Like bad drivers, there are two types of assholes: amateurs and professionals. Amateurs are just having a bad day (we've all been there) while the professionals are almost always assholes. And you can't tell right away. The asshole problem is so hard to confront because in the moment, it just feels like a giant threat you want to flee. Right now, I'm working on saying something, anything, the next time I hear a racist rant (I live in the south) about "the blacks this, the blacks that." It would be the height of progress for me to simply SPEAK UP and say, "I don't endorse intolerance" so I'm practicing that line. Last time I was caught off guard; the time before that I gently said, "Don't be racist" and it seemed to work.