You can detect racist comments where no malice was intended with great frequency. To simplify my life I never use the term racist, but will express disdain for bigotry, where malice is intended. Undoubtedly you could scour mudcat threads and find a books' worth of racist comments spoken in favor of certain minorities or exploited groups.

Which reminds me of a little story of no real relevance. My daughter and I were sitting in a waiting room at school. There was an elegant and well dressed Latin woman, with an accent, and a bleached blonde neighbor of ours.

The Latin lady said: "What is big-OH-tree?" Pardon, we asked. She pointed to a poster on the wall, with a blurb about bigotry.

The blonde said "Um. Well. You know, like, um, Hispanics."

My daughter thought that wasn't the best answer.