Thanks for Racism?

[Chris Rapier]

>         Excuse me, I don't mean to put words in anyone's mouth, but are you
> honestly trying to justify saying that one racial / national group
> are more reliable than others? Because that's is a generalization
> that we most often refer to as racism.

Yes and no. Manny was talking about culture and upbringing which
doesn't necessarily have anything to do with race. Either way, Manny
is correct in what he is saying. Some cultural groups place a
different priority on things than other groups and the classification
can be pretty clear cut. Like, I'd be much more likely to rely on a
german to show up on time than an italian, or god forbid, a brazilian.

Attitutdes as they respect money, time, 'honor', truthfulness, and so
forth are all social constructs and as such different cultures *will*
be more or less 'reliable' in terms of one thing or another. I mean,
thats pretty much inarguable. At least its inarguable if you are being
realistic about things. Obvioulsy cultures are made of individuals and
how an individual of a culture acts is highly variable - but it is
influence by the overall attitutdes adopted by that society.

Additionally, even though we may say "oh I would neever let that
influence me", we'd be lying. We do let these things influence us and
our interactiosn with other people. Anyone who says they don't is
deluding themselves.