"That awkward moment when I realized my white “liberal” friends were racists"

[Behind the Aegis]

50. I went to a public university in South Carolina about 20 years ago.

It is interesting you picked up on the bathroom stall comment. That popped out to me too. I will need the guys to back me up here, but in men's stalls, it is a much different story than the women's stalls. Like you, I was a RA too (then a hall director, and eventually an area coordinator). Most of the stalls in the residence halls didn't have graffiti. There might be some in the common bathrooms shared with the public, but the main floors it was rare.

When I saw that comment, I was thinking more of common bathrooms....gas stations and the like. Those things look like novels and the racism, homophobia, sexism, and anti-Semitism were astonishing. I would guess now many would reflect anti-Latino, anti-Muslim, and a few others depending on what part of the country one was visiting. For shits and giggles (oooo...bad pun), maybe I will pop into a few johns around here and see if things have changed. Some cities are better at keeping stalls clean. We live in a small town (under 40K), so I may have to pop on down to Tulsa.

The thing is, personally, I feel the internet itself has become the bathroom stall door for many people. One simply has to go to comment boards of new outlets (some are better than others) and see the filth people spew when they aren't known. Plus, people don't have to sit on the pot all day, they can shit anywhere, everywhere, anytime of the day or night, they just use a different medium now.

I feel college allows for some people to grow because they are finally around different people, but many still self-segregate and, sadly, reinforce the hate, bigotry, and prejudices they already have.