I just had to tell you guys what my kid did yesterday

[Semperfi_dani]

RE: I just had to tell yo

Well I am going to bow out of this one, because clearly the second you confront someone on the issue of racism, they respond back with the old "you are playing the race card". Um..yah, i guess i am..but you only play it when you are confronted with it.

 

[Curiosity]

What is really sad...

Is a person who speaks English only as the birth language and still can't string a sentence together to make any intelligent meaning.
Lots of those critters around too.

 

[SilentSwirl]

Re: RE: I just had to tell you guys what my kid did yesterda

...there is a good chance they may just be someone who wanted to get involved politically and are working the phones as an unpaid volunteer.

It was a Liberal call - so they would be paid for by us - it's an "entitlement".

 

[Semperfi_dani]

RE: I just had to tell yo

Well from what she posted Wednesdays Child...is that he CLEARLY stated "will you be supporting the Liberals". The child's response to a clear sentance "learn to speak the language?". Is there a better way to say "will you be supporting the Liberals". Perhaps he should have done an interpretive dance on the doorstep.

 

[I think not]

You happy now Green Gretta? Everybody is all over your kid to teach him some manners :lol:

 

[GreenGreta]

Funny how some of you have jumped all over me, printing out what I said, highlighting the discrepancies for yourself and typing a rebuttal. Nowhere have I said that the person calling was black, asian or Indian. I said he had an accent and a language problem.

And ya, if you go to Quebec and don't speak French well enough to suit them.. you are out of luck. They will treat you like crap and you know it. So it's just me and my child that needs to be above the rest of the world? My kid and I get to be picked on for being Irish and we're to just suck it up.

Practice what you preach.

 

[pastafarian]

Perhaps he should have done an interpretive dance on the doorstep.

Now there's a reason to welcome a Conservative canvasser to your door! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Curiosity]

Re: RE: I just had to tell yo

Well I am going to bow out of this one, because clearly the second you confront someone on the issue of racism, they respond back with the old "you are playing the race card". Um..yah, i guess i am..but you only play it when you are confronted with it.

That's too bad Semperfi....that you are giving up.

....because I wish people would discuss this with each other and get this "race card" thing out in the open. Every time someone mentions country of origin or language (I got into trouble on the English language speaking countries yesterday).... we get someone yelling "superiority" or "race insult".....this is ridiculous. Are we going to pretend when we meet a person who is from, say Nigeria...that they are not African and Black? To be able to ask them questions about their homeland and share comparisons and even jokes...that is when all this phoney subtle racism is gonna be shoved into the dark where it belongs.

We are absolutely stunned when we feel we are doing the wrong thing by asking people about their backgrounds. There are millions of people out there who have wonderful stories of interest but because of this "race inhibitor"....we don't even acknowledge them as people... we sort of look over their heads and are "nice" because the government said so...

Only when people stop thinking "race" is it going to go away...and it should never be used as a "pass" to have a worthless argument.

 

[I think not]

Get more leftists into office, not the "fake" liberal leftists, the more fringe type, like the NDP. They can legislate more language laws, because hey!, the government always knows better!

 

[tracy]

Re: RE: I just had to tell you guys what my kid did yesterda

For the record, my kid is not racist. He has friends from all races. My point was he was bashing Liberals. I'm proud of him for bashing the moronic government you people so loyally protect. I'm proud of him for speaking his mind and I always will be. Is it too much to ask that a person working for our government at least speak our language in an understandable manner? Is it? He learned this on his own. I am not racist, I hate people with no manners who refuse to make an effort with the language of the country THEY CHOSE.

I was pissed that Belinda Stronach can't even speak French. These are the languages of our country, if you work in politics, I believe you should learn them. I am not the only one who feels this way.

Furthermore, do you like waiting on hold for a half hour to speak to a person at the government you can't even understand? This pisses me off to no end, I am no further off then I was before I made the call, because I couldn't understand the person.

The caller obviously spoke English well enough for your son to understand and if he's working at an english speaking job he's obviously been making an effort to learn the language.

I don't see how this bashes liberals. Won't any new Canadians vote for Harper?

I don't think it was racist, but I think it was a mean thing to say. It would be just as mean if the caller were from the conservative party.

 

[GreenGreta]

I like Wednesday Childs posts too ITN.

Um I was standing beside a black guy at my work the one day and someone came up to us and said "holy shit, you guys are twins!!!"

This same black guy the other day always tries to blame white people for the gang shootings in Toronto. "It was white people wasn't it? No, Damn." It was funny man. If we can't notice the differences in people why bother having them?

I'm sure someone will print this out and compare it to a previous post and scream at me for some contradiction. But that's because people have no lives.

 

[Semperfi_dani]

RE: I just had to tell yo

Ok..i won't go away from it. LOL.

It's not if you can or cannot have "fun" with race. Its about context and content. Do you go up to a complete stranger who happens to be black and say "hey nigger" just because you do it with your friends? When you say it to your friends, its in context of a joke, with consent given even subtly by your friend. You go up to a stranger and its completely inappropriate.

In this case, it was inappropriate as this child does not know this person. Green Gretta said " I said he had an accent and a language problem". So what if he did. Is that reason to say "learn to speak the language"? What does his language and accent problem have to do with whether or not you support the Liberal Party?

