New Hub Director In Phl

[mweiss]

C'mon it's a joke.  Cant' we make jokes?  Has everybody turned into humorless right-wing nut jobs these days?

[post="250273"][/post]​

Jokes that are based on racial, ethnic, etc., stereotypes are really dangerous. It's not about political correctness, either.

Let's not mince words here. Bob was drawing on the Indian ethnicity in suggesting that PHL would be run like a 7-11. The implication was that convenience stores and Indian ethnicity are sufficiently intertwined as to be inseparable. It's not only incorrect (and I don't mean politically, either), but also would most certainly have offended me were I in Mr. Arkan's shoes.

Given his start with PSA in 1969, I'd also hazard to say that the closest he's come to a convenience store is as a customer.

Can't we make jokes? Of course we can. However, would it hurt you all that much to ask yourself of the basis of the supposed humor? Would it hurt you all that much to ask yourself how you would perceive the "joke" if you were at the butt of it?

I could go for days making jokes about MGTOWs and PineyBob, but I won't. I don't think he would find them funny (or, at the very least, I don't know him well enough to make any conclusion), so it's probably not as funny as some might think. Being sensitive to others' feelings isn't about liberal or conservative. It's not about "political correctness." It's about awareness that the world is filled with people who have different perspectives, and recognizing that they have feelings, too.

 

[PSA1979]

Bravo Michael, I've been thinking the exact same thing. And again it is not just PC that drives one to not make a racial or biased joke. Just the saying of the joke places racism and bias out there.

When my son was a small boy, he came home one day bragging about how his friends were harrassing a rather large girl. He started telling me the things they were all laughing about. I asked him how the girl felt about all these "jokes". I could see the dawning in his eyes.....he hurt another human being and in doing so hurt himself!

 

[mweiss]

Before you start slapping swastikas on my arms, how about thinking about what I wrote?

The reason for reconsidering racially-based jokes is not that they're unpopular. It's that they're often taken personally. They're ad hominem.

I may not agree with what you write, but I will defend your right to write it. (no, not to my death, I don't like you that much)

That doesn't mean that I won't try to open your eyes to the unintended consequences of what you write.

 

[diogenes]

Suha has survived this long by never crossing Al. He's not about to start.

Same ole' same ole'.

 

[tadjr]

I dont believe Mr Arkan is of Indian descent anyway. He is Turkish I understand.

It doesnt really matter as long as he gets some action in PHL. Maybe being a close personal friend of Al will actually help him get some things he might need to get PHL in order. Ya know, not just some schmuck bellyaching that they need people and equipment, but a true loyal friend who knows what they are talking about and will have Al's ear to (finally) make things happen in PHL.
(Ok, that was a joke!)

 

[mwereplanes]

Before you start slapping swastikas on my arms, how about thinking about what I wrote?

The reason for reconsidering racially-based jokes is not that they're unpopular. It's that they're often taken personally. They're ad hominem.

I may not agree with what you write, but I will defend your right to write it. (no, not to my death, I don't like you that much)

That doesn't mean that I won't try to open your eyes to the unintended consequences of what you write.

[post="250338"][/post]​

mweiss:

Would it be ok if I called Al Crellin incompetent? Or would I hurt his feelings too much? If I called him a name like "incompetent Al" would that be ok?

In this country we can speak our minds. And you can criticize those words. What we need to do is stop being so damn "sensitive" and let the truth ring out loud and clear regardless of the feelings we hurt.

As far as the racially based jokes and unintended consequences: If one is offended and truamatized by someone joking about their race or looks then one needs to get over it and realize there are morons in every walk of life and consider the moron who made the joke just that. A moron. If those "offended" were to ignore the jokes then the jokes would likely stop. Of course, the do-gooders will continue to degrade the morons and "protect" the sensitive so the jokes continue.

