Comments for A Jew, a gay and a black guy go into a bar... »
Posted By Spadecaller 8 months ago in HumorThe Delaware Department of Transportation designed its recent "Diversity Spotlight" newsletter to be an "in-your-face" effort to fight workplace discrimination, but the diversity coaching backfires. It seems the Delaware DOT decided to list things you should not say to a gay, black, Asian, disabled, or Latino coworker. Do not expect to keep a straight face when you read the newsletter.
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Spadecaller8 months ago
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Comments you never want to make to a coworker...
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“Wow, you are from India! My neighbor Ashok Shah is from India; do you know him?” LMAO!
(“Think for a minute…do you know everyone who lives in Dover or Wilmington?”)
...but I don’t have any neighbors from Dover or Wilminton. -
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Radiofreeeuropa8 months ago
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The road to ruin is indeed often paved with good intentions.
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This is hilarious but underscores the awkward way in which we deal with diversity. I do hear well intended dumb stuff like this more often than I'd care to think about. And of course true bigots are still a part of our society, I was getting a haircut the other day and some guy was going on about how he had a bar in Philadelphia (City of brotherly love by the way) when 2 Peurto Ricans had the round objects to come in! (I don't know how he knew their nationality- some kind of special imbecilic psychic radar only available to racist minds perhaps?) Anyway, he seemed to think they had no right to be thirsty, and claimed he grabbed a gun and chased them out.
That was the extent of his stupid story, since he seemed to get a round of sympathy from more than half the folks in there, I won't go back...too bad the guy was a pretty good barber and he can't control what his customers say but I don't want to know people really think like that, it's too damned depressing.-
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Spadecaller8 months ago
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RFE;
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Your story is both sad and funny...
I would have a difficult time expressing my distaste for those bigoted comments while someone is cutting my hair and is holding a sharp object near my neck. I would also opt to wait and just not return. BtW: that is how they have cultivated the bigoted clientele that they have. -
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Eagle_Eye7 months, 4 weeks ago
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"but I don't want to know people really think like that, it's too damned depressing." I do want to know what they are thinking, I was so nieve before Propeller let me know how "Stupid, Bigoted and Hateful" people are!!
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I also make note of conversations in business' and will not do business with a place that is against my beliefs. I have put stuff down and walked out of places because of that kind of stuff and I have no problem voicing my opinion on my way out.
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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That' hysterical dave! One could make a point of stereotyping Delawarians. Affter this training memo and learning about Biden's foot and mouth disease, one might assume that it is a trait common among the people of Delaware.
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BTW: I have a neighbor from Delaware...
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Just for you Ace.
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What Obama must tell Bibi: Israel's free ride on America's back is over
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/05/06/what-oba...
The toughest meeting of Barack Obama's young presidency is approaching. In the next few weeks, he will have to sit down with Israel's Binyamin Netanyahu . The difficulty is not just that the prime minister refuses to accept the right of a Palestinian state to exist and thereby shows the Palestinians have no partner for peace.
Far more burdensome are the ghosts of US policies past. If Obama is sincere in wanting to break the stalemate of the Middle East's core conflict, he will have to launch the US relationship with Israel on to radically new lines. Israel must be treated as a normal country. It cannot enjoy permanent licence to escape criticism for practising policies that would be condemned if carried out by any other country's government.
The day of the blank cheque must be over. The day of the huge cheque must be over, too. Why should a country with one of the world's highest per capita incomes receive around $3bn annually, or roughly a third of the US foreign aid budget (not including extra support from the Pentagon)? Why should it not have to account for its purchases like every other recipient country – a conscious lack of oversight that allows Washington to turn a blind eye to the fact that US tax dollars are financing illegal settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank and helping to build the so-called apartheid wall?
Unless Obama ends America's special relationship with Israel, this omission will be the achilles heel of his foreign policy. America's standing in the Middle East, its influence in the Gulf, its image in the Muslim world, its relationship with Iran, and even its support in Europe are all linked to the way it treats Israel.-
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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...Now Netanyahu is seeking to link Iran even more closely to Israeli policy than the former prime minister Ehud Olmert did. Without moves to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear bomb and its support for Hamas and Hezbollah, there can be no chance of Israel agreeing to peace talks, his officials are saying.
