96. vivo: I would like to make a slight addendum to your argument if you don’t mind. I think you have painted with too broad of a brush here. I don’t believe that everyone is racist (I’m living proof because I’m not racist). I do, however, believe that everyone is prejudiced. There’s a difference.
An extemporaneous example: If I were to open the front door of my house and someone who I had never seen before were standing there, there’s a number of things I would immediately discern (generally in this order): Race, gender, physical size, age, dress, facial and body posture (smiling/welcoming, or frowning/threatening), and perceived intent. And you probably would make the same judgements in approximately the same order. Then we, as preprogrammed human beings, would apply our own prejudices which are based (in general) on our past experiences. If it was a fat, smiling, short white woman carrying a bible and wearing a dress, I would definately not feel very threatened. If, however, it was a young, big black guy wearing his pants sagging way down off his butt with a black baseball cap on sideways, teardrop tattoos under an eye, smelling like marijuana, I would be much more on my guard. Wouldn’t you?
regards
