doc111
Well-Known Member
This is true but I don't think it's that simple. Much of racism is passed down from parents or friends. In some cases a person may become a racist because of a bad experience. Case in point, I know a guy whose brother was killed by a black man. He now hates black people. I tell him it's irrational and that he should be mad at the black man that killed his brother and not all black people (I didn't make this up either That 5hit, lol!).Perhaps people feel the need to respond to racial epithets because they don't agree with the characterization. After all, the epithet is not merely descriptive of race but a whole range of negative connotations which work together to diminish the equal humanity of the recipient.
Racism is a public broadcast of one's inability to cope with other races, I guess. I think you make a false distinction between two kinds of speech, one within the realm of dialogue, the other not.