I guess noise is part of what I was getting at when I brought up stress (along with econimic disadvantage, perceived discrimination, higher crime neighborhoods…).
But maybe urban folk don’t find noise per se stressful. Woody Allen always says he can’t get to sleep at night unless he can hear traffic. (Suppose he was joking and I just didn’t think it was all that funny?)
I find nothing offensive about discussing whether different cultures have different customs regarding interpersonal space and conversation volume.
A related, well-known example is the fact that Americans stand further apart during conversation than do people in lots of other countries. Another is something I’ve heard from many fellow musicians: when clapping along, white audiences tend to clap on the odd-numbered downbeat (clap, 2, clap 4), while black audiences tend to clap on the upbeat (1, clap, 3, clap).
Some people do have louder voices: I have been told a few times by friends at work that I talk too loud when I get the least bit animated (I’m white).
I once worked in an office with a black USAF seargent who became a close friend. A few cubicle mates were always complaining that we talked too loud. All of them that I can remember were white, but I wouldn’t attach much to that, because the great majority of the people in the office were white.
Please. It’s The Avenue at Tower City. 
Used to work in the Galleria, though, back when there were stores there…we closed ours a year or so ago. Sad, really.
Now that you mention it, I’ve noticed that too. I’ve always thought I somehow lost the beat somewhere.
Thank you, Holmes. Your response was far better than mine will ever be.
Basically, the questions I find offensive (and no, of course not everyone finds them offensive, but I do) are blanket questions that assume something about a race, which, rationally, has nothing to do with race at all. Other than this thread, I can think off the top of my head another one which struck me. I believe it was called something like "Why Do Black People Smell Different Than White People?" and went on to say that black people have a different-smelling BO. Sorry, I’ve been searching for the link for 10 minutes and my search results will not load. It was just recently, though.
As I said in my previous post, I am assuming, for the sake of optimism, that these questions are asked honestly. I’m not calling the OP any names or saying they are a bad person or anything. I’m saying “that is an offensive question” because in my opinion, it is. No, it isn’t offensive to everybody. But it’s offensive to me.
As for whether the OP is black or white, does that matter? It’s still a blanket assumption, or stereotype, about black people and white people. I am offended by that. Not offended in aan uppity, high-and-mighty way or anything. Not offended in any way that I want to go insulting anyone. It just offends me in general.
‘why’ the question is racistish
‘Why are many white people sensitive to noises?’
like
‘Why are many black people good at dancing?’
are bad questions to ask because they make the implicit assumption that what is being asked about is an established truth.
If instead the questions were asked
‘Are many white people sensitive to noises?’
like
‘Are many black people good at dancing?’
then they leave the opening for people to say that white people aren’t particularly sensitive to noise or thet black people aren’t particularly good at dancing.
It is the difference between supporting a steriotype, and asking if a steriotype has any truth to it.
Not that the OP is in any significan sense a racist question, but perhapse a somewhat uninformed way to ask the question/
Well put, Bippy. Except I think there are ants in your keyboard. 
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
IGNORANT
ADJECTIVE:
The OP may have lacked a certain eloquence in posing his question but I feel that those of us that actually bothered to try to answer the question did so in such a way to point out error in his logic. The question was ignorant in term of being an “uninformed” one. Now the OP has been “informed” What the he chooses to do with this information is up to him.
Racism – not the OP’s, but culturally-entrenched racism that, despite the protests a few people I can only assume are very young or have zero sense of historical perspective, has yet to be completely uprooted and destroyed since those ancient times of all of fifty years ago when segregation was legal – is the underlying reason for that ignorance and much else similar to it. Pointing this out is therefore a part of fighting ignorance. No one is saying the OP is a racist. Explaining that certain misconceptions are generally perpetuated as a result of unintentional cultural bias is not calling anybody a racist.
A question can be posed out of ignorance and be racist at the same time.
In fact, most racist beliefs spring out of ignorance.
And one doesn’t have to be in the “offenderati” to recognize something as being racist, either. I didn’t find the OP to be offensive at all, but I don’t see how any dictionaryphile could dispute that attributing an ability or behavior to race is anything but racist.
