Opinions such as being racist are learned. A price can't be expensive. Being racist is not an opinion, but a state. Racist opinions are learned. Lay is transitive, which means that it always takes a direct object.
Lie is intransitive, which means it never takes a direct object.
You lie on a couch. One reason lay and lie are so often confused is that lay is also the past tense of lie , as in He lay down for a little nap . Laid is the past tense of lay. Unfortunately, yes, she lied. In spite of the fact that there are many expressions in sentences like the one you are now reading that could profitably be excised or changed to something that is a little less wordy, many of the writers who are writing today fail to see that there is any reason for doing so.