It's racism.

I'm happy to hear that you realize there's something wrong with it though. Acknowledging the problem is the first step. :)

Is this really true of Australia? I don't mean to knock where you come from, but I actually haven't heard the best things about it when it comes to racism.

Nor have I Jans, not to be ignorant or anything Kate. Could just be a bad stereotype.

No it doesn't. If you're not attracted to someone, you're not attracted. Why apologize?

Not to sound like I've just watched the princess bride or anything recently :). I personally think that love shouldn't be contained by any sort of boundary, set up mainly by a antiquated hegemony set up centuries ago and unfortunately perpetuated to this very day. That is my personal opinion, others may see that as being wrong (just about all of my real life friends), but that is what I honestly believe.

If I fell head over heals for a girl, and believe me when I fall, I fall hard (hopeless romantic). The ethnicity is usually the last thing I notice. Not to be so oblivious that I can't tell someone is of a different culture or race than me, but rather if I get to know someone it won't matter to me, not one bit.

I find it funny that some here are stating that to date or marry a person of a different culture or ethnicity sounds exciting. To me at least, its not that fact that they are different inherently from what I perceive as being normal, i.e. how I look and feel, but rather they are a completely different person with completely different ideals. Every girl is new, exciting, and indeed interesting to me for a time.

I've got no problem with any combination of two humans in love. No animals, no aliens, etc. :D

I was going to say similar. It's not your fault, guy. We've grown up in a country that subtly, and sometimes not subtly, sends out images of fear. Stereotyping the black race with the news, the tv shows like COPS, movies, and a handful of rap artists... To me, your statement reinforces this belief I have. You seem to have resisted the hatespeak, but they got a foot in the door on the 'black issue'.

It is racism, sort of. It's fearmongering, quietly. You've seen and met many normal, good-natured African-American people and you've seen obnoxious, loud, and potentially destructive people of all walks of life. Black male. Scary. Right? Wrong.

I work at a gas station in the Sacramento area. It's about 25 minutes out from Sac. It's a predominantly Hispanic and white town. When a ghetto-dressed black man comes in to the store, swaggerin, grill in mouth, mean muggin... I get that feeling that you get. I know better. My best friend is black my cousin married a black man and they're raising a family together. Something has been engrained in us. I've never felt that way from an Asian person. Hispanic, maybe. White, yea. Everybody is roughly the same. We are all people. What do I do? I let the adrenaline subside, the thoughts of how to defend myself, and approach these folks as I would any other friend, little old lady, or anybody. Polite, crack a joke, be sincere. You can't fake sincerity well, either. If you don't notice a difference between when they came in and when they left, maybe they're unhelpable. Or maybe they didn't believe you truly were real with them. Even if you are! I see it both ways. If I was him, I'd be thinking "Why's he being so mellow? Most white people won't even look me in the eyes."

It's an act. Most people who hurt act all day. The world's a stage, indeed. Wise words.

Break the mental slavery. Some people have it a whole lot worse. Some people are so afraid of colored people, they've never had a sincere moment to connect with anyone different. So they never fix their broken stereotype. At a certain point, you won't change your mind without an epiphany...

But real quick... You'd imagine if you were deathly hateful towards colored people and a colored person saved your life. Would you or would you not change the way you felt? I've seen/heard stories where after the fact, the helper gets shat on. And the stereotype lives on. It's absurd.
:jailed:
This is representative of many minds in America^

Maybe it's just me but personally, I find Korean and Chinese women can be amazingly gorgeous. I've always had a thing for Asian chicks since seemingly forever.

Yes, something like that.

Yeah, seems to be no problems where I live, have heard of a few problems in Sydney though