Growing up I was discriminated for being German and Italian not only that my ears grew before I did and was also called Dumbo. So combine that with Square Head, Nazi and Wop and being made fun of for being a JW getting in fights as a kid was very frequent.
So now you can pretty much call me anything you want and I really just don't care, got used to it and it just rolls off me. So last week I am at a small birthday party and this guy was making some coments about Germans and calling his boss "a crusty old kraut" among other things. Inside I'm laughing but I was thinking should I have said something, I'm German?
So my question to you is, if you were in a similar situation and someone was making refrence to your culture in an offensive manner would you step up?
Well.......cuilture wise.. I guess not. My dad (who was never a JW) is 100% of finnish descent. Where we lived Finnish jokes were REALLY common.. (downers on the Finnish like Blonde jokes are on blondes)... my dad always told finlander jokes.. one time a guy at work took a another coworker aside and said.. boy.. $#$# must not like Finlanders at all.. the coworker laughed and said........are you kidding? $#$# is pure FIN...
so... it all depends on where you are coming from..
Are you Kidding???? I "aint" called Mouthy for nothing... DONT Knock the "limeys"" Canucks"Jehovahs Witness in MY presence OR Women!!!!!Or the Blacks!!!! My grandkids are black... Oh nothing gets me more excited that a good fight..... I am a Christian.....LOL!!!!!
I guess it would depend on the context. I mean, race and religion is common joke material.
(I am not speaking of racial slurs of course, only stereo types).
For example, Def Comedy Jam and other stand up comics routinly use stereotypes for fodder.
Another example is, my husband calls me a spud-lovin' beer guzzler (about my Irish side), and "Your Grandpa wore a Skirt"! About my Scottish side. It is funny, and doesnt insult me at all. It was meant to be lite hearted humor, thats all.
I guess it depends on if someone is being hurtful, or humorous.
So now you can pretty much call me anything you want and I really just don't care,
It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers me for others to make fun of someone elses race. When I hear someone attributing a whole race as being inferior in someway, such as a redneck hillbilly talking about blacks in a disgusting way......it boils my blood to the point of wanting to smack his illiterate arse. ( and now I'm biggoted for calling him illiterate) Damn!
My own personal feeling is that any kind of racial slur or sexual preference, no matter where you are from, is uncalled for. I see it as a form of demeaning somebody else and making yourself feel above them. I hear racist comments once in a while, but I don't look for it. If I do hear it I just realize the person I heard it from just doesn't know any better...can't help the way they were raised. It has become their way of thinking...but I still don't think it's right. I wouldn't say anything to them because I don't believe it would make a big difference in changing the way they think. They are just ignorant, IMO.
My son has "big ears", and he does get teased at school, but he has a great way of just letting it roll off. I worry about those comments hurting his self esteem. I still like to remind him of each of our uniqueness. I tell my children that people are like cookies...we come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. I'm Mexican by decent and my kids are bi-racial......their father is caucasian. It's very important to me to help them appreciate diversity.
I have often wanted to say something about posts/topics I have seen here, but refrained because it just isn't worth it. Those who do seem to get pounced on with the "you people see race in/get offended by EVERYTHING" type retorts.
Judging from some statements and topics I have seen here (and I'm NOT talking about the most recent topics) it would appear that not many "ones of color" frequent this board.
So my question to you is, if you were in a similar situation and someone was making refrence to your culture in an offensive manner would you step up?
Beans, ever heard of "sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me!" ?
Well, there's a lot to be said for that childhood saying. No, I wouldn't step up because you're always going to come across some bigoted plank. There's a lot of character to be found in someone who can just walk away, so just walk away.
Dansk (who's got nothing but German, Irish, Danish and Norwegian blood in his veins).
