This is why calling someone a racist will soon have no meaning. I can remember someone assuming that an ancient banker was probably Jewish because, well, I don't know, I guess because all Jews are bankers or all bankers are Jews? Was that person a racist? I absolutely don't believe that.
We have had a very long history in this country of what used to be called "ethnic" humor, usually traded between men. In those jokes, the Italians are mobsters, you pick Jews as your accountants, the Irish are usually drunk, and it takes five Poles to screw in a light bulb. Now, am I the kind of person who indulges in that kind of humor? No, I'm not. I think trading on stereotypes is a sign of lazy thinking. Plus, I'm sensitive to the fact that some people might be offended. On the other hand, I never thought that people who told those kinds of jokes were monsters who wanted to hurt or take away the rights of the people they were mocking. Nowadays, in this ultra PC world, people are afraid to make those kinds of jokes, so much so that comedians, including a lot of black comedians, say they're no longer interested in performing on college campuses.
You can't possibly think that Trump, whose daughter Ivanka married a Jew, converted to Judaism herself, and is raising her children as Jews is anti-Semitic?
As for the ad in the paper, would it have been ok if they were guilty? Would it have been ok if the alleged perpetrators were white? I can't look into his heart, so I don't know if his outrage would have been the same if men from some white motorcycle group had gang raped a young woman. Maybe I tend to think other people are like me. It would have made absolutely no difference to me. The law doesn't allow it, but my instinct in these cases has always been for castration if I'm to be truthful.
The comment about the judge with Mexican ancestry was stupid (he may have to go before the same judge multiple times), immature, impulsive, and spiteful. It's a good example of why I don't think he has the judgment to be president. However, does it prove he's a racist? What does that even mean in that context? He's not saying he's not competent because he's Mexican, he's suggesting that maybe given that Trump wants to build a wall, and at that point was talking about deportations, this judge of Mexican ancestry might be letting his personal feelings influence him. Now, I'll guarantee you that I know more about judges than anyone here. Most of them try very hard to be objective, but not all, and even those that try don't always succeed. Heck, I know a defense lawyer who became a judge and because he feels so badly about all the guilty people he helped set free he always leans on the side of the prosecution. So, like I said, stupid, yes, racist is a stretch.
Look I don't want to turn into an apologist for a man I couldn't vote for and whose election makes me very nervous, but calling someone a racist should be reserved for those people whom we can know pretty convincingly wish to deny equal rights to other citizens based on their color, ethnic origin or religion...people like the David Dukes of the world, people like Senator Byrd, who was a card carrying member of the KKK, and yet whom Hillary Clinton eulogized, or the disgusting hypocrites like Strom Thurmond who voted again and again for segregation, but fathered a half black child. Otherwise, pretty soon that word won't mean anything at all.
@Vallicanus,
I don't know, did you believe that Jack and Bobby Kennedy wished sincerely to help poor, oppressed black people?
