fast
Contributor
So, there I was, sitting on my back porch when all of a sudden, a small spaceship crash landed in my back yard. Out came (can you believe it?) an alien. She (OMG), she was drunk as drunk can be! Anyhoots, I invited her in (afterall, I was half tight myself), and we talked and talked for better than half the night. Come to find out, she was a scientist, although that's not the exact term she used, and she had recently been investigating a phenomena (from another planet in a distant galaxy) that I can only describe as racism ... and ... she decided to share with me her findings.
Understand, however, that I am not attempting to explain racism as we see racism here on Earth. I'm just trying to explain the underlying racism as seen through her eyes. It's probably not applicable here, but it did strike me as at least possible that racism here might not be as it meets the eye.
There were two races on the planet. The skin color of the people were very similar as here on Earth, and to keep the story half way comprehensible, I'm just going to refer to them as white and black. What's very interesting is that racism there wasn't based on skin color. Now, let me stop right there. Actually, it was believed by everyone that skin color was the most relevant factor, that was until the glasses were introduced.
This can get a little complex, so let me cut to the chase and explain that many many people had a halo (that's the only way I can describe it) above their heads that absolutely no one could see, that is no one except for those from her species. See, she (and those like her) could see certain light spectrums (kind of like how some animals on our planet can see what we can't see). No one else could see them, but she noticed (and it was quite noticeable) that the vast majority of black people had this halo.
The vast majority of people with no halo seemed to display varying degrees of prejudice tendencies towards those with halos. Now, not every black had a halo, and there were some whites with halos. Several full scale studies showed that halos were contagious, however, it was extremely difficult to contract a halo, just as difficult it was to lose one's halo. What they believe (her and scientists that also participated in their observations) was that over time, more and more whites gained halos while more and more blacks lost theirs, but because the contagious factor was small, 88 percent of whites were still halo free while 95 percent of blacks still had halos intact.
Those percentages are important. If no one can see or otherwise knowingly sense the halo, and if people are prejudice towards only those with halos, and since it makes absolutely no sense to be prejudice against others because of skin color, then the inescapable conclusion is that racism wasn't based on what they thought it was based on. It's no wonder the planet residents thought it was about skin color since that was the seemingly obvious reason, but once the special glasses were introduced and people could actually see the halos, everyone could then see that the source of contention wasn't from what they once could only see but from what they can now see.
The most moving aspect of this story for me was how incredibly shocked they must have been to suddenly learn that even the most seemingly obvious beliefs can be quickly turned topsy-turvy. It's astonishing how easy our views can change once we learn the truth. Take us for example. If someone makes a racist remark against a black person, what seems to be the case is that their skin color was a factor, but if things are not as they seem, then could it be (moreover, could it be likely and even highly plausible) that there is something else other than what we can see--something other than skin color that is the real driving machine behind the prejudices in the world around us?
Without seeing the true source that spawns racism, I would expect that people would claim that it's skin color, as what else is the contention related to if not skin color. And that's just it, what IS the unseen connection?
Sure, we can talk about how it's learned behavior and all the other things that social scientists come up with, but after listening to her story, I had to be a little inquisitive and wonder what if there is something else about blacks (like the halo or some other phenomena underlying our consciousness only perceptible to our subconscious--maybe a trait or disposition we have no term for). We clearly can't identify it, and there's no way it's skin color.
Well, I don't think we have halos like that here on Earth, but we never really got to discuss the matter. We kept drinking, and after a few smiles, she had to leave. Um, more than a few, but that's really not an important aspect of the story.
Understand, however, that I am not attempting to explain racism as we see racism here on Earth. I'm just trying to explain the underlying racism as seen through her eyes. It's probably not applicable here, but it did strike me as at least possible that racism here might not be as it meets the eye.
There were two races on the planet. The skin color of the people were very similar as here on Earth, and to keep the story half way comprehensible, I'm just going to refer to them as white and black. What's very interesting is that racism there wasn't based on skin color. Now, let me stop right there. Actually, it was believed by everyone that skin color was the most relevant factor, that was until the glasses were introduced.
This can get a little complex, so let me cut to the chase and explain that many many people had a halo (that's the only way I can describe it) above their heads that absolutely no one could see, that is no one except for those from her species. See, she (and those like her) could see certain light spectrums (kind of like how some animals on our planet can see what we can't see). No one else could see them, but she noticed (and it was quite noticeable) that the vast majority of black people had this halo.
The vast majority of people with no halo seemed to display varying degrees of prejudice tendencies towards those with halos. Now, not every black had a halo, and there were some whites with halos. Several full scale studies showed that halos were contagious, however, it was extremely difficult to contract a halo, just as difficult it was to lose one's halo. What they believe (her and scientists that also participated in their observations) was that over time, more and more whites gained halos while more and more blacks lost theirs, but because the contagious factor was small, 88 percent of whites were still halo free while 95 percent of blacks still had halos intact.
Those percentages are important. If no one can see or otherwise knowingly sense the halo, and if people are prejudice towards only those with halos, and since it makes absolutely no sense to be prejudice against others because of skin color, then the inescapable conclusion is that racism wasn't based on what they thought it was based on. It's no wonder the planet residents thought it was about skin color since that was the seemingly obvious reason, but once the special glasses were introduced and people could actually see the halos, everyone could then see that the source of contention wasn't from what they once could only see but from what they can now see.
The most moving aspect of this story for me was how incredibly shocked they must have been to suddenly learn that even the most seemingly obvious beliefs can be quickly turned topsy-turvy. It's astonishing how easy our views can change once we learn the truth. Take us for example. If someone makes a racist remark against a black person, what seems to be the case is that their skin color was a factor, but if things are not as they seem, then could it be (moreover, could it be likely and even highly plausible) that there is something else other than what we can see--something other than skin color that is the real driving machine behind the prejudices in the world around us?
Without seeing the true source that spawns racism, I would expect that people would claim that it's skin color, as what else is the contention related to if not skin color. And that's just it, what IS the unseen connection?
Sure, we can talk about how it's learned behavior and all the other things that social scientists come up with, but after listening to her story, I had to be a little inquisitive and wonder what if there is something else about blacks (like the halo or some other phenomena underlying our consciousness only perceptible to our subconscious--maybe a trait or disposition we have no term for). We clearly can't identify it, and there's no way it's skin color.
Well, I don't think we have halos like that here on Earth, but we never really got to discuss the matter. We kept drinking, and after a few smiles, she had to leave. Um, more than a few, but that's really not an important aspect of the story.