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Comment by zamalek | Hacker News Reader

> It's ethno-nationalist supremacy by a powerful group believing they are superior to others who are seen as "animals".

And this largely encapsulates the original definition of racism/racialism; it was far more extreme than hating some other race (which has become the modern dictionary definition). Hating Mexicans who (you incorrectly believe) are taking jobs that Americans would have filled is a very different mental state to believing that a group of humans is no better than animals (thereby "justifying" horrific acts like slavery and concentration camps).

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> ...is a very different mental state to believing that a group of humans is no better than animals

Is it really? At the very least, the borders between those mental states seem quite blurry.

As soon as one group targets another for hatred, they're essentially saying that the target group is lesser in some way. It's like the first step off the cliff edge - you might still be near the top of the cliff, but now it's just a matter of time.

That point has been proved by the current US president, who has literally said things like, "they're not humans, they're animals," about migrants - that's just one example of a direct quote.

> the current US president, who has literally said things like, "they're not humans, they're animals,"

Oh... wow. I didn't realize it had gone that far. A very poor example in that case. Here's a more crisp example:

The "white man" was, by original (and modern) definition, racist in regards to Africa, we categorically believed that "whites" were better than "blacks" - and that's not only the export of slaves to America. Things were pretty dire even within current human memory, and pockets of racists continue to thrive today (it seemed largely based on age in my experience, all of my friends weren't but many 50+ were).

Contrast that with Malema's "kill the boer" song that I'm sure many international folks have heard[1]. The underlying cause for this is hatred stems from the aforementioned historical and current racism - there is no belief that "we are better" (there is certainly a belief that "we are more deserving of our ancestral land"). Malema couldn't be a racist using the original definition of racism, but definitely is using the modern definition.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubul%27_ibhunu

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