exactly excellent - I might even precipitate another misunderstanding and make things worse!

I was in the midst of explaining the points on "Why YC Should Not Mediate This Problem" to my friend when I noticed that she was extremely keen on getting me to help. Well, since she really wanted my help, I guess I couldn't just shout NO! and run off, could I? I then duly followed her to her friend's room and received my Mission Briefing. To respect the privacy of my friend's friends, no names shall be mentioned here nor the details of what transpired at the discussion. It's enough to say that at the end of the day, the problem was more or less resolved, but I have a nagging feeling that somehow one of the involved parties didn't wholly get the message that I was trying to get across. Ah, well. That's beyond my caring. However, the core issue that was brought up in our discussion was extremely interesting to me, since I had never thought about it before. The question was, "Does unconscious bias, us unknowingly acting on our preferences as to who we prefer to mix with, count as racism?".

To illustrate this problem, let's create a fictional person (A) and situation. A has been brought up in an environment where he interacts mostly with people who are of the same race as him. That said, he does not have a problem mixing with people of other races - he views them just the same as the people of his own race and does not treat them any differently when interacting with them. A is then brought to a different environment, where the dominant population is of a different race. After a while, A discovers that while he mixes with people of different races, his closest friends are still the people of his own race. Not only that, he discovers that he spends more time with people of his own race. However, he doesn't make any effort to actively choose the people he talks to nor pick his friends based on race - he interacts with everyone just the same. But, at the end of the day, he still "clicks" better with people of his race. He is perturbed by this fact - is he unwittingly exhibiting racist characteristics?

One might argue that since he is showing a discrimination that clearly demarcates the difference between races, A is clearly a racist. However, this bias isn't consciously acted upon by A. It isn't like he purposely chose to select his closest friends based on race or interact better with people of his own race. Some might say racism is "an active discrimination of race with the view that one's own is superior to the others" - since A isn't actively discriminating, then he isn't a racist. But those in the other camp might disagree. They might argue that racism may be in an unconscious form as well - some people are conditioned since birth via cultural influences or familial influences to perceive their race as superior or better, so their bias is ingrained into them and they exhibit an unconscious bias towards races as well. Then, the circumstances surrounding the bringing up of A would clearly skew the verdict into deciding that A is a racist, since he was brought up in an environment where he was mostly exposed to people of his own race.

But then again, A doesn't see his race as "superior" or "better" than others. Those saying that A isn't a racist might continue the argument by saying that he probably mixes better with people who are of the same race as him since they have more common ground - they have the same culture, possibly the same language if not mode of speech and preferences. He has no intention of discriminating between races. But, if it happens, it is only natural since we still retain some part of primal herd instinct in us - a remnant of ages past. We identify with people who are like us. The opposition to these statements would be the phrase, even if it is natural, that doesn't make it right. Us humans are born violent, irrational and with not the tiniest hint of manners. Only by proper upbringing are we transformed into who we are - the modern Human. So the fact that the unconscious racial bias is only natural doesn't make it right. It is still essentially racism. A should actively seek to change his actions.

Bringing the focus of the argument onto a linguistic level doesn't further elucidate matters. Both sides will present varying interpretations of the word "racism" and by doing this, the argument spirals into a vicious circle where there is no true solution. Ironic, isn't it? Language was invented to help us communicate better and to allow us to clearly define our actions, but when one attempts to use definitions of words to resolve an issue, sometimes it just dissolves into a mass of circular arguments. The very flexibility of language which allows us humans linguistic creativity by variable interpretations of words also denies us the usage of language to make an absolute definition of a word. For instance, what does "racism" really mean? Is it an active process, a passive one or does it even care whether it is any of the above two choices? Unconscious, as not realized or known as existing in oneself or occurring in the absence of conscious awareness or thought?

Psychoanalysis has never really been my cup of tea. Semantics, semantics and more semantics....BORING! However, I'd be happy if any of you would like to share your views on this matter and hopefully, shed some light regarding this issue. Thank goodness I didn't decide to read Law or Psychology - it's pretty clear I don't have much aptitude in these fields!