Why must privileged Western men and women exploit racial and cultural stereotypes?

I wouldn't say I find it "utterly disgusting", I think it's annoying. Like I'm a lesbian who dates a lot of different types of women, for example, when men ask me "do you believe in dating outside your race?" I always reply "I do believe in dating outside my race, just not outside my sex, but that's a personal thing." Then some lesbians (the really annoying dumb ones) would ask me (cause my then girlfriend was black) "what's it like having sex with a black girl?" And I said "it's like having sex with any other girl, sometimes it's awesome and sometimes it sucks" but then she was like "but what's it like?" I'm like "hot?" "but WHAT'S it like?" "rocking?" "but what's it like?" That went on for a good 15-20 minutes until I got so annoyed, I was like "ok how do you want me to answer this question?" I have no idea why people do it though.

I have been to many countries. And not only as a tourists. My medical profession gives me a special chance to get close to people, very fast. But I have never been to a country, where people were not prejudiced against the other "race". Against people who look, talk, pray, eat different. India, Malaysia, South Africa, UK, China. None. People will be prejudiced against the guy from the next town, let alone the next country. We are all somehow, somewhat independent and prejudiced. A curse of conscience. The only difference is that the old-like-pharaoh man in China is not as powerful as his counterpart in this country. Our prejudices are armed with fire and silver and theirs but with impotent rage at misery of life. When it tips the other way, human as they are, they will return the favor. They will return the favor. Which means what we give them today, we will receive tomorrow.

I do. It's annoying when people ask questions like, "what is your opinion on interracial marriage?" It's like fishing for something that I can't fully comprehend what. It's really annoying.

Does anyone find it disgusting? Does anyone even know what you're talking about? You might repost the question with some examples or something.

Yes, it is disgusting. A mature person can make his/her point without cutting down others in the process. One of my pet peeves is saying that something is retarded. It's not nice to the mentally handicapped. Another is saying that chubby/curvy women are "real" women, which is a smack in the face to thin women. But when you throw in cultural and racial insults, it's just repulsive.

I'm not quite sure what you are targeting. I think it is a supposed "Western" attack on (middle?) "Eastern" Women. For me, as a father of four daughters, I find the attitude of the "Middle East", to be the most derogatory to women in general. I really do not understand why women are treated as second class citizens and have no rights. I think that if you examine the way things work in the west, we don't have time to push "personal grievances". Even if we did, why do you worry?

Many people tend to think that the way they are, and anyone like them, is the best way to be, and correct. Most people don't know how to react to what's different than what they're used to. They do not understand those other cultures, they don't even care to. It's the best we're at, sitting in our comfortable bubble and yapping around about other people to make ourselves feel better and important.

Maybe...would it be wrong to mention how much a Jewish mother you are being?

I'm not going to be quite that high-handed about it, because I'm not sure what precisely you're talking about, in terms of specific examples. I think all people are guilty of this to a certain extent, even if it's the extent of erring in the *other* direction, making people who are different into some kind of shining innocents. Pratchett once had one of his characters say something like, "Allow us true equality. Acknowledge that Klatchians can be conniving, murderous plotters as well." (I may be running two lines together there, but you get the idea.) I also think there's a big difference between saying "All Muslims are X" and discussing cultural attitudes and prejudices. For example, something I said recently was that some men who date outside their culture get negative comments because of the reasons *they themselves* give for doing it. It isn't because all (random) Swedish women give great massages/Thai women can cook. It's because the men themselves will say something like, "I am looking for an X woman, because they are all Y." There are a lot of things wrong with that attitude, and the guy crying "racist" when someone objects to it is complete hypocrisy. There are a lot of very wrong things going on in this world. There are a lot of power groups who manipulate races/sexes/cultures like football teams. "If you're a Christian with principles, you'll vote Republican!" "If you're a minority with pride, you'll vote Democrat!" If that's what you're talking about, it's always, ALWAYS wrong. If you're talking about regular people talking, I think there are a lot of @sses, but also a lot of people throwing around accusations of racism where what's actually going on is precisely the opposite. Being plain-spoken about individuals and individual difference is the only thing that breaks down barriers between people. Someone who dates another race for their PC-points is just as wrong as someone dating another race for their stereotyped qualities. The only respectable reason for dating anyone is because *you care about that individual person.* There are good and bad in any group of humans, whatever label they want to claim to identify themselves. There are a lot of decent people who are too ignorant (in the actual denotation of the word, not the insult) to understand why some of the things they say are so offensive. I think we need to learn how not to get caught up in the games of those people on ALL sides who want to be prejudiced/claim prejudice against them for their own selfish reasons.