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EVERYONE's a little bit racist. Hey, that's what some muppets on a Tony Award-winning show say anyway. In Avenue Q, a musical where puppets and actors share the stage with much hilarity, the muppets say what humans think but perhaps can't shout out.

A furry muppet, Kate Monster, takes offence when her suitor, Princeton, compares her to another muppet named Trekkie Monster. When she insists Trekkie and she are not the same just because they are the same "race" and urges Princeton to be more sensitive, he in turn points out that her oft-stated goal of building a Special Monster School dedicated to the education of Monster children was pretty racist, too.

She gets defensive. Princeton asks: "Could someone like me go there?"

Kate Monster starts off by saying, "No, we don't want people like you," to which he replies, "You see!? You're a little bit racist."

As the multiracial cast members come together to sing a charming song entitled Everyone's a little bit racist, one wonders if their assertion is true -- that no one is really colour-blind, but that doesn't mean "people go around committing hate crimes".

In Malaysia, we are constantly faced with the issue of race, to the point where its edges are distinct, and sometimes sharp. To a certain extent, however, the issue of race and racism is even more of a razor in the Western world. To be politically correct is now a must. Anything less and you're a racist or bigot.

It is a subject endlessly debated, and one that can trigger much pain. In the world of academia, some even refrain from using the term "race", saying that it is really a biological myth and that differences are more cultural than anything else. How can people be defined by what they look like, really?

What is a racial trait, and are some based on truth? Is it scientific, or psychological? Is it purely racist, or is it a "racialised statement"? If one can believe in "good" racial traits such as "good with money", is it then wrong to think of the "negative" ones?

I'm sure there are many negative ones people can think of, so I'll go with a funny and "acceptable" one that Eddie Murphy once used to side-splitting effect in his comedy show Raw. He said white men couldn't dance, and insisted he wasn't being racist: "It's like saying black people have thick lips. That's not racist. It's true. We have thick lips and white people can't dance. And y'all be trying. Y'all be really... do y'all listen to the words or the beat?"

Gags aside though, the issue of race has caused far more bloodshed than giggles. The big "R" word has been such a fundamental part of the world's history, its nations and wars, that it has become an almost fundamental, unquestionable fact. It is very serious business. But when do we get very angry, and when do we learn not to take too much offence? Where does the grey become solid black or white?

In certain social situations, depending on the type and level of racialised comment, one can feel discomfort at showing offence or, on the flipside, be reluctant to argue against overstretched political correctness.

There are certainly no clear or easy answers. In a class on racial formations of modern men, I once had to talk about the book Racial Situations by John Hartigan Jr. I was completely nervous for two weeks leading up to the presentation. The main reason? The book related many instances and situations where its white and black subjects uttered the "N" word; the derogatory term for African-Americans.

The word was strewn all over some particularly important chapters, on the way its subjects used the word, whether casually or full of meaning, and to whom they could or could not say it to.

There was no way I could not say it. But would I say the actual word in class, or say "The N Word"? Due to the nature of my course and our analytical work on racial concepts, it was understood that we were academic students of the subject. There was no politics.

But there were sensitivities. Just how much? Could I say it just once, at the beginning, and then subsequently say "That Word", or something else? "But I was doing a scholarly presentation! And I know I'm certainly not racist," I would tell myself.

If I refused to say it, wouldn't I be descending into exactly what I was presenting? It was a tough call, and I was still sweating on the day itself. Finally, as I started my presentation and the word was approaching, I did what I could only do. I half-muttered the word and quickly addressed my peers, telling them about my predicament, later continuing with "the word".

My professor, Paul Gilroy, a most eminent scholar on racism, ethnicity and the history of the African diaspora, looked at me rather sympathetically. We later had an immensely interesting debate on "the word" and contexts, even though no one but the professor used it itself.

There is no doubt that the subject of race is complex, multi-layered and quite plainly, rocky terrain. But even if most of us can't exactly define or debate "Race" well, we know instinctively what is acceptable or not. We know not all things are personal attacks. And even if everyone's a little bit racist, according to Kate Monster and friends, and the world's not always a happy musical, we can always endeavour to balance it up and deal with it as best as we can, working with given contexts and situations.

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