Bollox, Its the way society interprets those words & actions that’s the key. Its near impossible to change the publics perception on issues like this & its important that the publics perception does not play into the hands of extremists. No form of Racialism or sexism should be tolerated, doesn’t matter who you are.

We must as usual agree to disagree.

Let's widen this debate a little - do we think the behaviour and legal treatment of the 4 Somalian girls is an acceptable part of a multi cultural society?

NO and I think the Judge was wrong by a very wide margin.

Was it racially motivated? Apparently so

Was the judge's decision acceptable? No

Now we've got that straw man out of the way, care to continue the actual debate?

Re:Ferocious Aardvark

What if the humour is self-deprecating humour and delivered by the same ethnic group it also targets?

Is a Jew telling a Jewish joke bigotry? is a black man telling a black joke racist? if an Irishman tells me a stupid Irishman joke is he racist or if i repeat the same joke am i?

Surely racism is about intent rather than content, my best friend is black if i pop round his house and said 'Wassup my n-g--r (which i wouldn't because I'm personally uncomfortable with the word, but some of our friends do) that's not racist, in fact even if i did say it he wouldn't bat an eyelid. If i then went out and said it to some random black guy I'd expect to receive some hostility and if i said it in a threatening or angry tone I'd be committing a crime.

It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it?

Not necessarily IMO. It's entirely possible for someone to act or speak in a racist way without deciding to do so intentionally, something noticeable particularly in the older generation IMO.

It's also entirely possible for someone to act in a racist way while masking the motivation for their actions - turning someone down for a job on the basis of their race for example can easily be dressed up as a rational decision with no racial undertone to it.