If your chosen field was usage of words and context you would noticed that I said a person would be charged if you prove it was said to cause offence. Also the smiley at the end of my post is a hint that the post was a tongue in cheek lead up to have a friendly pop at jotl. Unless of course you're accusing me of offending people that have blue skin.<whistle,>
pj... honestly it depends you are being racially abused so if you want to be all manly and not care fine... no bother. But... the kid how comes along or perhaps the office girl might not be so manly and big and might be highly affected by it and complain. therefore you are allowing behavior go on that should not go on. end of....
On the subject of dolls, anyone who's not read about the Doll test from the 50's http://www.naacpldf.org/brown-at-60-the-doll-test and what a similar study found nearly 60 years later http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/ It's a sad indictment.
I can't believe any black workers today are still using the term 'honky' [which isn't usually qualified with the added word 'white' because it is only used to whites] - do you live in a time warp?
No mate, it's not just a reflection on their parents. We are all influenced by the people we associate with and the media we allow ourselves to be exposed to. So whilst parental influence forms part of the reason, it's by no means all. It's a reflection of the general social perception.
Still think most people miss the point in these discussions. It's not a 'us vs them' scenario. We're all humans, will all eat, sleep, drink and breath. We come in all different shapes, sizes and forms. Who really gives a **** what skin colour someone has? I give as much as a **** about someone's shoe size as I do for other characteristics...I genuinely couldn't give a flying ****!
A test carried out in the mid 50's. Young kids sat in front of dolls - one black, one white and asked to pick the one that they considered to be the best, the nicest etc The white kids in the study picked the white doll The black kids in the study picked the white doll.....
I think all of us on here agree with all of that - doesn't mean there isn't a problem though. I've never faced racism towards myself but I've seen it first hand on several occasions and the question then arises how do you address it? I worked on a children's literacy group about 10 years ago [extra lessons for the very young to get them reading to their 'age level'] One day a little boy aged 5 said to me 'black people smell don't they?' - if that was you in my situation how would you handle that?
What would you say if the child had said fat people smell...? Should be the same reaction. Especially when the person in question is a five year old.
The point is he made a racist generalisation. If he'd said 'Mark smells' and Mark happened to be black, there's no problem [other than telling the 5 year old it's not nice to say nasty things about people, or whatever] but he'd got the idea from somewhere and you can't simply equate it with 'fat people'. But ..... you didn't tell me what you'd say to the boy or his teacher or whoever you felt should know .....
?? I have just shown how my race is a minority in my chosen field and location of employment. Some of the 'banter' i get from the majority 'minority' is offensive to some....maybe even me. i feel that even if I made a complaint my minority based upper management would not be taking it further
I seem offended that I can be offended and feel that the minority majority will just kick it out. How they hell can I be called a white honkey and nobody even register it as offensive. But if i rearranged the letters of ginger and used that to mock someone....OMG
