Tootsie, I think you are racist towards me.

jolanda,

nope not racist against anybody, I do like some people more than others though. i dislike people who put people down and tell stories to suit their agenda, but make out that they are good to the bone.

dont you have a hunger strike to get to.

Tootsie, using your criteria you must'nt like yourself very much.

Tootsie, you seem to hate me, not for anything that I did to you but for what I stand for and believe in. That is racism.

Jolanda: "...you seem to hate me, not for anything that I did to you but for what I stand for and believe in. That is racism."

Um, no Jolanda. You seem a bit confused - a prejudice or antipathy towards someone because of their politics and/or beliefs is not racism. As others have pointed out, 'racism' involves attributing certain innate attributes to individuals who are classified as belonging to a particular 'racial' group - however that is defined by the racist who is doing the attributing.

I agree that Islamophobia, homophobia and other examples of social incompetence are similar structurally to racism, in that those who discriminate against other people on such grounds tend to do so mindlessly, hatefully, vocally and repetitively.

But that doesn't mean that a mindless hatred or fear of Islam is racism in itself - although I've noticed that most Islamophobes in this forum tend to also express racist ideas, and are often homophobic as well. Some of them also seem to have very strange ideas about food.

Go figure :

Racism is in my view very near evil, all forms of it, but I too am called a racist more than often.
This week in rural NSW I saw racism, and its user was both unaware he was acting in a racist way and from a minority.
A group had gone to a services club to watch one of the best athletes this country ever produced fight, most in truth went to see this great sportsman beaten, me included.
However we watched Lionel Rose in the crowd and an outbreak of Goodonya mate came from us and almost every one on seeing him.
The fight from first blow was in the hands of maybe the best fighter in the world, for sure the best in Australia.
A person in the crowd began calling for the opponent to be killed and constantly shouted he had no heart.
At the end of the fight a very few shouted for joy while most just trudged out in silence.
The gentle man who thought the opponent had no heart stayed at the door and informed those of us not applauding we acted like racists.
Racism is a complex issue and we need to understand it in all its form,
My post may be deleted but we still need to both understand it is always evil and sometimes it is ,thankfully, a minority view.