Are interracial relationships a good or a bad thing?

I think its a good thing
why should you be limited to only dating people of your own ethnicity?
it doesn't matter what race the person is as long as you love them and they love you and dont see the problem
same thing for sexual orientation

I am a black male and I am mainly attracted to white females (not because they're white but more because "requirements" for women tend to be found more in white females then in the black ones)
my current girlfriend is half Dutch and half Italian and things are goin good :3

Showing such narrow-minded thinking and such manner of speech tells me pretty much everything I need to know about your intellectual level. If youre offended by this thread then I suggest you get your butthurt ass out of here. I never once said it was a bad nor a good thing and neither did I suggest anything that would even remotely translate as me trying to say that races shouldnt be mixed. You ignoring the problems that society can make for children of dual heritage shows that you should think more and talk less, since those are valid problems that may have caused some painful experiences in someones life.

On the other hand if you really have to know, I have a beautiful asian girlfriend which I adore really much. Hearing about other peoples experiences and opinions helps me see if society will make our lifes harder than I thought.

This and why are questioning someone's intelligence(OP)?

Are you sure you havent made a mistake just now? As far as I see I never quoted that persons post... Meaning that I have nothing against it?

Also regarding the second, if that person finds my thread offensive, he shouldnt be in it to begin with, overlooking so much detail and stating something that I havent shown with any of my comments trying to attack me personally with a lame comment in the end, sorry but for me that is enough to judge what kind of person he is. If he doesnt have something smart to say he/she better not say it at all.

*Edit: My mistake regarding the first thing, I didnt have my reading glasses on so I didnt understand that you state the quote as personal opinion.

I strongly suggest you read your own OP before assessing the open-mindedness and intellectual level of a fellow panellist. You would hopefully notice that it contains the underlying implications of the most prevalent racist arguments, in an attempt (?) to make a definitive point against interracial relationships. Amongst others, this includes cultural and genetic superiority.

This is all I have to say, since it doesn't affect me personally. I just wanted to make a short notice on a topic which in my opinion requires no further examination. You can however feel free to be as racist as you like; let's just not sugar-coat the concrete question, for the sake of good debating practice.

Genetic and cultural superiority? Trying to strike a point against interracial relationships? Please refrain from creating a comment from your own assumptions, as for a fact I am quite sure that it doesnt say so anywhere. That youre offended by this post does not mean that you have to try to create a propaganda and place me in a center as a racist simply to justify your own problems with this thread. It would be quite funny seeing you attempting to solve a test in term logic. My aim was to create a thread that displays personal opinions of interracial relationships, including their problems like disappearance of culture and judgement from society regarding the relationships and their children. If there is something to examine it would be yourself, I think its a serious psychological disoder to see things that are not written and to make assumptions based on nothing but your own issues and problems with someones thread. The neurology/psychology department might have some solutions for you.

Clearly suggesting that difference in race may lead to an unhealthy relationship. This postulates that certain races have an innate discrepancy in thinking, which is wrong by nowadays anthropological standards. It is also a common argument of far-right/openly racist organisations.



If they love each other, they can already understand each other. Most people have the same culture, yet never attain such a level of understanding. You are making up an invalid point, only to have one more argument. Furthermore, the mixing of cultures occured throughout history, and the dominant nowadays cultures are just huge conglomerations. The only way a culture could "mess up" another, is by itself beeing unsubstantial, i.e. inferior, which is what you are implying.



They are only recessive in the phenotype, i.e. appearance, but they get passed on completely equally. F.e. a child of a white person will always be at least 50% white, regardless of who the other parent is. Yet another typical argumented used by racist.

This concludes the discussion for me. You have contributed nothing, you are uneducated, and seeing how extensively you use ad hominem attacks, I should be the one questioning your intellect/psychopathology. And on top of it your punctuation is horrible. I have no interest in communicating with you any further.

Good day sir.

Honestly, if you already had the time to write this you could've read what I wrote. I'm pretty sure that it says that I didnt want people to write how they should follow their emotions only since there are other things in a realtionship just as important or even more. Frankly speaking there is nothing to comment on here since I dont know how you can take something that applies to all human beings no matter what race and take it as a rascist statement. Love isnt the only thing, as you might know there is loyalty, discipline, teamwork, organization. Again I can only conclude that youre delusional and see things that arent written, or that you are so petty to win an argument that you would go to the extent of pointing fingers at whatever you can think of, quite pitiful.



