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I have no problem recognizing "Jew" as a race, I just treat it first and foremost as a religion. I'm not confused about what being "Jewish" is. Just as you are still a Jew without being observant it is possible for a non-genetically-Jewish person to become Jewish at least religiously. Historically it is the religious side of the coin that has lead to separation and harrassment of Jews, not the racial side of the coin (in fact, during a strongly anti-semitic period in 18th century it was simultaneously in vogue to theorize that the British people were of Judaic origin).
But yes, it is a tricky issue because the exact definition of "race" and "racism" are to large extents in the eye of the beholder.
Are the Japanese and Chinese people separate races? How about Italians and Greeks? Canadians and Americans? Haitians and Dominicans? If the Japanese had tried to kill all the Singaporeans in Singapore during WWII were they committing genocide or ethnic cleansing and what exactly is the difference between the two.
What I was pointing out above (in humorlessly picking apart GC joke) was that the question of racism is only made more difficult when issues of culture (nuture) are equated with race (nature). If you run into a rude white Frenchman, do you decide it is because he is white or because he is French or just because he is rude? If surveys show that on average the French are ruder than Spaniards, is it because of racial or cultural differences? Is it invalid to point out that by at least one standard the French are, on average, ruder than Spaniards?
Is stereotyping people because of culture more, less, or similarly offensive as stereotyping people because of race?
Arabs are genetically inclined towards behaviors that, by Western standards, are misogynistic.
Arabian cultures are, by Western standards, mysogynistic.
While Mullah Bob is mysogynistic, you can make no generalizations about Arabs as a race or Arabian cultures.
How do those three sentences fit into what is racist and what is not?
Of course, then there is the fact that in academic anthropology and genetics circles you'll find debate as to whether the concept of "race" is even a valid one.
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