A note about discrimination

[Edge]

Often, when people think about discrimination, they think about obviously hostile attacks. However, that is not the only way discrimination can be expressed. Awhile ago, someone on another forum asked about the racial discrimination others had witnessed. Most of the answers said a common thing: that a lot of the discrimination they witnessed or experienced was from people who claimed not to be racist and that the racist comments were often veiled as pseudoscience. "I'm not racist, but..." was said to be a commonly heard phrase. This kind of discrimination happens against other types of demographics as well.
A harmful thing about this kind of discrimination is that, because they present themselves as calm, rational people, others tend to let it slide. This enforces the idea that it is ok. Why do people let it slide? I'm not quite sure. After all, if they really were calm and rational, then calmly and rationally correcting them shouldn't be too much of a problem. Sometimes, I think it is because, if it doesn't refer to them, people are more willing to just roll with it. I find this kind of discrimination is often dismissed by others because it is "not that bad" or not that obvious. Personally, I don't understand that point of view, but I do understand that I have more experience seeing what happens when things that are "not that bad" are allowed.
I was talking with someone the other day who pointed out another thing. She once said accidentally something discriminatory because she was not informed about that issue. She is glad that someone did speak up, so she could be informed and learn from the experience. In cases like this, it isn't fair to the person saying the discriminatory words not to correct them. Personally, I think it's best to try in any case because we don't know unless we try right?
This may just be me, but I want to live in a world where there is no discrimination. I know that the world we live in far from that, but it's something I think is worth working towards even if it never happens completely. I'm no hardcore activist, but I do believe in setting an example. I also believe in standing up for others, not just myself. After all, we teach others how to treat us. I believe we may also teach others how to treat others. (Did that sentence make sense?)

(This is not intended as an attack or comment towards anyone. It's just something I've been mulling over in my head for a few months.)

Edit: typo

[Semiopathy]

Like every other form of collectivism, racism is a quest for the unearned. It is a quest for automatic knowledge—for an automatic evaluation of men's characters that bypasses the responsibility of exercising rational or moral judgment—and, above all, a quest for an automatic self-esteem (or pseudo-self-esteem).
Like every form of determinism, racism invalidates the specific attribute which distinguishes man from all other living species: his rational faculty. Racism negates two aspects of man's life: reason and choice, or mind and morality, replacing them with chemical predestination.

-Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness

Racism is, by its nature, irrational.  A person's skin color does not affect their musculature, nor does it affect the functioning of their brain, nor its content.  To a makeup-artist, differentiating people by skin color might be essential in order to do their job well; it might matter, to them.  To anyone else, it is (or should be) a non-defining, non-essential characteristic. 
To place a certain value on someone's skin color is a form of Intrinsicism, whereby things, or people, or actions, have value in an of themselves.  No mental processing is needed to determine the good and the evil, it is inherent in the object being perceived.  All one must do is look at it and, like a bolt from the blue, will be struck with knowledge of its worth.

[Carbon]

Personally I have a tendency to just go along with what people say or to respond the way people expect me to. I often don't realize what happens until afterwards. Also, sometimes part way through a conversation I'll realize that we're actually all being really racist but the people were attaching a different meaning. Like I don't think commenting on someone's race is bad, but I mention that someone is Black or I make a joke about someone being a Mexican I kind of am not going for the reaction "haha those people really do suck."

I mean Black, mexican, etc people tend to have no problem making jokes about their background or commenting on people's race, but they also have a better idea of where to draw the line and what is actual prejudice. Whereas white people seem to not be able to differentiate between acknowledging that someone has a racial background and being a bigot. Of course nonwhite people can have the same prejudices to certain nonwhite groups and end up acting the same as white people, only getting upset when someone insults THEIR background.

Anyway I do try to say something. I recently told an older white lady that a joke made that was based on mocking how Chinese people talk was probably not the kind of thing we should be doing. She was pretty put off by me saying something but she also agreed with me in the end.  I think what people say about "oh they're old so just give up on them because they can never change" is just another kind of prejudice. She had said offensive things about a group I am a part of in the past and the thing about Chinese people didn't sting like that (me not being Chinese or Asian), but it still made me uncomfortable enough to say something. I've also criticized my family for saying bigoted things around Muslims, just to the extent that I didn't want them to act like that around me in public. Even though I am an atheist I know people don't deserve that.

[Edge]

lol I agree that acknowledging people's races (and sexual orientations, gender, and other differences) is a good thing. Yay celebrating diversity!
That reminds of something else that was said to me. A couple of lgb people I know told me that they are put off by people ignoring diversity in orientation since they felt like their existence was ignored. It most likely wasn't on purpose and wasn't meant maliciously, but both of them do make an effort to change this because they (and I) believe it will help make positive changes and encourage acceptance.
I like that reference, Semiopathy.