While I've always been pretty socially conscientious I've also been reading a good deal longer than my socially conscientious radar was more fully developed. As I've gotten older and wiser I've become hip to things like Robert Howard, HP Lovecraft and Jack London being racists. Then there are others such as AJ Liebling who are sometimes misconstrued as raciest for often using terms that would very much today be considered so but with very little inspection one can tell that he was attacking raciest mentalities. Still, his language can often be off putting for people with more modern sensibilities and it may make you think twice before suggesting it to someone.
I'm not talking about current writers who are bigots. Obviously that's another subject altogether, as HP Lovecraft and Robert Howard won't be getting your money, but how do you view dead writers who made some pretty cool stories but held some pretty problematic beliefs (assuming you're not a flaming bigot) or, dead writers who may have not been problematic per se' but would often use language that conflicts with modern sensibilities?
Also, if you don't mind sharing what is your own ethnic / gender / socioeconomic / etc.. background, as I'm interested in how (if at all) this affects people's views on the matter.
I'll share my own stances on the subject in the near future but not at this time because I don't want to direct the conversation as much as hear other views on the subject.