The problem is that people are then able to compartmentalize. Racists are trashy people like Bull Connor, so the viewer/reader can say, "Well, I'm not like THAT, so I'm not a racist." If they're not out lynching people or campaigning for segregation, then they're ok, no matter what else they believe. And then trying to get them to examine their beliefs hits a brick wall, because OMG YOU JUST ACCUSED THEM OF CROSS BURNING.
My god, yes. The number of times I have heard someone go nuts about the suggestion that they were bullying or deriding someone on account of their race, where they took the attitude that, because their cruelty was supposedly colour-blind it was fine.... (that's not quite what you said but I think it logicially follows.)
My uncle also has a habit of claiming that whenever a non-white employee is dissatisfied then they instantly pull the 'race card'- the last time he said this he mimed showing a card, just in case we didn't get what he meant.
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Date: 2012-02-03 11:01 pm (UTC)My god, yes. The number of times I have heard someone go nuts about the suggestion that they were bullying or deriding someone on account of their race, where they took the attitude that, because their cruelty was supposedly colour-blind it was fine.... (that's not quite what you said but I think it logicially follows.)
My uncle also has a habit of claiming that whenever a non-white employee is dissatisfied then they instantly pull the 'race card'- the last time he said this he mimed showing a card, just in case we didn't get what he meant.