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Originally Posted by Ibby
I have a question for you, classic. What percentage of our country do you believe is racist to some degree or another?
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Racism must be defined before that question can be answered. Does racism only mean you think white people are superior to blacks people? Does it mean one race is somehow superior/inferior to another in certain aspects? Does racism apply to only conscious actions or subconscious thoughts and actions as well? Can cultural prejudice be considered racism? Can only people enforcing power be considered racist?
Different people have different definitions of what racism is and it is very easy to have very emotional arguments over something that is purely semantic. Keep in mind that, while I (and I'm assuming you) disagree with this definition, racism is largely defined as limited to people who have extreme animosity towards people of another skin color and racists are considered to be on the same level of those who committed genocide with that definition. This definition is popular here in the United States due to the extreme racism that existed.
Therefore, while my definition of racism is very loose (I think almost everyone who grew up in a racist environment is technically racist to some degree), I need to be careful throwing it around because some people have a much different definition and can, rightfully, take much offense to it.