If nobody is defending him, then why respond with "but it was unintentional." That, to me, is defending. Whether it was unintentional or a joke is inconsequential ... irrelevant. In many instances, I find unintentional comments more offensive because they are rooted in ignorance. Anybody who's been pulled over by a cop knows that ignorance of the law is not a defense. Ignorance of a decent moral stance doesn't excuse either. It's just plain wrong. So lets just drop this topic and I hope all those that have read this thread will be a little more cultrually sensitive in the future.
Oh, that coming from a Canadian...Canada isn't even a real country, eh. In your characterization, you poked fun at Texans. Texans don't really appreciate that because we are stereotyped too often, especially by Hollywood, as dumb slow talking hicks that ride in covered wagons to work. Those folks have never been to Houston. Nothing is further from the truth. I'd bet Houston is more diverse then where you are from. Ok, let me back up. I'm married to a Canadian. I know my first comment was offensive. I'm sensitive to the fact that Canadians have a great deal of pride in distinguishing themselves from America. Wanna a fight in Canada? Go into a bar in Toronto and try making that joke with somebody. I know it doesn't go over well even though it is "just a joke." I wouldn't say such a thing except maybe among close friends. I say it here to prove a point. BTW, I just said that to my wife of 5 years, and she still got the hair on the back on her neck raised until I explained to her about my point here. Okay, I think I've killed this now so I'm not posting anymore...I promise. Basically, if you don't get it, you never will. But it seems as though most of you have. No hard feelings.
And that's my point. It isn't harmless. It is harmful. And you taking your position that it IS harmless is also HARMFUL. Okay, sorry. No more posts. Just wanted to get to the heart of my point.
Your arrogance is annoying. Maybe this has more to do with you inability to understand what people are trying to say, instead of a lack of cultural sensitivity. Regardless of your interpretation, intentional harm based on racist concepts is worse than unintentional harm based on either 1) racist concepts or 2) cultural ignorance or 3) cultural ignorance based on youth (whichever one applies here). That is not to say that unitentional harm is not undesirable. Pardon me, everyone, but krosfyah: I NEVER SAID WHAT HE DID WAS RIGHT. I'VE SAID HIS POST WAS IGNORANT ...so stop implying I'm defending his post or even making excuses for it. I've only been commenting on the severity of the transgression. If you only have the capacity to see the world in black-and-white, then you're right, let's just end this discussion.
Cohen, others have implied that because it was unintentional it was therefore harmless. If that was not your intent, I appologize. The post was NOT harmless. From my view, there isn't a reason to diffentiate the severity based on intentional or unintentional. Regardless, others have implied that it was harmless, either way. I contend that it was not harmless as evidence by the multiple people that spoke out against the post. You are not in position to judge the severity because it was not directed towards you. What if somebody made a joke about your mother who passed away. It would take a lot of nerve of me to tell you that your feelings shouldn't be hurt too much because I didn't know she was dead and it was a joke. The reality is...the damage is done. An insightful person would recogize that and drop the subject like a bad habit. To sit here and argue the severity of it seems pointless to me. It's not about black and white. The message was in poor taste and that's really all there is to say about it. Have you ever heard the term, "digging your own grave?" Look man, there is no way you can take the your stance and come out of the conversation looking good. You must not be married because sometimes you gotta cut your losses early rather than digging in on an issue that has nowhere to go but down.
I am married, and quite happily. I take it you're single? I have 'no losses to cut'. I did not say what he did was harmless, and I'm not here to assign a level of severity. I intended for people to feel better about it by pointing out that it wasn't a 10; whether its a 1,5, or 9...I don't care to discuss and probably does differ from one person to another. I'm not going to sit here and listen to someone claiming that I defended the post, or that my comments are actually worse than the original post. If you want every transgression to rate a 12, fine, but maybe some folks don't care to die of a stroke at the age of 35. (And BTW, other folks here may also have experienced racism and bigotry, so don't assume we're ignorant and cannot empathize)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!! You suck!!! I think this poster just hate German people in his heart !!! maybe that what he want to see flame from Germanposter !!!
