Ending "Race": Final Thoughts
Welcome back, readers! I have finished reading Mark Aronson’s “Race”. Aronson finished his extensive history of race and racism by discussing the civil rights era as well as modern racial bias. This week, I’d like to conclude my blog by giving my thoughts on the book as a whole.
Aronson summarizes his thoughts on race in the final section titled “In Every Age” in which he says he believes “that human beings are prejudiced,” (Page 267). He later adds an uplifting quote from a Jewish song:
This is a refreshing contrast to the main themes throughout the book. While yes, we feel the need to create an “us and them” type of society and find it easier to make prejudicial assumptions about certain groups, we are not hopeless people. Everyone has the choice to see everyone as equals no matter how ingrained in us it is to think otherwise. The reason that this inspiring tone is not utilized until the ending of the book is because of Aronson’s intent to warn the reader of what can occur when people practice prejudice. Mainly, Aronson uses the four pillars of race to effectively explain how racism came to be an issue, and why we must actively use history as an example of mistakes we should not repeat.
The first pillar of race is the idea that “physical differences matter,” (Page 2). We see this key theme is Aronson’s descriptions of monstrous men. Although these deformed depictions of people were not a race, the disgust that Christians had for them soon contributed to the oppression of many groups in Europe. Dark skin and the facial characteristics of Jews would soon be seen as demonic or monstrous. As we know, centuries of discrimination against black people and Jews occurred after the bible introduced monstrous men, proving that physical difference really did matter. Besides societies in which class determined your worth, being deemed “different” or “abnormal” in any way could cause a person to be chastised by the community around them.
The second and third pillars of race continued off of the first one: “these differences in our bodies cannot be changed,” “that is because they are inherited,” (Page 3). Aronson showed that “unchangeable differences” affected many different types of groups. Christians believed that Africans were born to be slaves in order to justify the practice of slavery. Some European countries had a class system, meaning a person’s entire life was dictated by the class that they were born into. These beliefs easily lead Christians and high ranked people to develop a sense of superiority (which they, of course, had not earned).
The fourth and final pillar states that “each group has a distinct level of brain power and moral refinement, thus they are naturally and unchangeably ranked,” (Page 3). I believe this to be the most harmful pillar that Aronson emphasizes. Not only does it encase the ideas of the last three, but it also challenges the morality of large groups of people. I believe that the morality of an innocent person is not something that should be questioned, especially when it has prejudicial roots of any kind. Unfortunately, this seems to be the most prevalent in history according to Aronson. This pillar is weaved into every era, every country, every belief system at one point or another. I believe it is the main theme that Aronson intends to warn us readers about with this book. It’s a destructive and deadly idea that compliments the “us and them” mentality which has caused war, genocide, and bias against innocent people throughout history.
I am incredibly glad that I read this book. Although a single author cannot teach me everything, it was a good place to start for a young person from a rural area. Although it was at first confusing that Aronson started his history lesson so far before the invention of race, it was essential to understanding why race came to be so emphasized in our modern-day culture. I appreciate Aronson’s thorough appeal to logos and ethos, as he built up his arguments with real events in history as well as quotes from other professionals. Of course, pathos was appealed to as well. The stories of injustice told in this book brought out my emotions as a reader, as he makes it so clear that these types of prejudices could happen to any group, and has harmed many in the past. I think the most important thing that I can take away from this book is that we all must be conscious of why we treat others the way that we do. We may have learned biases, but we have the power to recognize and change them.
Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope you learned something new!
Aronson summarizes his thoughts on race in the final section titled “In Every Age” in which he says he believes “that human beings are prejudiced,” (Page 267). He later adds an uplifting quote from a Jewish song:
“In every age, a hero or sage came to our aid,” (Page 268).
This is a refreshing contrast to the main themes throughout the book. While yes, we feel the need to create an “us and them” type of society and find it easier to make prejudicial assumptions about certain groups, we are not hopeless people. Everyone has the choice to see everyone as equals no matter how ingrained in us it is to think otherwise. The reason that this inspiring tone is not utilized until the ending of the book is because of Aronson’s intent to warn the reader of what can occur when people practice prejudice. Mainly, Aronson uses the four pillars of race to effectively explain how racism came to be an issue, and why we must actively use history as an example of mistakes we should not repeat.
The first pillar of race is the idea that “physical differences matter,” (Page 2). We see this key theme is Aronson’s descriptions of monstrous men. Although these deformed depictions of people were not a race, the disgust that Christians had for them soon contributed to the oppression of many groups in Europe. Dark skin and the facial characteristics of Jews would soon be seen as demonic or monstrous. As we know, centuries of discrimination against black people and Jews occurred after the bible introduced monstrous men, proving that physical difference really did matter. Besides societies in which class determined your worth, being deemed “different” or “abnormal” in any way could cause a person to be chastised by the community around them.
The second and third pillars of race continued off of the first one: “these differences in our bodies cannot be changed,” “that is because they are inherited,” (Page 3). Aronson showed that “unchangeable differences” affected many different types of groups. Christians believed that Africans were born to be slaves in order to justify the practice of slavery. Some European countries had a class system, meaning a person’s entire life was dictated by the class that they were born into. These beliefs easily lead Christians and high ranked people to develop a sense of superiority (which they, of course, had not earned).
The fourth and final pillar states that “each group has a distinct level of brain power and moral refinement, thus they are naturally and unchangeably ranked,” (Page 3). I believe this to be the most harmful pillar that Aronson emphasizes. Not only does it encase the ideas of the last three, but it also challenges the morality of large groups of people. I believe that the morality of an innocent person is not something that should be questioned, especially when it has prejudicial roots of any kind. Unfortunately, this seems to be the most prevalent in history according to Aronson. This pillar is weaved into every era, every country, every belief system at one point or another. I believe it is the main theme that Aronson intends to warn us readers about with this book. It’s a destructive and deadly idea that compliments the “us and them” mentality which has caused war, genocide, and bias against innocent people throughout history.
I am incredibly glad that I read this book. Although a single author cannot teach me everything, it was a good place to start for a young person from a rural area. Although it was at first confusing that Aronson started his history lesson so far before the invention of race, it was essential to understanding why race came to be so emphasized in our modern-day culture. I appreciate Aronson’s thorough appeal to logos and ethos, as he built up his arguments with real events in history as well as quotes from other professionals. Of course, pathos was appealed to as well. The stories of injustice told in this book brought out my emotions as a reader, as he makes it so clear that these types of prejudices could happen to any group, and has harmed many in the past. I think the most important thing that I can take away from this book is that we all must be conscious of why we treat others the way that we do. We may have learned biases, but we have the power to recognize and change them.
Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope you learned something new!
A good overview of the book and its major argument, traced well throughout the book.
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