You've got a visible pushback on the internet among white males who don't want to be vilified and it asserts itself with stuff like men's rights, the red pill on reddit and people who think social justice warriors on Tumblr represent anything other than misguided social conscious. No one wants to hear that a group they're a part of has an obvious tendency to murder strangers. It turns into " What did I do?" "I never owned slaves." "Why are we still talking about racism? It makes me uncomfortable." I think this carries over to media reports of these type of crimes. It's a sin to generalize any group but white men seem to exclusively go on these rare kill crazy rampages and pointing that out might make a large audience uncomfortable. Saying black men or Muslims do something is done with more tact or careful wording, so flat out stating the obvious, that white men are the only group that goes on murderous rampages directed at certain groups, becomes a difficult topic to carefully word
I don't think it's okay to generalize anyone. People say "the poles are coming over here and talking our jobs" but oh well. They're here legally same with all of the immigrants to the UK. I think the US has some seriously bad ideas regarding race, social standing and class. Not to mention that but gun legislation is so neanderthalic that there seems to be no stop to this violence now. As for villified white males, I don't think it's fair to say that we all share the same ideals just as people shouldn't think of all muslims as terrorists. The kid was crazy and racist and radicalised. I'm not blaming it on mental illness because it's obvious it was a hate crime. But surely there is something wrong with the system which means that the government, schools and workplaces allow this kind of kid to be spat out. Just as people in the middle east are being taught of IS ideals and then joining IS. People in the US are taught to be racist. John Stewart made a point. The US celebrates it's history and to be honest most of US history is terrible and just plain wrong. I think the US needs to move on from it's past and teach kids the things that make them fucking tolerant.
The problem is that the US as a nation was built on land stolen from others by genocide, and labour stolen from others by slavery. These are the only reasons it could ever reach the heights it did and hold the power it does. This racism is a core, inseperable ingredient of the US identity. A celebration of the USA and to some extent a celebration of capitalism are the celebration of some of the most unspeakable acts that a civilisation could undertake. Combine this with the chauvinistic rhetoric of US social politics, and is it any wonder that racism is such a big problem? Dare I say I see no solution so long as the USA as a concept maintains credibility. Note I'm focusing on the states because it's particularly easy. Europe has an equally large race problem, but I find it's slightly more nuanced, and slightly harder to define. As for the other continents, I don't feel like I know enough to confortably comment.
Of course it wasn't, that's why the race dialogue in Europe is very different. We very much still have a problem with racism, though.
You say "I don't think it's okay to generalize anyone" but say "I think the US has some seriously bad ideas regarding race". Care to explain?
White men aren't the only people who go on rampages directed at certain groups. I think you're certainly right that people don't recognize the problems with racism in the US, but the response to that shouldn't be more racism. Stereotypes about black people shouldn't be met with stereotyping white people, it shoulds be met with admonition against stereotypes. Race isn't essential to behavior. It's important that we understand one another's experiences, but hyper-focus on race doesn't decrease racism. The violence of some individuals doesn't belong to white men as a group any more than it belongs to black men as a group. Violence is something that individuals who commit violence are responsible for, regardless of their race or gender or any other demographic consideration. Associating the actions of individuals due solely to their race is racist.