D&D General Fantasy Racism in D&D

[Warren Ellis]

So I have write ups for my races that depict their typical stereotypes of the other core races. I post one or two of these here periodically; let's do the dwarves this time, as they are perhaps, at least culturally, the most prejudiced race in my game.

Honestly, isn't a lot of real-world racism primarily cultural and less about skin tone, even in the US? As in a lot of objections on minorities boil down to "they aren't like us (culturally)"?

I'm beginning to wonder more and more if most racism really is some form of xenophobia actually.

 

[Mercurius]

Honestly, isn't a lot of real-world racism primarily cultural and less about skin tone, even in the US? As in a lot of objections on minorities boil down to "they aren't like us (culturally)"?

I'm beginning to wonder more and more if most racism really is some form of xenophobia actually.

I think that is true for most people who hold racist attitudes: a combination of xenophobia and ignorance, derived from upbringing. Outright racism in the dictionary sense of the word--belief in the inherent superiority or inferiority of a given race--mainly seems to stem from extremist idealogues who leverage ignorance and xenophobia for political and economic gain.

(Systemic racism is somewhat different, though, but veers too much into real world politics)

 

[Guest 6801328]

Honestly, isn't a lot of real-world racism primarily cultural and less about skin tone, even in the US? As in a lot of objections on minorities boil down to "they aren't like us (culturally)"?

I'm beginning to wonder more and more if most racism really is some form of xenophobia actually.

I'm pretty firmly convinced that it's ingrained in human nature, in the older parts of our brains, to look for ways to distinguish "us" from "them" in order to rationalize hogging whatever we perceive the scare resources to be. The joke is on our genes, though, because the newer parts of our brain have given us reasoning skills that let us override those instincts. If we choose to.

 

[Mercurius]

I'm pretty firmly convinced that it's ingrained in human nature, in the older parts of our brains, to look for ways to distinguish "us" from "them" in order to rationalize hogging whatever we perceive the scare resources to be. The joke is on our genes, though, because the newer parts of our brain have given us reasoning skills that let us override those instincts. If we choose to.

I hear your point, but racism adds another element than merely seeing "us" and "them." It is seeing "them" in a negative light, whether consciously or sub-consciously.

 

[DammitVictor]

I got zero problem with racism in fantasy settings. I loves me some racism in my fantasy settings-- as long as the fantasy racism tends to be like real-world racism, in that it is hypocritical, cowardly, and objectively wrong.

I don't run alignment in my games, so if a player wants their character to be racist against goblinoids-- or even "good-aligned" demihumans-- that's fine. Paladins are still bound by their Oaths, even Paladins' Oaths leave a fair bit of discretionary wiggle room in treating conflicts with different cultures and different kiths differently.

Obviously, I have a serious problem with DMs who treat bigotry as Objectively Good, just like I have a problem with DMs who think every human is racist (because it's Good) and that even the most hatefully racist 1/3 CR dirtfarmer is going to directly provoke the heavily-armed goblin who is traveling with a company of heavily-armed knights, a vested priest of the dirtfarmer's religion, and a wizard who might turn him into a goblin just for kicks.

That's what microaggressions are for. He's going to call the goblin PC "one of the good ones", say he's "a credit to his kind", and go home and take it out on his wife and kids and maybe their goblin slaves.

I would prefer either a little more fantasy in my fantasy, or a little more realism in my realism, than I get from most Dungeon Masters who embrace the fantasy racism in their settings.

 

[5atbu]

I got zero problem with racism in fantasy settings. I loves me some racism in my fantasy settings-- as long as the fantasy racism tends to be like real-world racism, in that it is hypocritical, cowardly, and objectively wrong.

This.

 

[Eltab]

My group hasn't really done anything with racism until very recently: we individually created a group that turned out to be 3 Dragonborns, 1 (noble) Tiefling, 1 Dwarf, and 1 Human. For a campaign in a pseudo-Ravenloft.
Right now we get snubbed at the tavern &c because "you can't trust folks you didn't already met" and the Authorities think we are the first choice for dirty (or dangerous) tasks, with an all-Human NPC party following us around in case we need rescued by 'the competent fellows'.

 

[Derren]

I got zero problem with racism in fantasy settings. I loves me some racism in my fantasy settings-- as long as the fantasy racism tends to be like real-world racism, in that it is hypocritical, cowardly, and objectively wrong.

Thing is, in fantasy setting the different races do have actual differences between them. So when a dwarf says that elves can't hold their liquor he is on average correct because of the difference in CON. And orcs are not as smart as many other humanoid races (especially to gnomes).

 

[DammitVictor]

Thing is, in fantasy setting the different races do have actual differences between them. So when a dwarf says that elves can't hold their liquor he is on average correct because of the difference in CON. And orcs are not as smart as many other humanoid races (especially to gnomes).

Sure, and a lot of people care about that, but I don't-- I could have been more specific. I mean "racism" in the sense that the different races are not like in moral worth, in dignity-- that orcish culture isn't a real culture, that orcs cannot participate in a civilized culture, the demihumans are people and humanoids are monsters.

The other stuff is just stereotypes. Stereotypes often have some basis in reality, even if that "reality" is just the circumstances imposed by the people doing the stereotyping.

 

[the Jester]

Honestly, isn't a lot of real-world racism primarily cultural and less about skin tone, even in the US? As in a lot of objections on minorities boil down to "they aren't like us (culturally)"?

I'm beginning to wonder more and more if most racism really is some form of xenophobia actually.

I think this is true in a lot of cases, but a lot of it is so ingrained- at least where I grew up, in rural Northern California- that there isn't an objection behind it, just a matter of how people are raised. It's ingrained and unconscious. I'll give you two examples- as a kid, the only kid around my age close enough to be my friend had a Confederate flag on his wall. It never even occurred to me to question its place there, because I didn't even realize that it was objectionable for many years. (It didn't help that the Dukes of Hazard had it emblazoned across the top of their car, and in fact, I suspect that is why my neighbor had it.)

Another anecdote from my childhood: When I was in 6th or 7th grade, I had a book from a series called Truly Tasteless Jokes (probably number 7 or something). I read a joke that I now recognize as being totally dehumanizing and racist, but at the time I simply didn't understand it- it revolved around the idea that bowling balls were the eggs of black people. I even told it to someone at school once, hoping that their reaction would help me get it. I didn't do that as an act of intentional racism, but looking back on it, good God! No matter my intentions, I was repeating a horribly racist joke, and it didn't even occur to me to question whether telling it was a good or bad idea. Now I recognize how awful it was- I am aghast at my younger self's obliviousness- but neither I, nor the kid I told it to (who also didn't get it, I don't think) realized what I was doing at the time.

And I guess yeah, that joke was about xenophobia- after all, "real" people don't lay eggs- but the meaning was lost on me, and I still told the joke. Awful, but unconsciously and unintentionally so. It's not that I intended to dehumanize anyone, but I was doing so anyway. I was just trying to be funny. Gaah.