I agree that it isnt questionable that people from different races/cultures can understand each other perfectly well, however the question here isnt if they can, but in which amount. People from the same country, same race, have a much higher understanding of each other, starting from historical reasons, up to todays politics, although much closer, they are still divided, mostly into organizations, like the EU which enables almost no fees while trading across the border, traveling, and also connection by culture on a much deeper level with the coutries included, so to say a big amount of europe. Being from another culture allows misunderstandings and difficulties to connect with a person to be bigger than with someone of the same heritage or similar heritage. Wars have occured 'cause of such things more than enough through history, that alone is sufficent proof that I am not mistaken. Simply two different ways of raising a child can create bad situations even inside the same community, so it certainly takes more effort to understand someone who was raised in another culture.



Yet again your own imagination playing wild, the reason I mentioned it was because people tend to disciminate against someone based on their appearance, a child coming from interracial parents is one of the first targets to pick on, especially in a country where one single race dominates in numbers. I personally have seen an african kid getting beat up in school and picked on just because he had dark skin, his father was white and it didnt help at all since he wasnt accepted by his surroundings no matter how hard his family tried. Such incidents can scar a person for life and is also a big problem to interracial parents. Countries with large amounts of people from all over the world like the USA and Canada have a lot less problems since their countries were made from people with different heritage, so basically it was intended from the begining. This is why I said that you should think before talking nonsense.



I find it very sad that this is what you come with to defend your argument of me being a rascist, since I deal with people of your type on a daily basis I dont mind as much as I did though. If its my education youd like to discuss about, I'd suggest you to take up reading some history and sociology, because where I come from you surely wouldnt pass either of them. My punctuation is horrible in this case I agree, since I dont apply it how I should on the internet, seeing no meaning in it, especially if im talking to incompetent people like you, after all with the knowledge you displayed in this conversation you have hardly any right to judge me even if I were to write in some kind of slang. On the other hand, how I write has nothing to do with the discussion to begin with. It isnt my native language anyway so even if I make a mistake I can openly admit that im still learning english. Once again, I'm sure that a local metal hospital can help you get on the right path.

Sincerely yours,
OP

So anyway, ignoring the shitstorm that just happened..

I think its a good thing. Pretty much all of my ex's have been white, I have yet to find a decent black woman that doesn't mind my hobbies(gaming, anime, etc) and one that has a decent personality.

I'm a white guy who had a black girlfriend for 4 years, who said the same thing, switched gender of course. And LOL yeah I didn't even bother reading the shitstorm. I just know it's full of bitchy poison.

If one is concerned about losing culture, I raise two objections:

1) Even a lot of single-race couples don't care about culture, heritage or ancestry, and let them slide into obscurity.
2) In many relationships of mixed race or mixed religion or mixed anything, one of the partner's culture plays the dominant role, so at least one will preserve better. It's just a matter of which one.

If one is concerned about losing a phenotype, I raise two objections:

1) In-vitro genetic alterations will remove this risk. Just wait for the technology and Gattaca will arrive.
2) Most people bond within their group for convenience and comfort, so there will always be at least islands of a certain phenotype.

But more generally:

Just as your partner can improve you by correcting for certain weakness or neurosis in your personality, so can your partner's culture. Even if you're the dominant culture, you may find yourself hardened or softened where you need it. This is potential gain.

Therefore I'd say it's not a bad thing.

So loss of culture is unavoidable to some degree? Also even if there other people that the person can connect with in small amount, it doesnt really change that hed have to interact with those who might discriminate against him every day. Everything else seems pretty right and I dont know about the current research on the field of genetic manipulation so I'll assume that you know what youre talking about. Nice post, its pretty objective and doesnt attack either side.

Okay, i'm going to try to to turn my initial anger down and address the specific points you've been raising in what i hope to be a clam and reasonable manner

I noticed you seem to use people's discrimination of mixed race children as a reason for it being a bad thing. I've personally never felt discriminated against because of my race but if someone does persecute someone for being mixed race, isn't that a problem with them and not the parents of said child?Are you saying lovers who happen to be of different races shouldn't have children because some people are ignorant?

And placing such a emphasis on loss of culture seems like it would encourage the discrimination you mention as a problem rather than prevent it. My grandfather on my dads side at first wasn't accepting of my dads relationship with my Haitian mom, but my dad didn't let that stop him from being with her and his dad eventually got used to it. And i spend plenty of time with both sides of my family, and along with my brothers have never once felt singled out or not accepted because of our mixed heritage.

