What is your definition of racist?

[GeneralPeter]

Mine is: "Believing others are of lower (or higher) moral worth on account of their race/ethnicity".

What is yours?

I'm not pushing any line or trying to make any point here.

But inspired by many threads where racism is discussed but almost never defined, and aware that there are many very different definitions, I'm curious what MNers think.

@Asktheuniverse What made you trawl through Mumsnet all the way back to a zombie thread from February in order to find something to disagree with?

I didn't realise it was until I posted. There was a thread I saw yesterday asking what kind of mumsnet threads people liked and someone mentioned philosophy, which I hadn't before realised was a thing. I find philosophy interesting.

I looked through for something that made me think and posted (5 weeks into summer holidays childcare I'm feeling somewhat braindead.) Turns out that posting on the board isn't that frequent, so a short trawl down the newest posts took me back to February.

Now, your turn. What made you jump on the thread to chastise somebody? Rather than discuss the points made?

What made me jump on the thread to chastise somebody? Funnily enough, it was because it was me you quoted, and with whom you disagreed.

I think you've taken my original comment as a personal attack, which it wasn't. Your comment provoked me to think and offer up what I thought on the topic. I enjoyed trying to understand why I disagreed with the aspect of religion and culture being parts of racism, it made the cogs turn.

It's possible to respectfully disagree. I'm open to having my mind changed, when presented with new viewpoints, opinions or facts. To me, this type of discussion is productive, not offensive or personal. As long as the original topic is being assessed, how could it be?

Asking why I'd added to a thread posted in February doesn't look at the topic itself. Rather it felt like you we're trying to shame me for having an opinion and putting it on a 'zombie thread' (a new term for me to understand!). Were you? If so why? When it's a topic you clearly have an opinion on, why not defend what you said, pick apart what I said? It doesn't really move on the discussion much otherwise.

People who think a certain negative trait or characteristic or stereotype applies to everyone of a specific ethnicity.
Thinking that everyone from that race are all the same.
And that they are inferior in every way to everyone who is the race of the racist person.

Racism is believing one race is superior to the other. Which is false.

But that should not mean that cultural practices from other races/societies should be exempt from scrutiny and comparison.

That shouldn’t mean we should deny or minimise the existence and impact of cultural differences either.

Because it’s behaviour, not skin colour most people who are called “racists” object to nowadays.

But “progressives” prefer to conflate sensible and logical objections to archaic or incompatible cultural practices with old-fashioned colonialist racism based on innate superiority to shut down the debate.

If you got a notification that someone had quoted you from a post you'd made a long time ago, you'd naturally wonder why. So I came on to find out. You are entitled to disagree with me, as is anyone else. I don't think it is a personal attack. Why you think anyone would by trying to 'shame' you for having an opinion that differs from theirs is baffling.

The discussion moved on anyway.

'Zombie thread' by the way, is a Mumsnet term for old threads that get posted on.

Thanks for giving me some new knowledge.

If someone quoted an old post I'd read, think about their points, formulate my own and reply. Opinions don't have to be date stamped, they can be challenged, changed and updated whenever, I believe. It's why we still study Socrates and Arisotle* still in 2025 (other philosphers are available)

Thanks for helping resurrect the zombie. It's getting my neurons firing, between picking cheese out of pasta for a screaming preschooler, cleaning up a spilt bubble ice-rink kitchen floor situation and chasing a barking dog around a garden. I love them, but sometimes I need adult conversation.

@Asktheuniverse Yes, well today I am off work sick with D&V so you'll have to excuse me, I'm not in the mood for a discussion on anything right now.