A parable about what's wrong with America
September 16, 20086 comments
About a year and a half ago, I had a conversation with a guy I knew about racism in his workplace. He was upset that a new hire was throwing around racist words about blacks, but before you agree with him wholeheartedly, here's the catch: there were no blacks in his small company at the time. So this guy continues to go on and on about how this one new guy (who probably didn't last there long, being dumber than box of bricks) was throwing around racist words and how it upset him.
To add further complication, the new hire was physically aggressive, and this guy I knew wanted to confront him about being offensive. So, in a nutshell, you had a white guy, in an office of white guys with a few token dark-skinned hispanics, getting upset about racist words spewed at a race that wasn't even represented in the office, and going to tell the thuggish employee what's what. When I pointed this absurdity out to him, he just blinked, almost like on some level he identified with the non-existent blacks who were getting offended by "their word" being used by this white trash.
Too many people are like this guy, today, especially among whites. They'll get offended at things which don't even apply to them or hurt others in their presence. Rather than mind their own business, and just let people be flawed people when it's not hurting others (white people getting offended and "hurt" by racist words that don't apply to them, or anyone around them doesn't count), they have to get in the middle of it and become censorious and puritanical.
Puritanical.
You read that right, puritanical. The puritan spirit is alive and well; all that's changed is the objections of scorn and recipients of censorious behavior. Like the puritans, those that exhibit this behavior think they are behaving righteously, and punishing a sinner for thinking the wrong things, and doing the wrong thing. In modern America, the modern puritan will let you screw whoever you want that's over the age of consent, but don't let them catch you nursing a prejudice toward anyone.
That will get you sent to hell (also know as Human Resources).
To add further complication, the new hire was physically aggressive, and this guy I knew wanted to confront him about being offensive. So, in a nutshell, you had a white guy, in an office of white guys with a few token dark-skinned hispanics, getting upset about racist words spewed at a race that wasn't even represented in the office, and going to tell the thuggish employee what's what. When I pointed this absurdity out to him, he just blinked, almost like on some level he identified with the non-existent blacks who were getting offended by "their word" being used by this white trash.
Too many people are like this guy, today, especially among whites. They'll get offended at things which don't even apply to them or hurt others in their presence. Rather than mind their own business, and just let people be flawed people when it's not hurting others (white people getting offended and "hurt" by racist words that don't apply to them, or anyone around them doesn't count), they have to get in the middle of it and become censorious and puritanical.
Puritanical.
You read that right, puritanical. The puritan spirit is alive and well; all that's changed is the objections of scorn and recipients of censorious behavior. Like the puritans, those that exhibit this behavior think they are behaving righteously, and punishing a sinner for thinking the wrong things, and doing the wrong thing. In modern America, the modern puritan will let you screw whoever you want that's over the age of consent, but don't let them catch you nursing a prejudice toward anyone.
That will get you sent to hell (also know as Human Resources).
Categories: political correctness ,
racism
I heartily disagree with you. Some language and conduct is always inappropriate for a workplace, and racial slurs are right up there.
I'd hate to be the UPS guy delivering a package to that office.
Or perhaps apply for a job there - the moment I heard anything of the sort, I'd start checking for the exit.
Finally: doesn't God judge us for what we do in private when no one is around? Isn't expressing hateful things something God doesn't want us to do?
True, but that's not why he was upset. He was upset just because it affected him, personally for whatever reason. I would have been completely sympathetic to the guy if he had been upset over the guy's behavior creating an unprofessional work environment, but all he cared about was how the comments made him feel.
Agreed, but what people do in private that doesn't hurt others is between them and God. It's not my place to judge them (Matt 7). It's certainly wrong for someone to express racist ideas and use racial epithets in private, but at the same time, until it affects others, it's none of my business.
But the whole point of the discussion is that his actions were *not* in private - they were in a public place.
Then why did you bring up the issue of what God feels about our private actions? :-P
My main point was that it was ridiculous for the guy to get so bent out of shape about his coworker's conduct for the reasons he was getting bent out of shape. As I said, if he were concerned about the guy's professionalism, and how he was clearly not a good representative, I'd have been 110% in agreement. People who are so racist and uncivilized that they cannot keep such language to themselves in a very public setting are not the sort of people that any employer in the right mind would want, and it's a sign of a good employee to bring that to the attention of one's employer.
Again, in this situation, the guy I was talking to wasn't concerned about his employer; he was concerned about his own feelings. That's why I said guys like him are a problem. They let their emotions run them on the job, and in the process may make their coworkers feel like they're walking on egg shells around them. Since employers often cater to such people, to keep them from creating legal problems, it's very much a problem.
"They'll get offended at things which don't even apply to them or hurt others in their presence"
I don't understand this crusading to defend other groups when those groups themselves are perfectly capable of sticking up for their own. It must make them feel better that they are so morally superior to others that they'll defend a people who themselves profligately use the word nigger as pronoun, noun, and adjective.
That said, I kinda side with David here. There's no place for conduct like that that diminishes the dignity of others. It screws up the harmony of the group and in the end makes the workplace a worse place to be.
Some language and conduct is always inappropriate for a workplace, and racial slurs are right up there.
Nonsense. If one works for La Raza or Aryan Nations, I imagine racial slurs are an integral part of the job.
Every company should decide its own policy on this matter. The problem, as usual, is when government gets involved and replaces name-calling with outright oppression.