Very shocked... I mean logically I knew this stuff was out there...

Again, racism and prejudice/bias are not the same thing

I think most people subconsciously judge others whether they mean to or not. I know I do even though it is something I know is wrong. We all have our own biases and stereotypes.

There is a huge difference between being human and also realizing you are being unfair and then being hateful. Most people can look past their initial impressions.

I think most people subconsciously judge others whether they mean to or not. I know I do even though it is something I know is wrong. We all have our own biases and stereotypes.

There is a huge difference between being human and also realizing you are being unfair and then being hateful. Most people can look past their initial impressions.

Length of job candidates hair (or hair color) their tattoos, piercings, weight, age, sex, ethnic origin, religion, marital status, sexual orientation or pretty much what makes them different from you or anyone else. The word means to pre judge a person which we all do (or have done) if we are honest. It affects us when we apply for a job, a loan, or deal with any other person for any kind of interaction. Have you ever been in a store and feel like you are being watched? If you are a cashier what customers do you watch (that LOOK like shop lifters?) WE are all judged on our appearance and actions even how we speak. Last time you were in an airport did you notice some people were scrutinized more than you why? Why was the car in front of you pulled aside at the border and not you? Why did the police officer search YOUR car?

This. I do think everyone has a prejudice (just being human), but NOT everyone is racist.
And not every racist is hateful or violent, either. I know someone who is obviously racist, but she insists she's not. Her argument is, and I quote, "I'm not racist. I hugged a black person once."
Sorry lady, yes you are.
Not everything is so black and white. (No pun intended.)

In one of my bachelors class for nursing the whole class was focused on finding our hidden biases and we ALL have them if you can recognize it or not. Doesn't mean its in a mean cruel way, just that there are little things that everyone feels towards someone maybe even unconsciously.

In Winter, or Gethen, Ursula K. Le Guin has created a fully realized planet and people. But Gethen society is more than merely a fascinating creation. The concept of a society existing totally without sexual prejudices is even more relevant today than it was in 1969. This special 25th anniversary edition of The Left Hand of Darkness contains not only the complete, unaltered text of the landmark original but also a thought-provoking new afterword and four new appendixes by Ms. Le Guin.

When the human ambassador Genly Ai is sent to Gethen, the planet known as Winter by those outsiders who have experienced its arctic climate, he thinks that his mission will be a standard one of making peace between warring factions. Instead the ambassador finds himself wildly unprepared. For Gethen is inhabited by a society with a rich, ancient culture full of strange beauty and deadly intrigue—a society of people who are both male and female in one, and neither. This lack of fixed gender, and the resulting lack of gender-based discrimination, is the very cornerstone of Gethen life. But Genly is all too human. Unless he can overcome his ingrained prejudices about the significance of "male" and "female," he may destroy both his mission and himself.