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Originally Posted by Ghostwriter
I once took a wrong turn in Torrance, CA and ended up in a rough looking side of LA. On a street corner there were several black teens/men wearing a particular blue color. I presumed they were gang members. I was concerned and afraid. In hindsight they could have been a local basketball team but I was afraid. Now that I have shared how I felt with all of you I need to know if I am a bigot? If so, I guarantee that many of you are also bigots because fear and being afraid are emotions. Sometimes you can't help but have fear and concerns be they irrational or not.
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Your experience just isn't relevant here - if you want me to enumerate the reasons I can, but you likely know better (hint: apples/oranges w/re/to context clues).
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If it is the perception of those who hear ones feelings and opinions that makes a bigot then I really guess that it will always come down to which end of the political spectrum one is speaking from.
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It isn't "perception". You were SO QUICK to define bigotry, and now you're just ignoring those definitions?
It's simple: prejudice against a group and an unwillingness to be open-minded against that prejudice (which should be our working definition of "intolerant" here) makes you bigoted. That has nothing to do with politics, until you start assigning motive to some nebulous "Liberal Media" that may or may not exist in the form you require it.
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I now understand that the bottom line is a bigot is one who is perceived to be a bigot by certain others. It has nothing to do with ones actions and/or character.
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Actions and character matter. So does prejudice and intolerance. They are intertwined, not separate.
Also, actions? Like speaking stupid shit out of your face on national TV? Or character? Like acting indignant when others call out stupid shit? This can't be discussed in TheoryWorld, because it really happened and there is existing context.
It's fine if you don't feel that Williams deserved to be fired - I think that's a fair argument to have, even if I feel his employer had nearly no choice and thus disagree. But instead of being polemic, attempting to make some global observation about race relations is just silly onanism masquerading as discourse - it's short-sighted, borderline masturbatory, and 100% non sequitur.