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[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

This is a third rail. I think anti-Muslim nonsense is xenophobia. Racism here is racism against African Americans.

This is a very unpopular position among white liberals.

I hold to it. Racism, here, is a unique thing. It should not be diluted to include religious persecution.

Mel Gibson's rant about Jews was not racism. It was xenophobia, religious hatred, and cultural bigotry. His later rant about Blacks was racism.

Given that scientifically, the term "racism" as applied to anyone is inaccurate, I'd like to retire it. Except that in context, here, it now stands for hatred of African Americans. In this regard, it should be preserved. And it should describe, at least here, mostly, if not entirely, a phenomenon where people discriminate against and hate others based on African genetic background. (Which heritage of course includes all of us... but that's just "science' again, and you get the point.)

I've never been comfortable with anti-Muslim or anti-Semitic behavior being lumped into the category of racism. It's lazy and strikes me as an attempt to opportunistically expand the term.

Do you see a difference in wrong between racism against blacks, and xenophobia (?) ala Mel Gibson against Jews? I get the Jewish people have overcome more of the original hate than blacks, but as to the haters, do we have to modify our dislike based upon that factor?