Susan - I think :~ (    (is that it?) is an o.k. response of disapproval of racism, tho' the poster might not know it means disapproval.

Surely there is an obvious objection to disliking a racial (?)group ,e.g. Arabs. That is, in EVERY group, some are "good", some are "not-so-good". Further, unless you've met everyone in the group, you can't have a reasonable opinion about them.

When anyone hates a group like that, they are living by stereotypes. We all know (don't we?) the situation of a stereotype crashing into REALITY, and the follow-up line,"I thought they were all ......,but when I met ....... ,I discovered that they aren't." That is surely a common element of racists and anyone wealding stereotypes. They don't KNOW anyone or hardly anyone of the relevant group. (Rather like people hating classical music;ask them if they've heard any and chances are pickings will be mighty slim.)

So hating all ........ is treating a piece of ignorance (the stereotype)as the truth when it is obviously NOT.

I doubt if there is AN answer to how to respond to racists 'cos, as with all other groups, there is no one type.

If the racism is owing to ignorance, some cool facts/education could help; if it is down to fear (conscious or unconscious), I doubt if argument will be fruitful.

How about us finding, as a community, some way of deciding that there is nothing further fruitful to be done with a given racist and to have a simultaneous signal to fall silent. My limited experience here is that racists go away quite soon.

There is stuff to read about the experiences of various oppressed peoples. For example, for the black experience there is the wonderful and sad "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin. For those who don't know it, it's about a white journalist who alters the pigment of his skin in a hotel, and emerges to discover what the black experience is like, as an experience.


Finally, I'd like to say I think this is a community of essentially non- and anti-racists, and if any of us feels threatened or smells dubiousness in postings, no-one should be backward in picking it up.

Ivor (in Norwich 11.25p.m. and I'm bloody cold)