www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Acceptable Racism ?

After attending a UGCC parish for over 5 years, I've grown very fond of several people of Ukrainian ancestry, so much to the point that at times I actually feel like I've been made an honorary Ukie. In spite of my fondness for these people, I regularly witness one particular trait that keeps rearing it's ugly head. If I totalled up all the other ethnic slurs I've heard made against different races of people in the last 5 years, they wouldn't even come close to the derogatory comments I've heard made against one particular group of people. and those people in question are, The RUSSIANS ! I hate to have to say this of my good friends, but I've lost track of the times now that I've heard that the Russians are, cruel, inherently evil, sadistic, tyrannical, still trying to conquer the world, etc. What probably saddens me most of all though, is that when they speak of the horrors of the Communist era, they seldom if ever refer to the "Soviets" but instead prefer to use the term "Russians" instead, which perpetuates a false stereotype that all the bad guys were Russians.

Just had to vent a little after hearing some distasteful comments after church on Sunday.

It can hardly be racism, as Russians and Ukrainians are ethnically identical. It's not unusual that people of the same blood can have a visceral loathing of each other due to the events of history. The Japanese and the Koreans are, genetically, the same people (i.e., the Japanese migrated from Korea), yet throughout history the Japanese have repeatedly attacked and subjugated Japan, as a result of which the Koreans truly hate the Japanese. And the Japanese, having repeatedly conquered the Koreans, tend to think of them (as they think of all non-Japanese) as slightly less than human.

We must take people as they are, one at a time.

If in fact the Russians are trying to conquer the world, or even if you just honestly think they are, I see no racism in saying so. The rest is problematic obviously, but not unexpected in the circumstances. People will die and memories will fade.

Stuart's point about genetics seems to me immaterial, since racial prejudices are as often about imaginary differences as real ones between two groups.