omo@mcnc.UUCP (03/01/86)
>I still think >that sexism and racism involve the assumption that a person is *inferior* >based on he/r membership in a group. >I don't >think ``most mathematicians are men'' is sexist -- it is reality. >``Most mathematicians are men because almost no women can think logically'' >*is* sexist. >Laura Creighton Laura, this seems to carry the implicit belief that *if* most women could *not* think logically, they would be `inferior'. This can be extrapolated to "if most women cannot think *as* logically as most men, then women, on the whole, are indeed inferior to men, on the whole" and also to "if individual X cannot think as logically as individual Y, then individual X is inferior to individual Y". I'm not sure if this is what *you* meant, but it hits on what *I* see as the real basis for racism, sexism, Ugly Americanism, prejudice, etc (instead of stereotypes, which I see as a distraction from the real issue), so I'm going to comment from there. Don't take it personally! I think the real problem is that various cultures and subcultures define certain human characteristics as being more `valuable' than others. In our society, things that appear to enhance success in business or achievement of power, for example, seem to head the list. These values are so ingrained that it becomes impossible for the person holding them to accept someone else as `equal' unless they have these characteristics to more or less the same degree as the particular group that values them: Blacks can't really be equal to whites unless they are as `intelligent' and women can't really be equal to men unless they can think as `logically'. Then you get off into silly and unfruitful efforts to try to compare groups based on characteristics that we can't even evaluate. I could go on for many screenfulls on this subject, but, lucky netters, I won't! I'll just say that I think the real problem is how we assess the `value' of human beings, *not* stereotyping (which is often quite justified and accurate).
dick@ucsfcca.UUCP (Dick Karpinski) (03/11/86)
In article <1189@alvin.mcnc.UUCP> omo@mcnc.UUCP writes: >as the real basis for racism, sexism, Ugly Americanism, prejudice, etc Not to flame, but those who read "The Ugly American" should realize that far from a slur, the title was merely the identifying feature of the respected man under discussion. It was a long time ago, for me, but the thing I remember about him was that he was the one who could hear a disagreement from a local and be persuaded! He was honored because he held others in high regard. He should be emulated rather than despised. dick -- Dick Karpinski Manager of Unix Services, UCSF Computer Center UUCP: ...!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!dick (415) 476-4529 (12-7) BITNET: dick@ucsfcca Compuserve: 70215,1277 Telemail: RKarpinski USPS: U-76 UCSF, San Francisco, CA 94143