Hey David, are race based dating preferences and sexual preferences, a form of racism.
So I'm going to answer this as asked because there is, you know, sort of the most narrow
answer to a question like this. But it's important to understand, and I mentioned this before,
very often these types of questions are not asked in good faith. And I'm not saying Ken
is not asking the question in good faith, it's just important to understand how very
often there are people who ask these questions in order to elicit a particular answer, which
then is used to justify some further bad argument or bad take. And I don't want to be doing
that. So I'll sort of get to that in a little bit. So in the most technical sense is something
like I'm a white male. I am not attracted to Asian women or black women. Is that racism?
If you want to play the linguistic game, strictly speaking, that is something called sexual
racism.
Now don't be triggered by the word. Okay, we're trying to have adult conversation here.
Conversations here. We're trying to have conversations that have context, so don't just go crazy
because I'm calling something racism. This is actually a deep topic with a lot of nuance
behind it and there's really a lot of sociology and a lot of things behind this. On the one
hand, people are attracted to certain other people, oftentimes for reasons that are not
particularly discernible. Sometimes people have a preference for thinner or heavier,
uh, of others. Sometimes for certain hair colors, sometimes complexion, certain personalities,
uh, assert certain hobbies or religion or skin color, right? Race is a completely reasonable
basis where one might have a sort of base level predisposition in favor of or against.
When it comes to physical attraction. And in principle, this is no big deal. This is
not evidence of systemic, uh, cultural racism.
This, it's none of those things. Okay. Now let's go beyond that. There is also a reality
that sometimes those preferences can be culturally ingrained through discriminatory or racist
messages that are sometimes reinforced, uh, by society and culture. So for example, some
countries have cast systems and those cast systems can pervade so strongly that people
believe that something is merely a casual preference about physical appearance, for
example. But it's actually ingrained multi-generationally by teaching that people of a certain cast
are dirty or toxic or to be avoided or whatever. And it's important to understand that you
might think, I just happen not to be attracted to X, and X could be a racial characteristic,
or it could be a physical characteristic of some other kind or whatever the case may be.
And you may not even have an awareness that it is something cultural that has been ingrained
that is actually responsible for that.
Does that mean that it should be enforced that even if you don't find certain races
attractive, you should have to date them? Of course not. Of course not. We're not talking
about that. We're just trying to have a more nuanced and deep understanding of where some
of these preferences can come from in the United States to, you know, the cast example
is not super relevant in the U S in the U S attitudes towards interracial relationships
do affect attitudes about other races sexually, which can translate to someone thinking, I
just happen not to be attracted to someone from a certain race, but it be connected to
historical discrimination and taboos about interracial marriage, which fortunately are
less prevalent in 2019 than they were 50 years ago. But still to some degree exist. I know
people who tend to date only outside their race. I know both men and women that are heterosexual
and I know gay men, all of whom have dating preferences that are for those who are not
part of their racial group.
Uh, it could be by chance, it could be connected to something in their upbringing. Who knows?
So that's the analysis. In a literal sense, sexual racism is a thing. And I apologize
for hitting my microphone there. Uh, is this the type of systemic racism that is endemic
of, uh, is is, uh, a prototypical of the problems in society? No, it's not. And I'm not saying
that and that's where I think the broader analysis comes in. The reality is that making
questions of racism about something like sexual preferences is very often a distraction sometimes
used in bad faith by people who either want to create fake drama around dating preferences
or uh, to use acceptance for dating preferences on the basis of race to justify further segregation.
There is a case that some on the internet like to make that listen, if it's okay to
only want to date people of certain races, then what's the big deal with more segregation?
Like why don't we live around people of our own race. And the next thing you know, you're
talking about something like what Richard Spencer has proposed, a peaceful segregation,
uh, on the races of base. So it's important. I'm glad to address these questions as if
they are good faith questions and I believe with peace and love that Ken was asking it
in good faith, but I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't tell you that these
types of questions are often used by bad faith actors to either trick or induce fruitless
or false debates that are really a distraction from the issues that as a society we're trying
to solve. If you disagree with me, let me know. I can't wait to hear from you.