I personally feel being mixed race has made me a lot more accepting and tolerant of other peoples culture. I was raised jewish like my dad, but i still visit my moms side of the family for Christmas and other occasions important to them. You mention not understanding other peoples culture as part of a problem, but at the same time you mention losing culture as part of a problem with interracial relationships. I think making a big deal out of losing ones culture due to interracial marriage fuels misunderstanding of other cultures. The way to learn and understand other people and there way of life is to actually interact with them. Avoiding them simply fosters ignorance and stereotypes.

And as for the gene problem...why is it a problem for genes to mix with other races?I'm sorry but that sounds like a concern from 1950, not from 2012. Again, placing a emphasis on genes seems like it would encourage discrimination against children of mixed race, which i'm assuming you do not support.

To summarize, placing such an emphasis on genes and strictly maintaining ones culture seems like it would cause the lack of understanding of others cultures and discrimination you raise as negatives against interracial marriage.

Also, comments like this don't help your case here, and quite frankly make you come off like a jackass



In a topic discussing the pros and cons of interracial marriage i would think
having grown up in a interracial marriage would add some first hand knowledge and perspective on the topic. Its equivalent to asking do video games cause violence and ignoring the input of people who either know or have grown up with gamers.

Well I appriciate that you would calmly discuss something, which makes it also less stressful for me to reply, so thanks for that.

Regarding the first paragraph, just because you personally havent been discriminated against does not mean that its correct to assume that everyone else had the same experience, actually its rather the opposite especially in countries with deep history and culture who value it a lot. It is a problem for the family and the child rather than the problem of the people that oppress them, they are the ones being disciminated against not the ones who disciminate. Discriminators DO have a problem, but that is within their personality and thinking but it doesnt affect them at all as much as the child or family that has to deal with such people. Also I never suggested anyone to let it influence them nor to not have a relationship together or not to have children, I'm just pointing out how society can opress such relationships.

The 2. and 3. paragraph arent really what I was refering to, so let me explain properly. Hearing your story about your family and surroundings, you mustve grown up in a place that has a large acceptance of different cultures, possibly the whole country is like that. What you miss to understand is that countries that are very used to such things cant be compared with places where there is a dominant structure of one single culture and one single nation and they do not wish someone to interrupt their culture but want to keep their own as much as they can. Basically its the same as putting an albino animal between a huge amount of animals of same type which are not albino, although they are the same, the albino will be attacked, isolated etc. while if there was an even number of both they would get along together just fine. Its basically the same with people, culture, history and heritage represent where they come from, and many people pride themselfs with that. Basically again youre using your own experience and try to apply it on others which mostly isnt the case honestly.

For the end, I'd like to explain the rest. Mixing genes isnt a problem at all, but since a lot of people tend to judge from appearance rather than from actual personality, it can also cause discrimination. Also I stand firmly to what I said, you understand the problem a lot less because youre interracial and grew up in an accepting community, to put it as you said, its like asking people who are used to well adapted surroundings what they think about something they never experienced. Basically youre a bad judge because you youself have never been in such a situation.

Its never a question of race, but a question of the people involved in the relationship themselves. Race is not a good or bad thing, its a part of someones identity. Personality should be a decisive factor in these choices.

Then that's a problem with society, not the relationship. If it doesn't matter to you the races of people in a relationship, why make a topic asking whether mixed race relationships are good or bad?If you want to discuss why people discriminate against those of mixed race and/or people who marry outside there race then that's fine, but when you ask whether interracial relationships are a good or bad thing it comes off like you may have a problem with interracial relationships yourselves rather than how society treats them or children born from such relationships.

And to me it seems like you have the idea that people who date outside there race and children of mixed race suffer a huge amount of discrimination. I live in America, and while i know there are racists there are plenty of people who are not. I'm not trying to say everyone mixed race child has had the same experience i have, but i would like to think at least some other mixed race individuals have had an experience similar to mine. You keep talking about how mixed race children and people who date outside there race suffer massive discrimination but when i tell you an experience that does not correlate with that you say mine is a very rare case and that my input is less valid as a result. If i did face discrimination because of my heritage would that make my input more valid to you?

