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20 sats \ 23 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 28 Jan \ parent \ on: Is Racism Enabled by Capitalism, or the State? | The Libertarian Institute econ
That reasoning only holds when there's no consumer demand for racism. Whites-only restaurants and stores could potentially be perfectly viable, if that's what enough patrons want.
I think it's more in non-customer-facing businesses that the more standard economic logic comes into play, about losing out on profits by turning away better workers.
Yes, potentially marginally viable because they would be avoiding a fair number of potential customers. They could be much more profitable with all potential customers.
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That depends how racist the majority population is and how relatively wealthy they are. It's very easy to cook up examples where more customers are alienated by integrating than are gained by it.
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How racist do you think the population is? Do they actually give a hoot? Racists can always avoid situations that are displeasing to them.
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I'm just taking this as a hypothetical question.
The market has some corrective mechanisms against racist behavior, but they don't apply universally.
Of course, in similarly racist societies, the one with the larger state will likely have more racist outcomes.
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OK. Have you ever been to an openly racist or religionist place? You would know immediately that the racism or religionism is enforced not only by custom but by the state, also. I think that the roots or racism, religionism and tribalism are exactly the same: we are similar and you are different, so we can do anything we want to you because you are outgroup.
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China is probably the most openly racist place I've ever been, but it doesn't manifest in trying to deny people service. I imagine they'd be allowed to, but I don't know.
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Did you pay differently for things compared to the locals? That just might give you an indication. If you haggle more fiercely than the locals, sometimes they give up the discrimination.
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I'm sure I got got in my attempts at haggling, but I also felt like all the prices I got were very reasonable.
A black was interviewed in China and he told them people tried to clean his skin. Peak ignorance. Did they think he’d turn into a Disney prince mid scrub?
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Once, I was asked by a crowd if everything I saw was blue (I have blue eyes). I knew that they couldn’t figure out if I even saw well. But this was a totally inoffensive question, compared to some I had gotten. There is propaganda in many places about people’s various habits.
I'm not surprised and I have no idea what they expected would happen.