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Davo:
Don't agree with the racially-oriented name-calling myself (and won't necessarily apply it to Bowyer) but I note that people (myself included) occasionally get very specific with the insults when really irritated with someone (such as the driver who cuts me off in traffic or the a-hole who takes a reserved parking place). Often the insults relate to anything one can identify about the other--including sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, geographical location of home, or any other info that can be found by observation of the person, license plate, bumper stickers, or other source of info. After all, the primary purpose of an insult to to aggravate or provoke the other party (usually as an individual and not as a member of the specified group). Under the circumstances, would that render the irate party a racist or bigot? Probably not--unless one finds a track record of actions to support the more extreme view.
Hence, the mere fact that one calls another a name (without more) would tend to lead me away from branding the person "racist," "xenophobic," "religiously intolerant" or whatever the epithet used might have indicated.
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