Witnessed some racism in Glasgow earlier this morning

[Crackle]

and its gone mad because teachers in schools arent aloud to call an blackboard an blackboard , they have to call it an chalkboard.

You're out of date, they're called Smartboards now.

 

[ttcycle]

and its gone mad because teachers in schools arent aloud to call an blackboard an blackboard , they have to call it an chalkboard.

Well conversely same goes for whiteboard - there is a bit of lets not step on each others toes with the use of language ie we can't say brainstorming anymore as people with epilepsy will get offendedand that can be overly PC and tiresome but that's not what people are talking about here.

 

[vernon]

and its gone mad because teachers in schools arent aloud to call an blackboard an blackboard , they have to call it an chalkboard.

That is so yesterday.

We use whiteboards in the classroom now. Those who are truly in the 21st century use interactive whiteboards.

 

[ttcycle]

oh careful vernon - interactive whiteboard - what about all the racist connotations with the language...I think someone might call you racist

 

[vernon]

You're out of date, they're called Smartboards now.

Only if they are made by SMART Technologies.

 

[Crackle]

Only if they are made by SMART Technologies.

I sit corrected. A few years ago, SMART were the only ones with a decent reputation. Anyway I digress.

 

[MacB]

I can see where Mr P is coming from, though I do feel he expressed himself very poorly. He was a child trying to be hurtful and his racism was via ignorance rather than motivated by racial hatred. It can, and I include myself, get a bit sanctimonious on here at times. We all have to learn and many of us grew up in environments that immersed us in, ignorance driven, racial attitudes. I shudder at some of these attitudes from my youth, from those I knew and the media. I also shudder at some of the crap I came out with. Yet I can recognise that, for a child, saying something hurtful can over ride other considerations. I didn't really get my head around my own attitude to race, compared to the stuff I'd learned by osmosis, until my late teens. I can still remember my surprise when I realised that I had 'instinctive' reactions that didn't align with my intellectual outlook.

Racism is one, the most major, unpleasant aspect of 'groupings' and the lack of empathy that seems to abound. I can't help but feel that progress in combating racism has been hampered by the myriad 'tribal' units. This normalising of a hatred of, or bias against, others because of how they look, their interests, where they come from or how they sound, is a constant barrier to empathy and understanding. At least racism is now officially condemned but there's still a long way to go tackling the attitudes that have been driven underground by this. The way that it's not only ok, but even encouraged, to hate, or prejudice against, other groupings is depressing.

Shockingly, for this website, I even feel guilty about some of my attitudes to motorists I have to keep reminding myself not to tar them all with the same brush and that the vast majority treat me with every courtesy.

 

[summerdays]

(though would there be the same distaste if for example it had been a comment like away and dig potatoes to someone from Ireland?).

I did get those ones from a school teacher when I was a child - I think it was the only time I can remember my mum making an appointment to see the head teacher. And I remember my friends sticking up for me and asking the teacher where he was from - can't remember the place - somewhere in England, but they changed the taunt to where ever it was. Didn't have the same ring to it ... but I remember the feeling inside as they stuck up for me.

But I don't think it has the same level of racism.

 

[Andy in Sig]

What Mr Pig's story illustrates is that there is a choice which you can make to hurt someone where they are most sensitive. It's pretty glaringly obvious that if you are having a row with somebody of a different race and you invoke that difference as an insult, then there is a fair chance that they will be seriously offended, hurt even. In principle there is little difference between a kid calling another kid "a spotty bastard" (if the target of the rudeness is spotty) and "a black bastard" (if the target of the rudeness is black). It is a moral choice to adopt such a tactic of deliberately attempting to upset someone.

The problem is that it is easier to be rude than to actually argue whatever the case in question is with somebody. And I think that that is the point: low level racism of that kind is simply rudeness and we each have to decide for ourselves whether or not rudeness is acceptable.