The awareness that racism is irrational and destructive is something that is
achieved by an individual sentient consciousness.  It cannot be legislated into
existence as a property of a society.  The number of ignorant, frightened and
insecure people who are going to say to themselves: "You know, now that a large
bureaucracy has passed a rule, I guess I'll just have to change my ways," is
none at all.  Passing legislation telling racists not to be racists is like my
posting a note on my refrigerator asking my cat to please not eat the tuna
casserole I've left out on the table.  Even if the note states quite clearly
that the consequences are likely to include being thumped with a newspaper and
being called "Bad Kitty", the capacity of document to reverse the creature's
basic instincts is certain to remain negligible.

Scary? No more so than the reality of the human condition in general. Were we
really waiting for government regulation to become the impetus for a more
rational and benevolent world? If one believes that the rights which one has
are determined by which rights governments do and do not see fit to grant, one
is already lost.

It makes no more sense to say "We'll organize a socio-political movement to keep
ham-fisted bureaucracies from acting like ham-fisted bureaucracies," than it
does to say, "We'll pass a law to keep racists from acting like racists."

One can decide to work to overcome racism within oneself and encourage other
individuals who have achieved the requisite level of intellectual development
to do the same.  The mountain of evidence against the proposition: "Human
beings, generally, are good and kind, but we need to laws and penalties to
regulate the behavior of a few bad apples," is SO overwhelming that it is
amazing that even the most fantasy-prone of thinkers can remain attached to it.
 Yet, I hear some version of it being passed off as an axiom on a nearly daily
basis.  Rationality has never been a majority position in the entire history of
the human species and has extremely little prospect of becoming such in the
foreseeable future.  Asking "What can I do to oppose racism?" is a question
that I would strongly urge every thinking person to ask himself or herself.
Asking "What should SOCIETY do to oppose racism?" is pointless and just plain
silly.

Best Regards,
Mike C.

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