No, we'd simply find some other difference to get divided on.
It'd be regions/land-based, probably. "Southern pride," etc...just without the racism. Fuck those star-bellied sneeches across the river.
And I hear those damn Zooks eat their bread with the buttered side down.
I vote we use wealth.

Having lived in a majority white city where they divided themselves between countries of origin, this would happen.
Until a large Hispanic influx northeast PA had Italian sections, Irish sections, Lithuanian sections, Polish sections, etc. When my ex’s grandmother met me she asked me “what are you?” despite us both being white.
She was old enough to remember that none of those origins was considered white.
Uh we are the same race. There do not exist multiple human races in any biological sense. So what would happen is what is happening now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization)?wprov=sfti1
Virtually all racism boils down to colorism
Don't forget that people hated the Irish too. Color ain't the only reason.
I remember a little while ago when it was in the news for a very short time that they found several mass graves in PA of Irish who were brought over to be indentured servants. I don't remember if they had determined what the cause of death was, whether it was illness or murder, but it stopped being news pretty quickly because no one really cared.
Cholera, mostly, but also violence. It says they were turned away from getting help because the locals feared contagion, so perhaps that's some of the violence. They also made practically no money but had a generous whiskey allotment, which would likely contribute to violence. They were working on Duffy's Cut for some time, and the mass grave has been described as a garbage dump for bodies, not like they were lined up and shot or something, not that it makes it any better. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/irelands-forgotten-sons-recovered-two-centuries-later-9194680/
Where people draw racial lines is arbitrary. I guess it is largely defined by skin colour and culture
There is only the human race. Any differences in appearance is less that a % of genetic difference.
The modern concept of race was invented in 1684 by this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Bernier?wprov=sfla1
It's been utter bullshit from the start
Of course he was fr*nch
Fun fact, there is more genetic variation within Africa than there is in the rest of the world combined. This is because only a small lineage of humans ended up migrating out of Africa.
Race was invented by them to divide us. They'll just invent something else.
They already use gender, sexuality, nationality, anything really. Race is just one of many strings on the harp of bigotry.
Absolutely. Religion, language, country of origin, gender, age, there’s no shortage of useless ways to divide people. Our differences aren’t the issue, the issue is the rich and powerful exploiting our differences to pit us against each other.
nah... equally looking people, indistinguishble from each other, have managed levels of hate high enough to attemp genocide
Right. Like, can you imagine what society would be like if we let bald people vote? /s
You... You really think we wouldn't find some other trivial differences to get overly tribal over?
.... that is not how race works.
we already ARE the same race. we constructed differences to divide us, elevate ourselves and put down outsiders without having to accomplish anything.
Imagine a world where everyone taller than 6 feet is considered a different social class. that's race.
I get it and agree mostly. I definitely think socioeconomic classes are more of a defining/dividing line than a heritage you happen to share with someone.
Only <1% of any humans DNA differs, but I think a better point is that everyone is atleast 50th cousins or something (Granted if you share a heritage its much closer)
But also if you told someone like my girlfriend that race isn't real she'd probably sock you. She's experienced it and its very real to her.
When we started dating I would actually try to talk about how I don't understand why she would side with someone solely because their skin was dark like hers and it would be a point of contention. She would literally associate with someone that objectively did something she thinks is reprehensible because of literally only that. She grew up very wealthy and never hurt anyone, guy on the news was someone in and out of prison who literally fired first on the guy that revived him with narcan--but they happen to have the same color of skin.
As a boy other Latinos would literally antagonize me for "acting white" because I would rather read during recess than play football/soccer--because being educated is associated with being white; we were the children of poor families with gangbangers as role models so we must obviously be destined for different things /s
I feel like a lot of racial issues are cultural and self-perpetuating. But my girlfriend in particular was the only black woman in a white conservative town, people would open doors for her friends and close it when it came to her, If I visit her hometown she doesn't want to be out for long, etc. So I get why it is very important to her.
Tell me you don't know what the nazies did in Eastern Europe without telling me you don't what the nazies did in Eastern Europe. Or how the Irish were considered in the USA, or the italians...
Idk man. The Sneetches “got really quite wise on that day”, but they still never guillotined Sylvester McMonkey McBean.
It seems the sneetches wisdom knows very specifically defined bounds
Race isn't really important to anyone but americans? There is racism everywhere, obviously, but race itself isn't important.
There's still Religious bigotry... That's worked as an alternative for eons
Let me tell you a bit bout a guy that I've seen.
A man known as Sylvester McMonkey McBean.
Every now and again he'd head towards the beaches
Carting along his machine, for the sneeches.
When did Dr. Seuss get so woke...
No we'd come up with something else. We need to gene edit everyone to edit out the tribalism gene and replace it with a "we're all in this together" gene.
People will argue about something else. You can change the parameters of the simulation but you can't change the outcome.
all people have like 99.9% of their DNA in common, that hasn't stopped them from waging wars in the past.
Look. I live in a small town. The people one town over are dumb as fuck and ugly inbreeds.
They say the same about us.
See the problem? What we need is for the fucking psychologists to step up their game and develop bulletproof tests for sociopaths.
Keep them out of positions of any power and we're well on our way for a golden age of humanity.
I wish, but no.
For one, they would blame religion.
Barring that, they would find any other differences among us to blame.
Barring that, rich people will use their power and influence to make sure we find some way to blame each other instead of them.
The main reason why we refuse to blame rich people for our problems is because most of us want to be the rich people causing the problems. Until we can get that idea out of most of our heads, we shouldn't expect these problems to be solved.
I don't have much hope, personally.
Any small difference in personality is gonna be used to justify what is wrong with the world.
Bosnia would like to have a word.
Lol wot. You think we wouldn't get all caste system in this piece son?
No, you don't need genetic differences for racism.
In fact, in most European languages the words "race" and "racism" are talking more about nationalities than about genetically different population groups.
For example, if you read German articles from the 1920s, they often talk about the "German race", the "French race" or the "English race". In most European languages the word "race" fell out of use after WW2 and the American meaning of the word "race" was re-imported later on. But the meaning lives on in the meaning of "racism".
For example, in German a white person from Germany who hates everyone from France irrespective of their skin color is still a racist, while in the USA that wouldn't qualify as racism.
That's because neither the word "race" nor "racism" have a clear definition. "Race" is used entirely to discriminate "them" vs "us". So "race" determines whatever group people in a country want to discriminate against.
In the USA this was clearly a "we, the while ex-european people" vs "them, the black former slaves" and "them, the asians" and "them, the south americans".
So what would happen if suddenly everyone had the same skin color? People would just shift to the next best thing to discriminate.
Instead of discriminating against black people, just do what has been done in Europe for millennia: Discriminate against slavic people. (The term "slave" comes from "slavic", because it was so common to keep slavic people as slaves.)
And if nations, religions, languages and regions of origin would also disappear as things to discriminate against, then it would shift to the next thing: people who went to a different school, have a different education or best of all: other types of poor people.
The issue is that humans are heuristics-based beings. Prejudices the result of learning. I've had 5 crappy HP printers, so I conclude all HP printers suck. Some friends have had terrible experiences with Fiat cars, so I avoid Fiat cars. I read in the newspaper that Nestle is destroying the planet, so I eat something else.
The problem is that if this is applied to humans, they get unfairly judged for things that are often completely out of their control. The core mechanism that we humans function on happens to be severely destructive in this context. But that's also why it's hard to impossible to get rid of racism and similar forms of discrimination because they are so centrally embedded in how we humans function.
Showerthoughts
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