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The most important thing that Obama should tell Netanyahu is that Washington rejects such linkage. The main source of tension in the Middle East and the Gulf is not Iran, but Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands. An old issue cannot be hidden by a new one. Until Israel pulls back to the 1967 borders, give or take some land swaps, under international agreement, Palestinian resistance will continue – and other states will be entitled to support it.
...Bush saw that his last hopes of retaining credibility in the Muslim world would collapse, but his message to the then Israeli prime minister was made privately. Obama should not only tell Netanyahu the same thing. He should give his message loud and clear. He should also declare that any US attack on Iran is off the table. What Washington rightly warns Israel not to do, it cannot reserve the right to do itself.
...Obama's third point should be that he does not stand behind the letter that Bush wrote to Ariel Sharon in 2004, accepting Israel's settlements in the West Bank as "new realities" that need not be abandoned. The document was not a treaty or even a bilateral government agreement. It should be overridden by a new letter stating that the US considers every post-1967 settlement illegal. Only by making a dramatic break from previous American policy can Obama prepare the ground for a lasting agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Mediation cannot succeed when the mediator treats one side as special.
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Yes, we can all have a good laugh at the Delaware DOT, but this is a more serious issue than we're letting on.
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How EXACTLY are government organizations supposed to address issues like bigotry if they can't talk specifically about the kind of overt bigotry that people face? If they don't talk about it then people get upset. If they do talk about it then people get upset. If a group is left out of the discussion then they get upset. If a group is specifically mentioned then they get upset.
Sorry folks, I don't think this is funny, I think it's really, really sad.-
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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I agree with you. Many of these things are NOT offensive and only depend on the way in which they are expressed. For example, I quite often have very interesting discussions with people when I ask them what their native country / language is. I kind of enjoy trying to guess in advance and often try out a foreign language greeting to see if I have guessed right. We often chuckle about my "error" afterwards.
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This is the kind of "political correctness" mandated by government that we do not need. Pretty much the same attempt to "legislate" homogeneity as hate crime legislation.-
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Exactly. I've asked many people of many different ethnic and/or racial origins questions about their heritage. It's not "insensitive" or "bigoted" if you're trying to learn something. I've got a good friend who is from Mexico. He eats a lot of Mexican food. Is it bigoted of me to ask him if he knows of a good Mexican restaurant? Of course not. It's absolutely no different than if he asked me whether or not I knew of a good steak house.
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Maybe I'm missing the point of this and it's not real. If that's the case, perhaps my sense of humor needs a tune up.
I just find it enormously interesting that a person who is such a crusader against bigotry would post such an article and find it "humorous".
If we can't talk about these things we're never going to get past them.-
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Well, given the source I suspect it has to do with the real reasons we may get "hate crimes" legislation.
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Criminalizing Criticism of Israel - The End of Free Speech
On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. This legislation requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-semitism world wide.
To monitor anti-semitism, it has to be defined. What is the definition? Basically, as defined by the Israel Lobby and Abe Foxman, it boils down to any criticism of Israel or Jews.
Rahm Israel Emanuel hasn’t been mopping floors at the White House.
As soon as he gets the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 passed, it will become a crime for any American to tell the truth about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and theft of their lands. .....
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/05/07/criminal...
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Well if that was a sincere question and not a rhetorical criticism against me and all those of us who understand this pathetic memo for what it was, here is an answer:
In fact, I am not just giving you theory. I have experience in administering programs that were designed to teach better understanding of these issues to personnel.
"How EXACTLY"? Convening a seminar or a workshop comprised of individuals representative of the various targets of oppression is most effective; in these forums shared experience is communicated. The results are quite impressive and even some of the most toxic bigotry is often quelled.
"Sorry folks, I don't think this is funny, I think it's really,k really sad."
Well, the rest of us ignorant, insensitive, fools must be such a great disappointment for someone of such high ideals - especially someone who has such a great track record in identifying bigotry and opposing it.