I get what you’re saying, but the comparison between blacks and whites is the main point of his question. Apparently the OP has observed a difference (however limited his experience may or may not be)and he’s looking for clarification. It may not be a universal truth, but it is his truth at the moment because this is what he has observed. Wouldn’t you rather he ask, politely, than spend the rest of his life with the misconception?Also, are you honestly saying you think he would have gotten a different reaction if he’d simply asked “Why are black people good at dancing” I think he would have been clobbered just the same.
I think I’m understanding more: it’s about the way the question was phrased. I don’t know why the question can’t be answered honestly and civally regardless, but I do see the nuance you’re pointing out.
Of course the question (offensive or not) should be answered civilly and honestly, I agree with that completely. That’s part of fighting ignorance, is responding in an honest and rational manner.
Isn’t that just getting caught up in semantics? We’ve been instructed ad nauseum what the “real meaning” of racism is, but I think we’re all using it in the more accepted (even if in correct) way here.
I’m confused by this. Chao cited the dictionary to defend his use of the word “ignorant” in reference to the OP as opposed to “racist”. But the same dictionary makes it clear that “racist” is just as valid. So why is he right and Bippy wrong?
What we’re seeing here isn’t a game of semantics. It’s a game of PCness. Ironically this happens to be the same thing you decried earlier, remember? Why should we shy away from calling something racist, when that is exactly what it is? The only reason whatever nebulous definition of racism you’re operating under seems “more accepted” is because its safer and doesn’t step on any nice person’s toes. But I don’t accept it precisely for those reasons.
Whaa…wait…huh?
I’m a little confused myself, but what I was trying to say is that the term “racist” is being used here as a synonym for “bigot” or in other words, carrying more negative baggage than the term “ignorant”. I’m actually *not * operating under the nebulous, “more accpeted” definition. I thought you were. Sorry to be unclear. I guess I’m trying to say the OP wasn’t trying to be “evil” and while racist (apparently) may not include"evil" in it’s true definition, I think that’s the way it is being used here. Not an important point, I know. I was just responding to your statement. . .
You say you didn’t find the OP to be *offensive * but you do find it racist. But racist = offensive in *my * mind, and in most people’s mind as well(or so I thought).
I’m not trying to be PC, honest I’m just trying to get clarification of other points of view. Maybe I’ll never get what you’re telling me, but it’s not for lack of trying.
I thought chao was just ribbing my use of the make up word racistish. The reason I used it was just that though I can see the way people saw the OP as racist, I don’t think the OP was racist, hense the -ish.
Anyway, I doubt much of the joking was because they saw the OP as racist, but because they saw how similar to racist diatribe its wording was.
p.s. thanks for giving me the opportunity to use the word diatribe, don’t think I
ve had the occasion to do so before 
Damn them ants
Thank you for reading through my rambladocious post.
Oh, and when I said this:
I meant that it was obvious to me that the word racist was being used in the “evil” (for lack of a better word)and more accepted sense, as opposed to as a synonym for “ignorant”. I thought you with the facewas being coy in an Eddie Haskell “but Mrs. Cleaver, racist means the same thing as ignorant” type of way.
Okay, I’ll shut up now. Carry on.
I don’t think anyone suggested that the OP was evil, since everyone has clearly been light hearted and level headed in this thread, even those who found the OP to be offensive.
Ah ha, that’s precisely the problem. Everyone has different ideas of what is offensive. I found the OP’s query too silly to be offensive, which is why my first impulse was to crack jokes. Carylyjay found it to be offensive. Yet we both agree that it’s a racist question. If we had to wait for there to be a universal consensus of offensiveness in order for something to be racist, then we wouldn’t be allowed to call anything short of slavery or genocide racist. And that’s a problem, because it allows things that are truly racist to be called some nice, cuddly euphemism just because not everybody sees it as being bad.
I keep racism separate from offensiveness for that reason. One denotes an emotional response. The other denotes a form of thinking or behavior that may or may not ellicit this emotional response. A robot that isn’t capable of being offended by anything should be able to spot a racist idea or practice when they see. Because it uses a definition based on objective criteria and not subjective value judgments.
I appreciate your openness to what I’m saying, by the way.
See what you just did there…? You got something through the thick head of WOOKINPANUB.
Thanks.