Calling Someond A Racist

Being on the receiving end of racism is far worse than being called a racist. Perhaps rather than discounting the experiences of others by bold declarations of invalidation like your not-so-innocent example did, maybe ask why a person would say such a thing in the first place.

Fox posted some vile photos on twitter of him and his children with black makeup and wigs. That looks racist to me

Laurence Fox has some highly questionable views. The 'female' in the audience said that Meghan Markle had been treated badly because of her race, and LF said that it was racist of her to refer to him as a 'white, privileged male', entirely missing the point of what racism actually means. In fact, it was LF who called the woman (can we stop calling her a 'female', please?) a racist, not the other way round.

Having said that, words like 'racist', 'bigot' and so on can describe behaviours, but when they are used to define an individual they become subjective and potentially offensive. It's similar to the difference between saying someone is 'crippled' and calling them 'a cripple', or referring to a 'person of colour' (emphasis on 'person') and to a 'coloured person' (emphasis on colour).

The term racist is chucked about too much, often by thick people who mean xenophobic really or just as a general sort of insult.

I agree, calling somebody that should be actionable. As you say, you wouldn't get away with calling someone a paedophile without solid evidence.

Sorry for the misspelling in the title!