To be honest, I wonder if your lack of humor is more the result of your grudge for me than your overly critical condemnation of all of us who find both humor and sadness in this ridiculous government memo.-
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Don't you think that Delaware has had "diversity workshops" in the past? I've worked for companies and Federal agencies that have had them and although they were not administered by your excellent self, they are generally a waste of time. People will say whatever they think other people want to hear, especially in a supercharged environment like a diversity workshop.
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Quelling dissent and telling people that they're "anti-Semitic" when they disagree with you is NOT the same thing as better understanding each other.
The rest of your comment is not worthy of response. -
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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For those interested in discovering programs that are effective in improving sensitivity and respect in the workplace where oppressive conduct may target individual on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, religion, nationality, and disability, there are numerous programs like this that have proven to be invaluable.
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http://www.worldlinksgpa.com/training/train1.asp
But, how anyone can email or post that memo and not expect the reactions that ensued, is not in touch with reality. In fact, the government worker eventually realized it was a mistake and apologized. -
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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How true ameliog!
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Most professionals all agree that to some extent or another everyone is infected to some degree with prejudice, as it is virtually impossible not to harbor consciously or unconsciously judgments and/or stereotypes of groups of people that deny the individuality of its members.
Just as we experience every day on Propeller, many of us who are conservatives or liberals often "assume" that everyone of each orientation is a carbon copy of the next one. Like a ping pong ball, most of us, including myself, bat back and forth criticisms against the "wing-nuts" or the "lefties" and only on occasion during these dialogues do we discover that we are in dialogue with one or two people. For those of us who struggle in the challenge of communicating and overcoming these barriers, it can be frustrating at times.
The best aid that often helps me avoid the blindness that comes with seeing all conservatives in one light is to remind myself that each commenter is an individual and that the message of the story is what needs to be focused on.
However, it is a difficult challenge especially when there are a host of members with one primary goal, to attack the messenger in whatever way possible. I would like to say that I can avoid reacting to these kinds of attacks; but the truth is that like many of us I sometimes make the mistake and get down in the mud. with them.
Often times, for me, the best freedom is to celebrate my humanity by admitting the most obvious truth when it applies; when wrong admit it -- and not to worry about the consequences. Feeling good about oneself has more to do with my opinion of me not those of others.
"To thine own self be true."
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aceofspades17 months, 4 weeks ago
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Hyp - what does your usual rant have to do with this thread??
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You act like you have a new malady - "Propeller/OCD " the uncontrollable urge to cut & paste anti-Zionist comments on every Propeller thread -- does the Delaware DOT address how to deal with people with this disease? -
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aceofspades17 months, 4 weeks ago
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Bkumm - I think you are right you need a bit of a tune-up. Had this post come from anyone else I think you might have found some humor in the cluelessness (is that a word?) of the author of the memo.
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To me pc is a pain in the ass whether its P.C. as in political correctness or pc as in pc25-
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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It doesn't matter to me who posts it. I think it's incredibly sad that we can't even address an issue by addressing the issue without having to worry about someone getting upset because we're addressing the issue.
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Could they have used different terms? Certainly. Would it have been as effective at rooting out the clowns that perpetrate this kind of behavior? I don't know. And neither does anyone else.-
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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I am. Glad you noticed. I have no reason to hide anything. I stopped drinking over thirty years ago. How about you?
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As Ace noticed and as I already suggested, when you posted your first comment, you used this submission as an opportunity to air your obvious grudge (resentment) towards me. You need to get some help, pal.-
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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My first comment didn't mention you. It wasn't directed at you. So, there you have it.
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I'm sorry for you that you think everyone is out to get you and that everything is about you. It isn't. I think you might be happier if you figured that out. But, that's the way it goes.
And good for you for stopping drinking, if you needed to. And if you didn't need to and just made a lifestyle choice, even better. Congratulations!
You have a nice day. See ya' on the threads!-
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Bkumm
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LOL...I don;t think everyone is out to get me. I guess that you believed my tongue and cheek remark about all the Jews feeling excluded.
But then again, you have frequently suggested that Jews (like me) are all paranoid. Seems like you would be a good candidate for those seminars.-
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Sure seems that way and it has nothing to do with your remark.
