Sign outside gas station has some shocked and offended By Gene Apodaca ABC13 Eyewitness News (12/17/04 - MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX) — A sign in Montgomery County has shocked and even offended some. But what's even more surprising is who put it up. The sign was put up Thursday night outside a gas station. Since then, a steady stream of people has come by to take pictures. Customers may be offended by the sign, but the owner of the store doesn't seem to mind....and he's from Pakistan. "I don't think the kids ought to be seeing something like that," said customer JC Rutherford. "I really don't." It's a holiday greeting that's taking customers at the service station by surprise. "I don't know what to think about it," was the response from a customer who only wanted to be identified as 'Sheryl.' "My first impression is offensively." The sign reads, "Happy holidays, rag heads. Camel parking in rear." Since the store is owned by a Pakastani man, many feared the sign was an attack on him, but things aren't always as they appear. "It's just a joke," store owner Haroom Jaliawala told us. "It's not to offend anybody at all." Jaliawala was the one who put up the sign. He says the greeting is nothing more than an inside joke with his regular customers. "They will come in and if they hear any good jokes about foreigners, they will come and tell me," he said. "If I listen to (Jeff) Foxworthy and find some good redneck jokes, I will tell them and that's all it is." But not everyone is laughing at the joke. They wonder where the humor is in a sign like this. "I don't think it's a very good joke. I think he could have picked a better one," said Rutherford. The owner says so far, no one has complained to him about the sign. However, he says if anyone is offended, he will take it down. As of Friday night, it was still up. (Copyright © 2004, KTRK-TV) http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/print_121704_local_sign.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I can see the problems here, but as long as no one has complained, more power to the owner.
i dont ever think its ok pull the excuse "im whatever, so i can say that." thats not right. its not rascist what hes putting up, because its not meant to degrade or provoke anyone. its not rascist, but pretty tasteless.
Basically a knocked to middle easter people saying we are "camel Jockeys" etc or ride camels instead of cars. So they are saying to park them in the rear that's all. I guess most people would take offense to it because it is at a place of business. If he posted this sign at home or something to mess with his friends it is one thing. But to put it out in a place of business where people might not know who put it up or the "inside" joke. Then it will cause people to be aggrivated and pissed. If i saw this at a friends house who is middle eastern that is one thing and i could care less and think it's funny. But if i see this in a place of business regardless of who ones it i would be kind of like "what the hell" Kind of wierd but that's how i see it. Being Middle Eastern.
Jeez, don't we get enough ragging from outsiders? The last thing we need is one of our own ragging on us.
One a side note. This exact scenario would offend anyone in their race for the most part. If a white person put "Honkey's parking in the rear or White Trash parking here" etc African american " N@#$#$ parking here" Mexican and so on If it's in your own home amongst friends and an inside joke it's one thing but to put it out for the world and all your customers to see is stepping over the boundries in my opinion.
yeah don't watch anything unless it's on one of the ESPN channels or another sports channel lol...don't have time to sit and watch TV for other programming lol.
ummmm....no. If I saw a sign that said "Honkey parking out back" I would laugh my head off. When I would stop laughing is if the store owener pointed a shotgun at me and commanded me to "park out back, honkey!" I have been the butt of many jokes (particularly Catholic jokes). The fact is that they don't bother me. We have become so paranoid that everybody started talking about how reprehensible it was before we knew the facts. (After all, it must be racist, there aren't anything in Montgomery County but rednecks, right?) Then, when we find out that the owner who put the sign out is Pakistani, those who were outraged flail about to justify their debunked opinion. It has been said..."may you live in interesting times." Sadly...we live in a freaky time of hypersensitivity and a loss of common sense.
I'm not trying to spark a racial debate - just asking - why did you choose to censor one slur but not the other?
I completly read this sign to mean, if you drive up in a camel, you can park in the rear, because camels like to puke on people.
It's not puke its Spit...but its plenty of spit to look like puke... It's just a sign....Freedom of speech? anyone remember that?
A Pakistani is not really a "camel jockey" since there aren't too may camels in Pakistan. Now if it the store owner was Saudi Arabian or Iranian it would make sense.
Stack take it from experience, beware of these types of threads. It's one of the reasons why the D&D was created.
