Quote Originally Posted by The Vicious Monkey
In any case, people are not born racists. Not at all. But people are born with a fear of what's unknown, so our brain will as quick as possible try to tell us what it is that we see. When we see a stranger, we will look at him, and depending on what we see (what colour his skin has, what kind of clothes he wears etc.) we will fit him or her into the most fitting "box" (that is for example, a "black people box", a "muslim box" etc.). But just knowing what some kind of people/thing/animal is called is worth just as much as knowing that that is a tiger, but not knowing that the tiger is dangerous. So these boxes are given certain values, and those values will be given to everyone who fits into these boxes. This is for example how you immediately upon entering know that a classroom is a classroom, not a church without having to study it any closer. But of course, sometimes it goes wrong, and we think that a group of people, or a box, has values that they really don't have, which is all the more evident when it comes to people. (I mean, how often do you go into what you think is a church, but then find out is a classroom?

If you for the first time saw a muslim, and you do not know what a muslim is, would you be scared of him? No, because fear comes from "knowledge" rather than not knowing. Just look at how animals at never-before-visited-places react to humans: they show no fear.
You'd rather be interested in finding out what a muslim is before you cast what is, in your eyes, the proper judge.

If you do not understand someone though, you might act with precaution, and the precaution might lead to racism.


Quote Originally Posted by HoreTore
There are two kinds of racism: structural and casual. The structural rascism is the one that really hurts, the casual racism doesn't matter nearly as much. It is the structural racism that can only be performed by the dominant group, the casual racism is for everyone.

What is what? Is racism tought to you by your parents structural, or are you then talking about nation wide racism or community racism?