Quote: bren2k "Unlike you, I can't say with any certainty.'"
Where did I say with certainty? I, just like you in the next paragraph, have just offered my own opinion on what I thought. Hence why I said "I took it as..."
Quote: bren2k "I'd suggest that he was either being boorish and crass to someone whom he perceived to be less powerful than him - and who's offence was worth no more to him than the price of a beer; or he was trying to start an intellectual discourse about the experience of a black immigrant in a post-industrial northern town. If it was the former, he's a racist who deserves to be vilified; if it was the latter, he failed miserably and behaved like a racist who deserves to be vilified.'"
Which of course is your opinion which you are entitled to.
Quote: bren2k "Either way, this kind of stuff needs to be challenged - only by calling out the unequal treatment of women, ethnic minorities, LGBQT people and others, will we arrive at a society which is genuinely equal; which seems to me to be a very low bar to aspire to.'"
I agree that it needs calling out, and I agree there certainly needs to be consequences for it (which are proportionate to the level of prejudice displayed).
I don't think calling it out is the answer to prevention though. Only through education will you stop this, and education starts with talking about it and discussing it. What is racism? Why are certain terms racist? How do people feel when it's said?