 

[Semperfi_dani]

RE: I just had to tell yo

And if you are being attacked at work Green Gretta, why don't you go to your employer if you find it inappropriate? But furhter more, if you do not like it when people say things like that to you, why do you find amusment when your son or yourself say it to others? Can't have it both ways.

**Edited to add: And just because you or anyone else finds this a joke and is ok with it, do not presume or assume that everyone else finds it funny.

 

[FiveParadox]

I think that point is that the context is quite important.

It has to do with one's comfort; around my friends, there are sometimes jokes that could be deemed "racist" — but as we are friends, and comfortable around each other, it's a non-issue, and we laugh. However, around strangers, we don't make those kinds of jokes because they can be seen as "taboo," and would make those people uncomfortable.

It depends on context and comfort, in my opinion.

 

[Freethinker]

Re: RE: I just had to tell yo

Only when people stop thinking "race" is it going to go away...and it should never be used as a "pass" to have a worthless argument.

This is morally reprehensible behaviour even if racism is not involved. Say the person was English but had a speech impediment.

No more racism, but the "Learn F'n English" is still loutish behaviour that should not be praised. It is the praising of a loutish attach on someone with some perceived weakness that I find reprehensible.

It would be an interesting sociological experiment to plant the same message exactly on another message board but simply change the party mentioned and see if this breaks along the same party lines. I find it odd that this is gaining support among the right wing here almost exclusively. I know it wouldn't change my opinion, I saw nothing in the kids reply that indicates anything about the party, just an attack on someone different, and praise for it.

 

[pastafarian]

What does his language and accent problem have to do with whether or not you support the Liberal Party?

That's it right there. There's no connection.

Jokes about ethnic origin, language, etc. can be funny and some groups of people are way too politically correct. It's a matter of context and intent.

It's also true that a lot of racism is unconcious, because people learn it from their families as children and aren't even aware of it. We have to give those people a chance to "unlearn it" gently, or we get people bending over backwards, like some on this thread, to justify racism by attacking the people who point it out, or by trying to define "racism' in such a way that it doesn't include them.

 

[tracy]

Re: RE: I just had to tell you guys what my kid did yesterda

Funny how some of you have jumped all over me, printing out what I said, highlighting the discrepancies for yourself and typing a rebuttal. Nowhere have I said that the person calling was black, asian or Indian. I said he had an accent and a language problem.

And ya, if you go to Quebec and don't speak French well enough to suit them.. you are out of luck. They will treat you like crap and you know it. So it's just me and my child that needs to be above the rest of the world? My kid and I get to be picked on for being Irish and we're to just suck it up.

Practice what you preach.

I lived in Quebec for a few months right before the referendum in 1995 and have a terrible accent in French. I probably sound like George W Bush does when he speaks Spanish and Jean Chretien when he speaks English. No one was ever rude to me because of it. People always seemed content with the fact that they could understand me and I was making an effort. I've also lived as an exchange student as an 18 year old. After a year there, I could make myself understood in simple matters but my accent and grammar were horrible. People there were also very nice to me despite my limited language skills. Having experienced how hard it is to learn a new language as an adult has given me much more compassion for new Canadians who have accents.

I don't think you should have to be made fun of for your ethnicity. I just don't think you being made fun of for being Irish makes it ok to be mean to other people. Someone has to be the first to stop making hurtful comments when they aren't warranted.

 

[Semperfi_dani]

RE: I just had to tell yo

Well you all fight it out..i have to go shopping. Must get grub. Interesting discussion all the same. Cya.

 

[sanch]

Re: RE: I just had to tell you guys what my kid did yesterda

I think that point is that the context is quite important.

It has to do with one's comfort; around my friends, there are sometimes jokes that could be deemed "racist" — but as we are friends, and comfortable around each other, it's a non-issue, and we laugh. However, around strangers, we don't make those kinds of jokes because they can be seen as "taboo," and would make those people uncomfortable.

It depends on context and comfort, in my opinion.

I don't see the distinction here. The idea that people think it is alright to make racist remarks in small groups and it only becomes a problem if someone hears you bothers me. And that people laugh about it.

 

[Curiosity]

SempreFi

Good you returned...that's what we need...let's get this out while we are all ready for it....

There has to be some common sense - and calling a person "nigger" doesn't sit well with me...nor would being called "whore" by someone else...

GreenGreta's son is 17..... the phone interrupted him. Shame on Green Greta for not having a PC script at the ready so he wouldn't "offend".....lol he may have even thought it was one of his own friends putting on an act.... I get goofy calls all the time from my friends and some of them are great for a laugh but at first...I get fooled...(but I am slow)....

I was called a racist on another forum for describing two Vietnamese friends of mine. Well the wife my friend - she is a College Professor and her husband is in a business of his own. They are good friends and I was describing their accents (a combination of French and Vietnamese)...they are also just around 5' tall each of them. One poster returned the comment I was a racist because I was making fun of their "accents"....which was 100% wrong... it was a perception only of what I had written. I adore these two people... they are small in stature, have sexy accents, and are totally bright bright bright....and good friends.

This race stuff has to stop somewhere... people have to get on with it...even being hurt on occasion.... most of us have had things said to us over which we have no control.... our size, our weight, our nose, our hair, etc..... these are facts of life.... not things we should hide away like Grandpa's old teeth we forgot to bury with him.