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I don't think all Jews are paranoid, but I would suggest to you that you may be. People have opinions that may or may not mesh with yours, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are wrong and it doesn't necessarily mean that they are out to get you. -
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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When I was much younger and dating for the first time, I went with my girl friend to meet her family. I had no idea that my background (Jewish) would be of such paramount concern. Only minutes after we walked in the door, I was seated at the kitchen table. The first question that came from her only speaking parent, her mother, was (I am paraphrasing almost perfectly):
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" Do YOU PEOPLE celebrate those holidays... you know, the ones they call the HIGH HOLY DAYS"?
I responded; "Are you referring to Pesach, Roshashana, and Yom Yom Kippur?
Before she answered, I got the distinct feeling that I was not a welcome sight. In fact, I could easily sense her extreme unrest with my presence in her house; at which point I tried to cut through the bull.
The gist of my qeustion was: "Does the fact that I might be a practicing Jew create a problem for you?"
Well she started fluttering NO No No nO... and turning various shades of red.,
Needless to say, I did not marry that girl when I discovered that the apple did not fall too far from the tree.
Most of us who have been the targets of oppression of any kind and have even a minimal of street smarts, can smell a bigot like a bloodhound can smell frying bacon.-
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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And many of us can smell pretentious hypocrites a mile away.
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Criminalizing Criticism of Israel - The End of Free Speech
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/05/07/criminal...
On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. This legislation requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-semitism world wide.
To monitor anti-semitism, it has to be defined. What is the definition? Basically, as defined by the Israel Lobby and Abe Foxman, it boils down to any criticism of Israel or Jews.
Rahm Israel Emanuel hasn’t been mopping floors at the White House.
As soon as he gets the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 passed, it will become a crime for any American to tell the truth about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and theft of their lands.
It will be a crime to report the extraordinary influence of the Israel Lobby on the White House and Congress, such as the AIPAC-written resolutions praising Israel for its war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza that were endorsed by 100 per cent of the US Senate and 99 per cent of the House of Representatives, while the rest of the world condemned Israel for its barbarity.
It will become a crime to note the disproportionate representation of Jews in the media, finance, and foreign policy.
In other words, it means the end of free speech, free inquiry, and the First Amendment to the Constitution. Any facts or truths that cast aspersion upon Israel will simply be banned.
Given the hubris of the US government, which leads Washington to apply US law to every country and organization, what will happen to the International Red Cross, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and the various human rights organizations that have demanded investigations of Israel’s military assault on Gaza’s civilian population? Will they all be arrested for the hate crime of “excessive” criticism of Israel?-
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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...Many Americans have been brainwashed by the propaganda that Palestinians are terrorists who threaten innocent Israel. These Americans will see the censorship as merely part of the necessary war on terror. They will accept the demonization of fellow citizens who report unpalatable facts about Israel and agree that such people should be punished for aiding and abetting terrorists.
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A massive push is underway to criminalize criticism of Israel. American university professors have fallen victim to the well organized attempt to eliminate all criticism of Israel. Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at a Catholic university because of the power of the Israel Lobby. Now the Israel Lobby is after University of California (at Santa Barbara,) professor Wiliam Robinson. Robinson’s crime: his course on global affairs included some reading assignments critical of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
The Israel Lobby apparently succeeded in convincing the Obama Justice (sic) Department that it is anti-semitic to accuse two Jewish AIPAC officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, of spying. The Israel Lobby succeeded in getting their trial delayed for four years, and now Attorney General Eric Holder has dropped charges. Yet, Larry Franklin, the DOD official accused of giving secret material to Rosen and Weissman, is serving 12 years and 7 months in prison.
The absurdity is extraordinary. The two Israeli agents are not guilty of receiving secrets, but the American official is guilty of giving secrets to them! If there is no spy in the story, how was Franklin convicted of giving secrets to a spy?
Criminalizing criticism of Israel destroys any hope of America having an independent foreign policy in the Middle East that serves American rather than Israeli interests. It eliminates any prospect of Americans escaping from their enculturation with Israeli propaganda.
