I wouldn't even be afraid to say that homosexuality, ironically, escalates the level of racism involved; though of course there are numerous exceptions where homosexuality encourages intermingling between races. However, where intermingling occurs my experience is that the men involved seem to be occupy much more "LTR" mentality. I'm not saying that generally all men that have interracial interests are of the "LTR" type, but my general experience is that with the one-night stand and short-term flings type of crowd, racism extends a lot further. Of course it's not just race, but also physical looks that are important to the one-night stand crowd; and that's the point I'm making - that it seems race has much more in connection to physical appearance nowadays, if anything, with the same level of importance. There aren't so much social barriers anymore - I don't know of any genuine racists or neo-nazis or extreme nationalists. They are by far, in the minority.
What arises from all this is a different type of racism. It's sort of an indoctrination, if you can call it that, that emphasizes an isolating idealism. Your ideal man is a tall, tanned, white male with blonde hair and blue eyes. Why strive to date anything other than that, and even waste time with specific races that don't even have those features?
Now, sure, that's a perfectly valid mentality to have. But further controversy arises with the issue of globalization. I mean, it's okay for the media to emphasize the beauty of blonde hair and blue eyes, where in a country come Germany the substantial amount of the populus do fit into that category. However, the trend is arising that American media is slowly creeping into all corners of the globe, glorifying these specific traits in countries where.. they don't even exist. The consequence? Countries like Japan, China, Phillipines, not to mention their emmigrants in a Western society, are all watching the same American shows that Americans are watching, where certain European features are emphasized as the classical definition of beauty. This can only be further emphasized by the advent of the internet and its huge effect in defining sexual beauty. However, the controversial irony is that these receptive countries are fairly homogenous and don't even have many Caucasians. So you have a generation of people that are growing up, feeling insecure about themselves, simply because they are not blonde, blue eyed, or have white skin. And that explains the pattern you see where threads come up named: "do white guys like so-and-so races?" This aesthetic racism is only a tip of an iceberg - you will see that kids in Africa grow up to dream of America and its riches, only because they are growing up in an environment completely dominated by Western (or American, for that matter) media that simply, glorifies itself. It's the age of modern propaganda, where psychology and communication joint-majors find jobs very easily!
I liked Kurn's analogy of race to wine, and its specific ethnic traits to the characters of various varietals. Sure, the wine can express its terroir, but what happens if you have a universal Pinot Noir-loving crowd, indoctrinated by far-reaching media such as the movie Sideways? Well, one thing's for sure: Pinot Noir cannot grow everywhere - will you have to 'settle' for Merlot?
