I’m not understanding this. Englishmen and Irishmen are people of different nationalities. If they were seen as different races in the past, it’s because the idea of race has been historically muddled.
Clippy, why are you so interested in racism in particular?
There are many social issues that humans are trying to deal with, and racism is only one. Why are you focused on racism rather than education reform, tax law, access to the courts, separation of church and state, illegal immigration, or any other major problem? All of these issues seem more interesting and important to me than anti-racist work. Another reason is that anti-racist work is often thought to be strongly tied up with, and is often used to signal, particular ideologies and political and economic opinions.
Getting back to the point, I understand you’re using racism as an analogy for the way humans see paperclippers. What I’m trying to explain is that some types of discrimination are justified in a way that racism isn’t. For instance, I and most humans have no problem with discrimination based on species. This is a reasonable form of discrimination because there are many salient differences between species’ abilities, unlike with race (or nationality). Likewise, paperclippers have very different values than humans, and if humans determine that these values are incompatible with ours, it makes sense to discriminate against entities which have them. (I understand you believe our values are compatible and a compromise can be achieved, which I’m still not sure about.)
I might be misreading your historical records, but I believe they used to say that about whites and blacks compared to Englishmen and Irishmen.
I’m not understanding this. Englishmen and Irishmen are people of different nationalities. If they were seen as different races in the past, it’s because the idea of race has been historically muddled.
Clippy, why are you so interested in racism in particular?
A better question is, why are you humans here so non-interested in not being racist? (User:Alicorn is a notable exception in this respect.)
There are many social issues that humans are trying to deal with, and racism is only one. Why are you focused on racism rather than education reform, tax law, access to the courts, separation of church and state, illegal immigration, or any other major problem? All of these issues seem more interesting and important to me than anti-racist work. Another reason is that anti-racist work is often thought to be strongly tied up with, and is often used to signal, particular ideologies and political and economic opinions.
Getting back to the point, I understand you’re using racism as an analogy for the way humans see paperclippers. What I’m trying to explain is that some types of discrimination are justified in a way that racism isn’t. For instance, I and most humans have no problem with discrimination based on species. This is a reasonable form of discrimination because there are many salient differences between species’ abilities, unlike with race (or nationality). Likewise, paperclippers have very different values than humans, and if humans determine that these values are incompatible with ours, it makes sense to discriminate against entities which have them. (I understand you believe our values are compatible and a compromise can be achieved, which I’m still not sure about.)