Ask Pardes 6: Donald Trump, Racism, and Bigotry
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): PardesSeleh.com
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/10/27
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What do you think about claims being racist and bigoted?
Pardes Seleh: So, I don’t there is such a thing as racism and bigotry the way we know it. I think there is such a thing as being an asshole. I don’t think it is limited to race. People afraid of other people because of their race. It is simply stereotyping.
Often, it is an ignorant assumption, but I don’t think that’s more malicious than that. A regular guy who seems very weak can be preyed on because he seems weak. But he might be strong enough to fight back.
A stereotype is an assumption. People may prey on this guy because he seems weak, even though he is really not. It is really the same thing. By running away from a guy passing by you in the market because he’s black, you’re assuming that since he looks a certain way then he will act a certain way.
We do this in every aspect of our lives. It’s dumb. It is not a malicious thing. Racism and bigotry are made-up concepts. It is not real. It is not, “I hate people because of their race.” It is a way we judge things based on our limited judgement.
It is bad judgment. By calling it racism or bigoted, you are politicizing basic human nature. I think it is wrong because it is so selective. It makes things worse. No one’s judgment is perfect; we are not walking psychologists or brainiacs. Sometimes, stereotyping is necessary.
Having an ideology behind it, like David Duke or Richard Spencer, that is a totally different thing, saying, “I want a systematic government form of regulation.” That is not racism. That is fascism.
Jacobsen: How does this tie into President Donald Trump?
Seleh: Charges for Donald Trump being “racist” or “bigoted”… he does not espouse any of those ideological views regarding white nationalism and so on. He is simply being honest. He thinks the things everybody else thinks. We do think them.
You have to wonder when a Muslim guy is walking through a security checkpoint and in the height of a radical Islamic crisis because your life is at stake. Other people’s lives are at stake. You can’t ignore them, and nobody does.
Some will be honest about it. Some won’t. I am profiled each day because of how I look. Some older people say stuff like, “Oh! I thought you were a terrorist.” I have never been told that by someone I didn’t like. The ones who told me tended to be honest older people, hicktowners. It is often endearing. I am not insulted. I simply fit a profile. It is just how the world is. Just like anything else, you could be walking around with a backpack that could have a bomb and if someone said, that you were holding a bomb, you would not be insulted because you are innocent. You’d say, “Here, it’s not a bomb, want to check it?”
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