Okay, White 'Murrica....

[Thumpalumpacus]

No, he said nothing about a "perceived injustice".

Come on, you're smarter than this. The perceived injustice was that you let the other guy go first. Which he most definitely did reference.

And you're smarter than this. He said that I was acting unjustly because I was white, the same race as the other guy, when that in fact had nothing to do with my suggestion. The incident merely brought that attitude of his to the surface.

Which you clearly know full well, because you yourself referenced it right after denying that it existed:

And I wonder what's more unjust, having to wait a couple of minutes to pump one's gas because another car was in front of yours, or having your character slurred because of your ethnicity?

Does it really matter?

I am arguing the point on your terms, not accepting them as truth. It's a rhetorical device, not an admission of your veracity. In other words, if you think being forced to wait a few minutes to pump gas is unjust, then what do you think of the comparative injustice of having your character slurred based on irrelevant criteria? Which do you think cuts deeper? That's my point.

All I'm pointing out here is that his assumption was not based only on the fact that you are white.

And you'd be wrong. His assumption was based on my skin color. His anger was based on his being inconvenienced.

No, it certainly isn't.

Why not? Don't you think that someone so bigoted as to commit a crime shows a higher level of commitment to his own hatreds than someone who is simply an ignorant asshole but keeps it to himself?

I have found, however, that people in the south (especially the deep South) are far more likely to voice racist opinions. maybe they're just more honest. Or maybe it's more socially-acceptable in the South.

My own opinion, and it's only an opinion, is that it's considered more acceptable here, mainly because it's a less-cosmopolitan region of the country than either the Boston/New York/DC corridor (which still has a high amount of bigotry) or the West Coast.

That doesn't mean there aren't just as many racists elsewhere, it just means that Southern culture is more tolerant of racist speech.

Perhaps.

Well, judging someone as probably racist because he drives a pickup truck and wears cowboy boots doesn't seem to make much more sense than judging someone as probably criminal because he drives a dropped 67 Impala and cops a sag with his jeans, now does it?

It makes exactly the same amount of sense.

To wit, none.

So choose your stereotype carefully, because you will be judged by it.

Rather than choose stereotypes, I prefer to challenge them ... and recognize them in myself, so that I don't make ungenerous assumptions about strangers that aren't borne out by the facts.