To my mind, “Racism” is a grossly overused term in today’s society. This is how the Webster dictionary defines “racism:”
Full Definition of racism
- 1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2.
2 : racial
prejudice or discrimination
It is a belief that generalizes all members of a certain race into one group and defines them primarily by the characteristics of that race.
Now, there’s a problem with that. There is a standard definition of “race” which goes something like this:
race
A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of
common physical characteristics, such as skin color or hair type. (Source: Boundless. “Culture, Ethnicity, and Race.”
Boundless Communications.)
The question becomes, how many true “racists” are there? Those who discriminate on the basis of physical characteristics? Probably not as many as you might think.
I don’t believe many people are ignorant enough to believe that the color of a person’s skin is a determining factor of anything, except maybe his/her chances for getting a nasty sunburn. Though, personally, seeing the number of people willing to vote for Clinton or Sanders, and those who don’t even know who the Vice President is, makes me have to question my judgment there, but I disgress.
The real issue is a form of
ethnocentrism, which is “judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture” (Source: Boundless. “Culture, Ethnicity, and Race.”
Boundless Communications.)
Race and ethnicity are two different things.
ethnicity
Characteristics of a group of people thought to have common ancestry who share a distinctive culture. (Source: Boundless. “Culture, Ethnicity, and Race.”
Boundless Communications.)
There are far more people who would be more correctly labeled “ethnocentric” rather than “racist.” This emphasis on semantics may seem like splitting hairs, but in order to address a problem, one should have a true understanding of it. Furthermore, I believe throwing the term “racist” around simply has a greater negative impact in the mainstream media than would the term “ethnocentrist.” “Racist” is a simple term, but it does not, by definition, convey the entire scope of what is going on in people’s minds.
Whether you choose to call it “racism” or “ethnocentrism,” the basis for it can be found either in upbringing or in negative interactions between people of different cultures, or both. If you have an upbringing where you are raised to be suspicious of people who are different from you, you will more likely end up having negative relations with them. This is going to reinforce your belief that these are bad people. It may only take one negative interaction to form this opinion.
If you are raised in an environment where diversity is accepted, you are less likely to be suspicious of others different from you. Therefore, your interactions will have the chance of being more positive, given the benefit of the doubt that the person with whom you are dealing is not ethnocentric him/herself.
In either case, if a particular person has too many negative encounters with a particular ethnic group, with few or no positive experiences, he/she may conclude that all people of this group behave similarly and become suspicious of them in the future, and even come to dislike or “hate” them.
I believe we could all (and I mean everybody of all ethnicities) benefit from trying to understand each others’ cultures and compromise rather than becoming defensive over who is “right” and who is “wrong.” We need to come to a consensus of culture, because multi-culturalism does not work unless people are segregated into discrete groups. You can’t have multiple cultures vying for position in one society without conflict. It is a fact that all cultures have their good points and bad points. Why not take the best of all cultures and ditch the more negative aspects in order to “standardize,” if you will, an “operating system?”
To answer the OP’s question: No, it does not necessarily indicate psychopathy.
The panic that comes with guessing what other people are thinking is horrible. That someone might be on the spectrum is the last assumption most people will jump to. 