To keep American minds captive, the Lobby is working to ban as anti-semitic any truth or disagreeable fact that pertains to Israel. It is permissible to criticize every other country in the world, but it is anti-semitic to criticize Israel
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Spadecaller7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Bkumm
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LOL...I don;t think everyone is out to get me. I guess that you believed my tongue and cheek remark about all the Jews feeling excluded.
But then again, you have frequently suggested that Jews (like me) are all paranoid. Seems like you would be a good candidate for those seminars.-
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hyperbola7 months, 4 weeks ago
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You are not paranoid Spade, you are simply a dishonest hypocrite. You want to hide behind whining about "anti-semitism" to excuse massive crimes against humanity.
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Stand Up to Israeli Apartheid: Open Letter to Barack Obama from a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
I found your book ‘Dreams from my Father’ a moving and inspiring story of your own struggle to find your identity and purpose in life. You found it for sure, and today carry the hopes and dreams of so many people in our world. We pray for you and your family. We wish you all good health and happiness. You carry so much responsibility. We hope you will change the policies of USA (both domestic and Foreign) to people centred policies, based on the values and ethics which you try to live out in your life.
... To visit Palestine is to walk with a people whose lives are being made unbearable by Israeli Policies of ethnic cleansing. Each year when I visit I ask myself ‘how can the Palestinians bear so much suffering and still have hope?’ The Philosopher Karl Jung says ‘Go into your grief for there your soul will grow’. Being privileged to walk alongside the Palestinian people, one sees so much soul. Many are materially poor having been made refugees and often pauperised by Israeli occupation and siege, but their dignity, courage, and persistent resistance to injustice is awesome to witness. It reminds me of the magnificence of the human spirit and, I feel humbled to be welcomed as a friend of the people of Bilin, Ramallah, Gaza, and Palestine. I wish that you President Obama would go and walk with them as you walked in spirit with the people of South Africa in their great and inspirational anti-apartheid movement.
Walking every week in the peaceful protest to the Apartheid wall, are Israeli activists and Internationals. It takes great courage to come from Israel to the occupied terrorities and oppose your own Government’s Policies and I pay tribute to the Israeli peace activists who continue to do so, often at the cost of punishment by the Israeli Government. Yet, they come, and here is the hope that not all Israelis support their Government’s racist and apartheid policies of siege, occupation and militarization of both Israel and Palestinian villages and towns. I also pay tribute to the Internationals who put their lives daily on the line to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians. Last month in the Village of Nilin, one young man from your own country of America, Tristan Anderson, was targeted by Israeli soldiers, and hit in the head with a gas canister. He is currently in intensive care, and we all hope he will recover.
...I appeal to you President Obama, to change USA Policies and stop supporting through military aid, etc, Israelis occupation of Palestine, and to move immediately to help lift the siege of Gaza and say to Israel ‘enough is enough’.
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/05/04/stand-up...
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lloydm657 months, 4 weeks ago
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The reason jews are paranoid is because they have been kick around forever.They have a group mentality.When a Jew opens a business in a minority neigborhood he is the enemy.The same goes on for Koreans,the blacks in L A think they are invaders,and they should own stores themselves.Last I look there is no law against owning the stores,and shops.Well you do have to put forth an effort,and thats hard.So it's better,and easier to protest
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kriicket7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Can't we all just get along... ;-)
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Although I didn't see anything to be offended by, I can certainly understand how others would be. Sometimes when people try to "break the ice" with someone of another race, they tend to try too hard and say things that they really don't intend to come out the way it does. I have found that to have a friend, you have to be a friend...and I always try to treat others as I would want to be treated.-
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Bkumm7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Apparently not! LOL>>>
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You're right. The so-called "Golden Rule" is a good one to live by. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to know more about the people with whom you come into contact. If we were all a little more understanding of the insatiable curiosity of the human species and a little less ready to take offense at every honest mistake, I think that we'd be a lot better off.-
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kriicket7 months, 4 weeks ago
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I just know how it feels to be on the receiving end of rudeness when you've done absolutely nothing wrong....you never know what kind of day someone is having, and your friendliness may be something to help get them through the rest of the day. I know I've been there before...one kind word means a great deal....like there is hope for the rest of humanity....does that sound strange?
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