School Ties : Why did that guy with glasses get mad when he was called a bigot?

He obviously is one.

Because, where he comes from, these things are just "understood" about the world, and believing the things you've been taught by your family and all of society can't be bigoted right? Because THAT means that you actually have to question your life.

Besides, most people don't want to admit they're racist. Keep in mind that this time period is where old-fashioned "gramma racism" really started. Not an angry, lynching kind of racism, but a quiet acknowledgement and understanding about the differences between "you" and "them."

That's a great answer. Children learn to be racist not by an adult calling another adult a racial slur to their face. But there the jokes told at family bar-b-ques or overhead at night while listening in on adult conversations.

My stepdad's mother called Brazil nuts n gg r-toes. Now I hid this behind a spoiler tag because I don't want it to be considered a blatant insult because it isn't intended to be. It's merely a fact of my childhood experience. My mother corrected me the first time I used my grandma's name at Christmas time when we were cracking nuts. I certainly never called them that again, until now.

I believe this is what you mean by 'gramma racism'? I think that's what you called it.

My Dad called Brazil nuts the same thing. Probably still would if he ate them, but I always called them Brazil nuts and I have always thought that they were GROSS. Yuck!

I really like your car Mrs. Larusso!

He just wanted everyone to go along with it apparently.

Because true bigots are always extremely upset if you call them what they are.

Have you ever heard of real murderers in prison? Nope. They don't exist. ;-)

He doesn't want to hear the truth, of course.

Why don't you ask the same question about a lot of people today? Being called a bigot, whether you are one or not, is something that pretty much anyone would consider as an insult.

Most bigots don't consider themselves bigots. They see themselves as realists and truth-tellers, etc. Strangely, the Nazis made their hatred of Jews clear, but would still get upset whenever they were accused of persecuting Jews and violating their rights.

McGoo probably associates bigotry with the KKK and the middle and lower classes who would not have attended exclusive private schools.

There are different levels of bigotry. The guy who doesn't want Jews or blacks in his country club probably won't approve of the Holocaust or lynching.

In "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947), the lead character pretends to be Jewish to explore "every day" anti-Semitism among nice, decent, and respectable people who "condemn Theodore Bilbo," a prominent racist and anti-Semitic U.S. Senator of the time, and "would never send a dime to Gerald L.K. Smith," a well-known anti-Semitic and racist publisher.