Reagan pretty much popularized the terms ("welfare queen", "strapping young bucks") with racist intent[1]: those were the images he wished to conjure-up in listener's minds, and not a creation of the media. Just as the word "thug" is currently used by certain personalities/networks today.

1. https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/innocent-mistak...

I didn’t say it was a creation of the Media. I said they use it that way. It’s good to trace it back to Reagan.

What is not so clear is why the person I was responding to thinks it’s their racism that causes them to think of those images, and not just that they have been exposed to Reagan’s imagery through the media.

You write as if one's passive racism and one's past exposure to racist sentiments are entirely separate. I think the former largely reflects the latter.

I don’t think they are entirely separate. I do think that exposure to racist sentiments has a very different effect depending on who you are.

So indeed I think your personal racism is not a simple function of exposure.

I’m sorry you personally have been a victim of racism exposure, and have become a passive racist as a consequence. It is a shame that society has done this to you.

No worries, thanks. I have internal work to do.