In retrospect I agree that this quote isn't particularly racist by itself. But it at least represents a discriminatory attitude towards Indians-as-programmers,

In retrospect I agree that this quote isn't particularly racist by itself. But it at least represents a discriminatory attitude towards Indians-as-programmers, which the count of net up-votes suggests is happily endorsed by people in general, presumably many of whom do work in the field and do propagate this attitude in real life, even if silently. I also agree that the race card is overused and in general any assertions made under it are not falsifiable. But the flip side is that real racism is easy to qualify with a rote disclaimer ("I know many smart Indian programmers personally"). That doesn't decrease the sting of the isolated snide remark which was almost but not quite racist. I believe that the number of outsourcing successes is not as low as is portrayed in online forums, perhaps because those involved tend to be less vocal about it. My point is related to what you seem to say in the last line: people need to be able to discuss outsourcing or anything else without some being able to get away with saying 'Indians suck at programming'.