Should I have said something? (page 2)

Dansk

Hi Mouthy,

No, no British! I was born in England - but to immigrant parents! I consider myself English, but there's not a drop of English in my blood. Maybe THAT'S why I'm so tactile

Dansk

mouthy

Well now you know why I am tactless!!! (Alright all you other limey's i am NOt including you in that remark JUST ME!!!!

Oxnard Hamster

Being made fun of for being German?

People of German descent are pretty common where I live.

shamus

Beans,

The person probably did not know that they were offending you like that. I would have just told them to please not talk about people like that, because it offends you.

I often do this when people use the term "retard".

I once had a travel agent give one of my desk agents a hard time checking in... I came out and told her our policy, and she said to me,"are you retarded?". I cancelled her reservation on the spot and told her that her business was not appreciated in a family hotel. (she was also drunk). That is an extreme case... she was trying to be ignorant.

CruithneLaLuna

I would bring it up with the person in private, IF you have a reasonable rapport with that person. If you recontextualize the "crusty old kraut" comment, the person will probably see the error of his/her ways, and apologize. I wouldn't make too big a deal of it either. Smile and laugh when you discuss it - keep the discussion relatively light, but remind the person gently that it ain't right to hold a person's ethnicity against him. If you want to be really subtle, you might even find a way to bring up your German ancestry in an offhand way, and not even mention the person's previous comment.

Regards,

Cruithne

Beans

Some very interesting responses, thank you for all your opinions. Lost Diamond great analagy with the cookies and I got over the big ears thing somewhat but if someone told me today I had big ears it would of stir up the old sad feelings I had as a kid. Just a sad memory really.

People are People

Depeche Mode!

Scully

Hey Beans,

Being part German, I understand what you're talking about. It's always fun to watch someone's horrified reaction, after they've made a derogatory cultural remark, to say something like "well, I'd be careful about the ethnic comments if I were you, you might be insulting someone's mom! (or father/ grandmother/ grandfather)"

If it's a co-worker, we can write them up and have them go through disciplinary "cultural sensitivity training" under the employer's non-threatening work environment policy. So another quick and effective response is "Say, I hear there's a company sponsored cultural sensitivity workshop that you might be interested in attending..." and they know they are SOOO busted!

Love, Scully

RAYZORBLADE

Sad to say, many ignorant people have a relatively narrow scope on Germans, and also those who are so sorely ignored, who really wanted to make a difference.

Here's a link that may offer some pretty incredible reading:

http://www.gdw-berlin.de/start-e.html

Not all Germans supported the dictatorship of hitler...hell no!

That being said, check out links on German resistance and those who did not want things to go the way they did.

Knowing many Canadians with German heritage, I can assure you, they are 'fun-loving' and good natured, wanting all the good things you and I, and anyone else could ever want: peace being one their top priorities. No surprise.

Great post Beans, I had to bring it up again, because I know a couple of people who have parents of German descent who were underground (WW2) and resistant to the oppressive regieme of long ago. Despite their deeds, because they were German, they were discriminated against, abroad. Sad.

Generalizations: can be harmful.

smack

in my best Basil Fawlty voice

Don't mention the war, I did, but I think I got away with it

Steve

It's not a hamster, it's a rat

Should I have said something?

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