It's just amazing to me...

[misanthrope]

...in light of what I encounter literally every single day in interactions with others, in regard to what I see and hear on television and the radio, in consideration of what I read on the Internet, that anyone cannot see how severe the racial chasms in this nation are.

It's one thing to know it intellectually, it's another to experience it endlessly. It's quite another level, though, to hear people deny it to themselves and others with the frequency and fervor that they do.

Stupefying.

[Angela Shelley]

1. It´s the same with many important issues.

and it´s very clearly seen in an internet forum.

See topics like the Occupation of Iraq, homelessness, health care, etc.

"Cognitive dissonance" is painful. Most people do not want to change their thought patterns.

[Chovexani]

2. Welcome to being black in America.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. ...or gay, Jewish, female, poor....

...the list, sadly, goes on and on.

[misanthrope]

6. It's not the prejudice that's as astounding as...

...the denial of its existence.

It's...freaking...EV-E-RY-WHERE and the gymnastics of rationale people go through to remain ignorant of it are mindblowing.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Not really all that amazing.

Racism, sexism, homophobia, and even anti-Semitism are still plagues. Some '-isms' get more play than others, but the excusing and dismissing, it still causes the same pain.

[MADem]

5. All politics is local. Your 'group' can vary, depending on context.

When you're in the middle of Tokyo and no one speaks English, and you barely speak Japanese, your 'group' is that redneck, that brown feller, and that black lady who are from your country and share your greater culture. That's "cozy"--that's your team.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

[misanthrope]

8. Well, I'm in a small, small group...

...After decades, I've grown exasperated of dealing with it, so have attempted to limit myself to folks that don't dole it out. Needless, to say, I'm a pretty lonely person now.

It's omnipresent. It feels as if I can't get into a conversation with someone without racism or bigotry cropping up in some form and many of them don't see it. Most just don't care.

[seabeyond]

7. i hear people all around pretend it isnt true. i dont know how they can seriously

convince themselves of this either.

no sexiism either. we live in a totally balanced and fair society to all race gender and age.