The reasons you bring up as reasons why interracial relationships are a bad thing seem to be about society's treatment of them. Those are not reasons to say whether interracial relationship is good or bad. And also, if you're saying people shouldn't care about race when choosing there partners whats the point of bringing up society's views of it as a reason for why interracial relationships could be a bad thing?

Whether that is a problem with society is actually not so clear. When youre in Rome do as the romans do. There are plenty of reasons why the community which oppresses does that. Its more up to the individual to decide whether its wrong or not. I at some point understand their reasons although their way of dealing with it is wrong. As you live in America I have to repeat again that its a country which is based on mixed heritage. In European countries it isnt like that at all. Its not much of deal if countries who share some heritage with each other, or are close to each other, or consider each other equal have a child, however europe has been having problems with nations from other parts of the world (especially muslims) which agressively promote their own religion or culture. As a result their children, unable to adapt to the surroundings, suffer consequences and join people who are similar to them and become thugs mostly that roam on the railways stations all night drinking and breaking things. (This might be something only known to people from central/western/northern parts of europe.)

Basically by discriminating the nation is trying to supress forigners or people from mixed relationships so that their culture doesnt disappear or lose its form by melting with cultures that are brought into the country. I know that it isnt a nice way of dealing with problems, but thats how it is. Interractial relationships indirectly create a problem and as result they are being pressured by it in many cases.

Even if we take all these factors out, although its the society who minds, its the relationship and children that have the problems. Mixing races is objectivly speaking as neutral as it can get, however sadly it isnt like that in practice. As you said, a lot of people might have experienced perfectly normal lives like you did, sadly there are a far greater number that havent. Your input isnt made invaild by that fact, but it doesnt make it significantly important since nothing of what we are discussing about has happened to you. While people really shouldnt care about mixed relationships, the circumstances dont always work out for the best as stated so its an important factor as well. Living a life under possible oppression or similar doesnt sound quite fun to me, nor would I like my child to grow up with such problems in life.

My parents are interracial and seem to have a stable marriage. There's never any race involved with their marriage. If they argue, it's usually about money or suspicions. I don't see a bad thing with it at all, not saying that I could or could not ever do it.

But if the problems that come with interracial relationships comes from how society oppresses them, then doesn't that make it pretty clear?



A few posts ago you said you weren't trying to suggest people let race influence there decision to have a relationship and children, but here it seems to me your implying in society's that have a problem with interracial relationships people should just avoid them because that is the popular thing to do.



You may be right, but isn't that still a problem of society rather than interracial relationships themselves?



From what i'm reading, it seems peoples own prejudices regarding race/culture are what cause the problems. Blaming the relationships themselves seems like the wrong way to go.

1st paragraph. Actually no, if for example a country country wanted to preserve their own culture by disciminating, deporting or simply considering someone who is foregin or mixed less important, it would be hard to tell who has the upper hand. Because it is their country, their heritage and of course their rules. Of course that would be a pretty rascist country and that would be inconsistent with the law that every person is equal, however if the people of country, so the country itself, were to go against promotion of culture other than their own, they would have the full right to do so.

2nd. Basically everything that is stated in the first one since you misunderstood obviously what it meant. Basically even if it was rascist, if the citizens of the country approved of a law that supresses culture or religion other than their own, they wouldnt have any need to discriminate. In short, if foreign children/parents or parents of mixed culture and their children were to adapt to that countries customs rather than supporting their own in a land that isnt theirs, there would be a lot less problems. Of course the interracial relationship doesnt have any intention of causing that problem, but the problem already exists with being in such a relationship.

3rd. Like said, its the society that has the problem, but the relationship suffers from it. So basically it is a problem of the relationship although the relationship doesnt initiate it.

4th. Nobody blames the relationship, however the relationship does create the problem. So nothing to comment there.

As Black JC already stated multiple times, I don't think there's a problem between interracial relationships at all. Of course this is a personal opinion. When you live in a Multi-racial country like Malaysia, interracial relationships are bound to happen. I know of a friend's parents that are of different race and they get along splendidly. I have an Indian friend that got into a relationship with a Chinese girl, they were getting along fine and it was an envious relationship really. Although, it ended horribly.... but it wasn't the race fault or anything.

It's just racism talking when you bring race into a relationship. True, I myself don't feel attracted to dark skin women but I like them as friends and I have TONS of friends from a different race. It's just a matter of preference and taste in my case. I prefer fair skin women. That just about sums it up.