> But my point is, you have to let that "racist" idea be heard to understand the problem before you dismiss it as an "ignorant solution." But that is more or l

> But my point is, you have to let that "racist" idea be heard to understand the problem before you dismiss it as an "ignorant solution." But that is more or less precisely what Popper says: "I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise." Rational argument (in my opinion) here is _exactly_ what you say, racism is typically the symptom, and not the problem, and the problem needs to be solved. But that does not imply that we should somehow applaud racism and bigotry as free speech. And we need to say to the people who claim that racism and bigotry is the solution to the problem that they are wrong and their racism and bigotry is unacceptable. If we want to live in a tolerant society, that is.