• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is this racism?

Was the described situation racist?

  • Yes, it sounds like a racist remark

    Votes: 3 7.5%
  • It was insensitive

    Votes: 8 20.0%
  • There was only cultural gulf and misunderstanding

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The fellow's sensitivity over his ethnicity was coming to the surface

    Votes: 7 17.5%
  • Is bad handwriting a stereotype for people from Philippines?

    Votes: 4 10.0%
  • People should be more careful throwing out accusations of racisms

    Votes: 11 27.5%
  • Other

    Votes: 7 17.5%

  • Total voters
    40
Is this racism? Other. I don't know; context is everything.
 
People of white races should not be harassed by members of the different races with needless jokes and comments. They have enough to deal with already, with the various types of discrimination and unfairness inflicted on them.
 
''So you are saying that the person who was being joked about should have responded more diplomatically?
''

It would likely have been wiser if he either ignored or reported privately to the Human Resources the racially charged comment. And, the person who made the racially charged comment, would have been wise to not make such a comment. Hopefully, this explains adequately, what I mean by diplomacy.
Look, as I see this incident, the comment was only racially charged from the perspective of the person who responded negatively.

And since they were not the person making the comment, their opinion does not matter.

The person making the comment did not intend it to be racially charged, thus it was not.

For example, if I was to see a guy with really dark skin, and commented that "wow, that guy is really black"... Would I be racist?

No. Unless I intended the comment in a negative manner directly tied to his skin color and origins.

As I see this incident, the only bigotry was on the part of the person who reacted negatively, in that they assumed they were being profiled as part of a larger group based solely on their origins.

And, true to the saying, assuming made an ass out of both parties (although one to a greater extent, IMO).

And for ****s sake, use the quote feature.
 
Last edited:
Wow cant believe this thread is going on, didnt really think there was anything to debate

IMO
the correct answer is still other because the answer is no

guess you can argue the semantics of it and whether it was smart, insensitive etc etc but there was no "racism" in the story
 
I get told "All you white boys look the same to me" all the time... but I dont cry about it.


This guy just needs a big dose of vagisil.

Or, despite the fact that no offense was meant, one could politely apologize, express that no offense was meant and move on.

What's funny to me is that people who offend seem to get their panties wadded up in an even tighter bunch than the one's who claim to be offended - so I really see no difference.
 
Or, despite the fact that no offense was meant, one could politely apologize, express that no offense was meant and move on.

What's funny to me is that people who offend seem to get their panties wadded up in an even tighter bunch than the one's who claim to be offended - so I really see no difference.


Why should I have to apologize for a problem YOU created by drawing the wrong conclusions and then getting offended?

Why should I apologize because someone else is intentionally looking to be offended by something and is always on the defensive.



Again, and people wonder why races self-segregate in a post segregation world.
 
People of different races shouldn't be treated as visitors from a foreign land. That's the kind of thing that creates racial divides.

I talk about race all the time, in real life. I'm a white girl who works predominantly with inner city folks who are black and Latino. But how I talk about race, and how MOD talks about race/ethnicity are two different things. MOD treats people of other colors like they are zoo animals. "Look. That one has vertical stripes. The other zebra is more horizontal." I don't think that MOD sees past other people's ethnicities to grasp their essential humanity.

And the weird thing is that people pick up on stuff like that.

Do I think MOD's comment was racist? No. But, I suspect there is more to the story than what he's told us and also, that while his comment wasn't specifically negative about a particular race, this guy is also reacting to more than this one comment.
 
Last edited:
I think your best approach would be to stop talking openly about race/ethnicity entirely and save all these conversations for the internet. You're going to get sued.

LOL. Normally that is my policy at work. I guess I felt familiar and friendly enough with this fellow to let my hair down for a moment. In that moment I just thought of him as just another guy. Lesson learned...

I agree with you.
 
The comment is completely harmless and without a hint of racism or prejudice. It's no different than if the two sloppy handwriters both went to the same high school and the person said, "Geeze, you both went to Providence High School, too."

Some people are way too sensative and need just develop a sense of humor. There is nothing wrong with making jokes related to race if there is not real rancor or hatred behind them. A close friend of my family is Korean. My brothers and I would constantly teasingly tell him "Koreans suck X". X was whatever he was trying to do in competition with us - basketball, softball, board games, whatever. It didn't matter. If he was doing it and we wanted him to fail (usually because we were competing with him) Koreans sucked at it. He later moved in with my family and my parents affectionally called him their "Korean son" and my brothers and I called him our "Korean brother". And he would fire right back at us, calling us round eyes or his white family and saying all white people looked alike and other funny jokes. We all laughed. No one was offended because we all knew it was meant in jest and no one involved had any real issues concerning race or ethnicity.

Similarly, I used to have a black friend I worked with and we would have light hearted conversations about race - mostly me (the white guy) arguing to him that it was better to be black in America and him arguing the reverse. We come up with some ridiculous reasons. I once told him that it was better to be black because black men could wear any color suit and look good. I pointed a guy in our office who regularly wore a purple suit and he did look good in it. I told him if I wore a purple suit with my red hair and pasty white skin, I'd look like the freakin' Joker. My buddy laughed for five minutes over that one and conceded the point.
 
Back
Top Bottom