Is racism (on a personal level) the most evil sentiment one can have?

[wnwnwn]

Discuss

[dead0man]

no, probably not.  A desire to harm children* is worse IMHO


(I could probably be convinced otherwise with a good argument)



*or other vulnerable people

[Ferguson97]

All forms of bigotry are equally evil, IMO.

[Del Tachi]

Dante's Inferno places those guilty of the sin of pride at the center of Hell, and that reasonably includes racism.  Dante's definition of pride was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt of one's neighbor."

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

No

[RI]

Dante's Inferno places those guilty of the sin of pride at the center of Hell, and that reasonably includes racism.  Dante's definition of pride was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt of one's neighbor."

Isn't betrayal the deepest level in Inferno?

[Santander]

No, it is natural and normal.

[Obama24]

No, if it's just a sentiment. If it's acted on, that is a different story.

However even as a sentiment I would argue pedophiliac and misogynistic or terroristic beliefs are much more evil. The person who thinks that theft from the weak, is justified by strength, is evil. The person who mistreats old people because he or she can, and because the old person is powerless to take any recourse, that is evil.

Racists aren't even evil in my eyes, they're just misguided. A lot of them have had these views imbued in them from a young age and that kind of programming is hard to break free from without a lot of self work, and therapy, and most of these people are too poor to afford any of that.

We talk lately of grooming primarily in the context of sexual relationships, but I would argue a least a good half of all racists living today were groomed by a parent, grandparent or other trusted source of authority and were brainwashed into seeing racism as normal.

I feel bad for the racist. He holds views which keep him out of the mainstream of society. He holds these views cause his daddy did, and his pastor did, and his grandaddy did. He and his are kept out of the rainbow of America's diversity, and in that sense, I pity them, if they are unviolent in their deeds and simply ignorant in their views.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Deceitfulness; and
Duplicitousness.

Much worse.