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I guess it depends on whether or not you recognize racism as a bad thing. Almost everyone, with the exception of people raised in isolation from racial distinctions and stereotypes, has racist thoughts now and then. I try not to act on them when they surface, and work on deconstructing the basis of them, but I still have them.

It might be a matter of keeping your inner b***h on the inside. If you're really not displaying those racist thoughts, you're not hurting anyone but yourself.

So the general rule is; no harm, no foul.

Makes sense.
Thankyou for your replies.
Though I would like a few more.

A bad person? No. Actions make one good or bad. For example, I am enraged to the point of homicidal desires at the reckless and apparently suicidal driving tendencies of the people of the country where I now reside, but I do not act upon those desires. Therefore, my thoughts that, as a rule of thumb, people from said country are not to be trusted when behind the wheel of a motor vehicle does not actually make me a bad person. That I left my spouse and children for a couple of years to go gallivanting overseas does, actually, probably make me a bad person.

However, that being said, your racism does probably make you ill-informed, ignorant, and woefully short of scientific knowledge. But, so that we may better understand your predicament, what thoughts and feelins do you hold about the "race" in question that cause you to feel you are a racist?

Even though I am loathe to make a quick response, I am afraid I am going to have to at this moment as I do not have the sources readily available at this moment to make a lengthier reply.

But, as to why someone might have racist thoughts or group people into categories subjectively when we otherwise scientifically and rationally know those categories to be false is because we are evolved to seek out patterns, whether real or not.

Both Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins expound upon this theory of human development, and I wish I had their references in front of me right now so as to give you a detailed explanation. But, simply, the idea is that the human mind as an adaptive survival trait learned to operate by rules of thumb. This even works for complex ideas beyond "fast things with large teeth equals danger". For example, watching the sun move across the sky followed by the stars doing the same led to early beliefs that the celestial objects moved around the Earth (which we know understand to be false). This is a foundational concept in how such false yet widely accepted complex beliefs such as religion arose - via the pattern seeking mind.

In the case of racism, we know such grouping of people, usually first by skin color and then by a few other selective traits such as language, is highly problematic and usually very inaccurate when trying to assess an individual. However, this is still the result of that same pattern-seeking mind. So, it is wholly understandable that if a person has several difficulties with, say, the green people, that person's brain is liable to construct a pattern that says green people are hostile and to be avoided, whether this is actually true of the green people on a whole.

This is why I say racist thoughts in and of themselves do not make a person bad. I am especially impressed that this person has moved to the point where they recognize they have racist thoughts and feels a need to question the validity of those thoughts, even while still presently holding onto them.

I understand that you were measuring "good" or "bad" by an implied moral code, but I think the most universal of moral codes really focuses on behavior over thought, recognizing that at times we all have 'inappropriate' thoughts but what matters is whether or not we act upon them. This would be another reason why I must disagree with your conclusion that the author of the OP is a "bad: person.

All the best.

Rohkaze, your post does not have much bearing on mine. There is no actual disagreement between the two. I agree racism can easily stem from natural processes.

As for moral codes, the more universal ones do not dictate "morality" at all. Instead they dictate acceptable behavior, typically through concepts such as "legality." As there is no way to observe a person's thoughts, it is quite impossible for these systems to have any code against racism. Indeed, in these systems racism is not necessarily "bad," and only becomes such when it causes actions.

Many people say that the color of your skin shouldn't matter. However, I beg to differ to a certain extent. People of different skin colors have different cultures and mannerisms. Now i'm not saying that every black man is involved in a different culture than a white one, or mexican with a different than an asian, although I am saying the majority of each group does participate in their respective cultures. So I wouldn't say you're racist by not agreeing with one of their cultures, since you're only disliking them for that reason, and not for the color of their skin. However obviously you are racist if you only hate a group for their appearance. So which is it?

In truth, racism, predijuces and other such silly things are passed down from generation to generation. I'm not saying it's the parent's fault, but they probably didn't help with your thoughts. Whether your parents spoke about a certain race, or sexuality in a racist way, or your parents never bothered to explain to you, or even learn about the cultures themselves, you most probably follow. There are so many other ways to learn, teachers, any adults in general, but once something is written in your mind's journal, you're sort of stuck with it.

So, I don't believe you're a bad person, or not opened minded, but maybe you just didn't learn enough about the certain races and such that you are racist towards.

Also, I'm sorry if this didn't make much sense. I'm not really thinking properly. I'm very, very tired. ^^;;