Most racism is lukewarm and ambivalent rather than violently hateful

Evidence

Contemporary racism against Romanies in Europe wavers between the politics (and consequences) of extreme violence and the politics and consequences of a liberal humanist mentality that presents Romanies as transgressive and repulsive. In reality, most manifestations of racism pursue a middle course; racism is, more often than not, lukewarm, apathetic and ambivalent. And, more often than not, the liberal goal of ‘eliminating’ racism is no more than a ‘diffuse’ goal in ‘the spirit of constitutional principles’ (Nussbaum, 2013 , p. 117). — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 809

In this book I argued that the problems of prejudice and hostility in society are irreducible to fl awed reasoning, irrational propensities and/or attitudinal negativity. Contemporary racism against Romanies in Europe wavers between the politics (and consequences) of extreme violence and the politics and consequences of a liberal humanist mentality that presents Romanies as transgressive and repulsive. In reality, most manifestations of racism pursue a middle course; racism is, more often than not, lukewarm, apathetic and ambivalent. And, more often than not, the liberal goal of ‘eliminating’ racism is no more than a ‘diffuse’ goal in ‘the spirit of constitutional principles’ (Nussbaum, 2013 , p. 117). — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 809

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Challenges the entire framing of prejudice as deliberate hatred, reorienting it toward passive ambivalence that liberal constitutions can never actually eliminate.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice: Society,…, 809

Related

• Racism against Romani people is the last acceptable prejudice in Europe (similarity 0.81)
• Anti-Roma prejudice is far more complex than direct hostility (similarity 0.81)
• Even tolerant people express revulsion-themed hostility toward Roma (similarity 0.79)
• Prejudice is public harm to esteem, not merely private attitude (similarity 0.79)