https://www.quora.com/Is-racism-just-a-large-scale-version-of-Stockholm-Syndrome Is racism just a large scale version of Stockholm Syndrome? one tries to learn the language and feels that one can't communicate properly. not treated me with respect I have often said that it must have been my fault for not speaking the language well enough, for coming across as an idiot and so on. Already one can see this relates very directly to Stockholm Syndrome to create excuses for my abuser I know that any disrespect I encounter has nothing to do with the language but is entirely in the attitude and the gaze of the other person there are no excuses or good reasons for why someone would not treat me as well as any other human being it is there they make excuses for them so as not to face the brutality of reality. my encounters with racism are insufficiently regular to be completely destabilising even though they are unpleasant. Colour of skin changes the game entirely. One is judged before one even has the chance to open one's mouth to show how clever one is. to feel obliterated every day and what that must do to someone over time. a clear historical context in which black people have been subjected to slavery and poverty and much worse for centuries,