Re:Yep, Racist America (Score 1)

I think the point he was trying to make is that it would be quite difficult for anybody living in the United States to not be aware of different ethnicities. Saying you aren't "conscious" of another person's skin color implies that you don't even notice it. There is an eternal toss-up between whether it's better to learn to "ignore" differences, or to acknowledge and accept the differences. I tend to fall into the latter category. I'm pretty damned liberal, but I was raised in an all-white community. My university is full of people of all different races and creeds, so of course I notice when someone of another ethnicity walks down the street. It's human nature. I can't even truthfully say that I've never had a racist thought, because I have had racist thoughts, racism is rampant in this country. But I consciously choose to ignore those thoughts and not let them affect the way I interact with or treat people. But to say you don't even notice someone's ethnicity... of course you do. If you didn't, you wouldn't have realized you had an Indian friend. I don't think there's anything wrong with acknowledging differences in ethnicities. Personally I get pretty excited about it. One of my closest friends is 1st-generation Chinese-American, and it's fascinating how much more focused on interpersonal relationships he is compared to the average individualistic white person. ***I'm certainly not implying that people of different ethnicities are automatically different than the average white American when it comes to culture... or that there's even such a thing as an "Average White American." A person's culture is hugely impacted by that person's environment growing up, The challenge is not to view people in blanket terms but to see each person as an individual. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I love it when I meet individuals who are very different from me, and if a person is of a different ethnicity, that often (but not always) leads to learning about new things, whether it's racism or religion or the history of another country. And I would prefer to learn about these differences and use them to challenge my own perceptions rather than ignore them. From the article on the SONY PSP ad, it appears the producers are intentionally being provocative. I don't think it's as clear-cut as "Oh this is clearly racist" or "if you think it's racist you're prejiduced and confused." And I do think the cultural context of the ad (i.e. whether it's in Amsterdam or US) is relevant. But all in all, I think it was a really poor marketing decision. ~Christy