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RE: Reciprocity and how to treat foreigners

in #life6 years ago (edited)

Related to your previous posts on racism, I didn't know that you went as far as to imply that even ascribing yourself a racial identity was racist, but it makes sense from your arguments. Something to think about here.

A distinction should be made. Society coerces a racial identity on people. If you believe that race is a social construct and you're the victim of this societal coercion then I don't believe it is your fault if you are racist as a result.

On the other hand if you are aware that race is a social construct, if you know it's an identity imposed on citizens by the government (through stuff like the Census), and that it has no basis in genetics, yet you still adopt that identity then you're a willful racist. The key is how do you see yourself internally? Do you see yourself as a color or do you see yourself beyond those categories internally? Society is going to treat you however it's going to treat you regardless of how you see yourself so it's not at all about how racism affects people or how racist society creates a reaction in people but more about people internalizing the false identity.

My post appeals to people who fit into the first category who know race is a social construct and that the only race which matters is the human race. The distinction between foreigner and insider is basically a cultural barrier. This could be people who speak a different language, who believe in a different religion, and who come from a different country (and so they have a different social network) with a different government influencing their behavior.

America to me is it's people and it's people aren't races to me. America to me has American people, or to be more specific the in-group is the United States Citizen. The in-group could also be considered to be those who respect and believe in the ideals of the United States Constitution and anyone who defends it.

So if a person doesn't believe in the US Constitution and instead are in favor of another set of laws then they would be the foreigner in the most definitive sense. But if we are talking less definitive then it could be people in other countries in general. I'm not ultimately the person who determines who is or who isn't a foreigner.

If I'm treated as the foreigner then I'm the foreigner but the criteria isn't always obvious. For those who say "if you weren't born here you're a foreigner" then that is also a criteria. There are also some who say if you weren't born into the tribe (if you're not part of the family) then you're foreign. So it's a fluid concept which isn't clearly defined, but in general it means if you're not a foreigner you're in the in-group and if you're not in the in-group you're a foreigner.