Good Bigots vs Bad Bigots

Hayley and I had pre-cana (marriage prep for Catholic weddings) on Saturday and I heard a story that made me realize something; there are 2 kinds out there and one is better than the other.
The story was told by a Philippino woman and was about having to tell her mother that she was marrying a Jewish guy. Her mom's reply: "You know they don't eat meat, right?" And that's what got me thinking. Her mom obviously didn't think very highly of Jews, but it was based on misconceptions and untruths. So you would think that if you educated her about some things, that she would be able to change her view. Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but you stand a much better chance of changing the bigotry of someone like that than someone who just hates a group for no good reason.
Think of your average southern racist. While they also have their little problem with black people based on misconceptions, it's a much different story. It's not based on some strange rumor they heard from someone they knew. They were raised to believe certain things; things that you can't just tell them otherwise to disprove. You can't just sit down with them and say "No, blacks are actually exactly the same as you and me, they just have more melatonin in their skin," and expect them to accept that and change.
Of course, sometimes you can use racist to your advantage. Being white, I should be slow. Slower than a black guy, at least. Back in college we had a co-rec flag football team from our dorm. We had a game against a team from the all-black frat on campus. Knowing this little racist quirk about white speed, and knowing that it wasn't true in my case, I decided to use it to our advantage. Whoever was covering me was not planning on being out-raced so I told the QB that I was going deep on the first play. Ball is snapped and I just take off up the field; no move, no juke, just a simple go route and an easy touchdown pass. This kid wasn't anywhere near me. Naturally he then had to take shit from everyone else on his team for getting torched deep by a white kid. But now for the rest of the game I was open for short passes because he was playing off of me to avoid getting beat deep again. If he did play tight, they had to put someone over to top for when I did beat him deep, meaning that someone else should be open. All-in-all, a good time.
PEACE!