Racial tolerance

Quick question: can anyone tell me why there are over seventy thousand hits for “racial tolerance” on Google? Racial tolerance is a non-concept — or rather, it should be.

“Cultural tolerance” might be more sensible, because many cultures contradict one another. How many hits for that? About thirty thousand fewer. How about “religious tolerance”? Over a million hits. That one makes sense, given that religion seems to be a, if not the major point of contention between cultures.

But “racial tolerance”? Whilst I’ve always thought it was a stupid, condescending idea, I had no idea it was so widespread! The very concept implies there is something wrong with the race or races in question — something offensive that needs to be tolerated. It seems even more ridiculous when this set includes all races other than ones own.

Ok, so there are some people who actually believe in the ultimate superiority of their own race, but they’re usually held in the lowest of regards wherever they’re found. I’d be willing to bet that most people who describe themselves as racially tolerant actually mean something entirely different.

So if racial tolerance is out, how should we describe a general distaste for racism? Well, it might not be a perfect fit, but “racial apathy” works for me — because it doesn’t affect me if you’re black, white, yellow, green, or some kind of exotic polka dot hybrid of the four; I really couldn’t care less. I guess I can only hope the feeling (or lack thereof) is mutual!