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Ethnic Conflict Quotes

Browse 112 quotes about Ethnic Conflict.

Ethnic Conflict Quotes

“Page 21: Present-day whites relate to their material as spokesmen, not advocates. This is because they believe that the truth or other merits of an idea are intrinsic to the idea itself. How deeply a person cares about or believes in the idea is considered irrelevant to its fundamental value. The truth of the matter is in the matter. This view—the separation of truth and belief—is heavily influenced by what whites understand of the scientific method, where the goal is to achieve a stance of neutral objectivity with regard to the truth that is “out there”: a truth that is not the be possessed or created but, rather, discovered.”

“Page 92: The black view that people who feel accused are guilty is based on the cultural belief that “only the truth hurts.” When whites (or blacks) issue a vigorous and defensive denial—the kind that whites often use when they feel falsely accused—blacks consider this is a confirmation of guilt since they believe that only the truth would have been able to produce a protest of such intensity.”

“Page 119: Of course McCarty did not consider her laughter inconsiderate of other people’s sensibilities, since in black culture, feelings and emotions are seen as primary and independent forces. They are primary in that they are seen principally to motivate and guide black action and to serve as a reference to explain why individuals behave in the way that they do. They are independent in that blacks relinquish to feelings the freedom to exert their own will on their behavior, and consequently, on whatever proceedings they happen to be engaging in at the time.”

“Page 126: [The greater capacity of blacks to express themselves forcefully and to receive and manipulate the forceful assertions of others] applies not only to classroom debate but to argument generally. One black woman remarked that she was always surprised at the difficulty her white college roommate had in contending with her when they had a difference of opinion. This observation has often been made by blacks, who consider whites as a result interpersonally weak as well as seeming to be “forever demanding an apology over nothing.” The basis for the last remark has already been established: whites consider an assault on the sensibilities of others a social offense.”

“Page 125: What is of greater concern to blacks, and what they regard as a more serious violation of the rights of others—but what whites consider hardly a violation at all—is to be in a situation where for compelling social reasons (such as keeping a job at a bank) they are not free to act in accordance with the force of their feelings. Blacks call this constraining mode of behavior fronting, and they generally regard negatively situations in which it is necessary to front. Whites do not typically notice when blacks front, since the mode—emotionally subdued—is one that whites consider normal, achieved as a matter of course in their cultural development through the habitual exercise of emotional self-restraint and repression. Consequently, they are not aware of the conscious effort that blacks must make on a day-to-day basis to contain their emotions when working in what they regard as a racially hostile environment.”

“The Soviet Union came apart along ethnic lines. The most important factor in this breakup was the disinclination of Slavic Ukraine to continue under a regime dominated by Slavic Russia. Yugoslavia came apart also, beginning with a brutal clash between Serbia and Croatia, here again 'nations' with only the smallest differences in genealogy; with, indeed, practically a common language. Ethnic conflict does not require great differences; small will do.”

“But the forces of evil have not abdicated. The malevolent ghosts of hatred are resurgent with a fury and a boldness that are as astounding as they are nauseating: ethnic conflicts, religious riots, anti-Semitic incidents here, there, and everywhere. What is wrong with these morally degenerate people that they abuse their freedom, so recently won?”

“In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous.”