The Extent Of Sexism And Racism

It is possible for someone, even a supposedly committed Christian, to reject all notions that one gender or race has superior value while still regularly discriminating against men, women, blacks, whites, and so on--even in very obvious or particularly harmful ways.  Sexism and racism can manifest on the level of worldviews or actions even when a person would despise the very thought of a person having inferior or superior value because of their genitalia or skin color.  Thankfully, there is no such thing as inevitable sexism or racism of any kind, just as there is no such thing as an ideological or behavioral "blind spot" that someone can identify on their own through sheer rationality.

Some people might think that as long as they do not insult or dismiss women on the basis of their gender or believe that black people inherently live criminal lifestyles, they are not truly sexist or racist.  This is double erroneous, as there are many ways one could be sexist against women or racist against blacks beyond this, and there are many ways one could be sexist against men and racist against people with white or brown skin, to name just several examples.  Even the slightest discrimination against someone because of their gender or race is sexism or racism by default.  Of course, not all instances of sexism and racism are minor, but even the smaller cases of it, whether they are largely confined to the level of beliefs or not, always have the potential to snowball into far greater offenses against reason.

The relatively small cases of sexism or racism usually do lead to greater forms, of course.  For example, the idea that black people are somehow inherently dangerous could isolate them in ways that make life economically more difficult because of the color of their skin, which in turn can make theft an easier way to obtain basic things like food.  The theft is then in turn potentially used as a red herring "justification" for regarding blacks as more dangerous and worthy of automatic suspicion.  Almost all forms of sexism and racism--against men, women, blacks, whites, and other racial categories--have this devious way of spiralling further into stupidity.  No gender or racial stereotype has purely "trivial" potential to inspire further fallacies and injustices.

All that is necessary to see if someone understands the true scope of either kind of discrimination is to observe how consistent they are in denouncing either.  The belief that black people naturally gravitate towards crime, whether or not many individual black people commit certain crimes due to the social pressures of stereotypes and other factors, is racist, yet so is the belief that white people are oblivious or racist by default.  Fighting racism against blacks is not enough; fighting some racism against blacks is likewise not enough.  Similarly, fighting sexism against women, especially in a selective manner, is not enough to make someone an egalitarian.  Discrimination of this kind is diverse enough to survive in some forms even as others are condemned harshly.

There is no single way that it is possible to embrace or express sexism and racism.  Anyone who believes that sexism can only be inflicted on women or racism on non-whites is already hypocritical and irrational by default, but even women and blacks can be discriminated against in numerous ways.  A sexist or racist person could make genuine effort to overcome their prejudices in some areas while leaving other areas unnoticed.  Such a person could fiercely hate some types of discrimination based on gender or race because they are sexist or racist and yet still be ideologically blind enough to not be consistent.  In fact, many people are this way.  Inconsistency is the great enemy of sincerity that only a self-aware and rationalistic person, other than a blind but fortunate one, can avoid entirely.