Are you a member of the thought police?

mr

 

[RowUnderDCA]

mweiss is right..

this is not some abstract joke about silly racial stereotypes. It is (perhaps inaccurately) associating a particular person's supposed abilities and compentencies with a negative sterotype based on group affiliation. I can accept that the 'jokster' was not intending to participate in a smearing, but Ive seen that a lot of folks dont intentially go along with acts that attempt to identify certain groups as limited, or less-than or otherwise eligible to be 'defined' as out side the over culture that is our American society. This kind of stuff does lead some to feel like they can further target folks. Insecurity leads to labling and labling leads to exclusion, exclusion leads to discrimination etc etc. Think about jr high school. One didnt have to be very different at all to be labled and disadvantaged, socially. That can have real consequences. Think about survivor island. That entire show is based on small groups natural tendencies to define in-group and out-group, because the targetting is built in to the drama of the show. When things get bad, insecure, tenuous some folks look to identify scapegoats and outsiders instead of pulling together. Hey, anybody can slip up, humour is interpretive, we all make mistakes, but it is not true that these words are harmless.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Both sides have some valid points - in some ways we have become too PC in this country but on the other hand one should consider the sensitivities of others before making comments.

That said, join me as we go back in time .....

Wasn't it about a year ago that someone's sensitivities were ruffled by a poster's caviliar use of a certain 4 letter word - a word for an act that had traumatized the offended one's lady friend?

Maybe someone with such sensitivities should be a little more careful of offending others'.

Jim

 

[usairways_vote_NO]

If you've ever heard "Black Jeopardy" on Howard Stern then you'd know exactly what I'm referring to.

[post="250320"][/post]​

So do you regularly watch an exploitive show like that and think it is all cute and funny?

P.S. mwereplanes I definitely fall in the camp that considers the one who made the comment a moron just like every other time he goes about seeking to offend others that he seems to think are below him somehow, whether intentional or unintentional.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

I dont think that this is about being sensitive to other people's feelings. I'm more in the get-over-it camp, if that is all it was. This was a posting on a public message board that is very associated with the culture and communication of a society of folks that have a mission (running U). The subject of the comment was someone having the guts to put himself/herself out as a leader in an arguably hostile environment. Leaders need credibility and legitimacy (also, competency of course). You'd have to be blind to not interpret the Philly culture as a bit harsh, to say the least. Surely, we all can imagine that anybody that doesn't go along with the wishes of some of the more demanding folks in Philly find their lives at work more difficult. So, in this case, it's not about hurting somebody's feelings. It's about making somebody's job more difficult. It's not a huge moral failure, but it is hurtful.

 

[mweiss]

Would it be ok if I called Al Crellin incompetent?

Of course. You're speaking of his actions, something over which he has control. Are you really that incapable of determining the difference between criticizing someone for what they say or do, and criticizing someone for where their parents came from?

What we need to do is stop being so damn "sensitive" and let the truth ring out loud and clear regardless of the feelings we hurt.

Of course. Criticize someone for something that they choose to do. Perhaps you'll get them to change. It's impossible to change one's race (even if Michael Jackson might have tried).

Are you a member of the thought police?

[post="250499"][/post]​

No. I'm someone who is way past tired of hearing racial, ethnic, and gender slurs. They dehumanize, and I'd expect you to understand the harm that dehumanization can cause.

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

Where do you think the best ethnic jokes come from????? The particular ethnic group!!! All stereotypes are based on particular tendencies of that specific group and the public's perception of same.

It's nice to see so many who seek to silence unpopular opinion. That's how Hitler came to power and we know what happened there.

[post="250320"][/post]​

This is too rich --- a corporate trainer and self-proclaimed customer service guru who proudly utters racial slurs and then spirals into Hitler comparisons!

(Piney why don't you have your dear friend TripleB 'splain this to you on a cocktail napkin?? Oh that's right --- he has no use for you anymore!)

You were flat wrong. You don't have to apologize for you have no credibility.

 

[mwereplanes]

Of course. You're speaking of his actions, something over which he has control. Are you really that incapable of determining the difference between criticizing someone for what they say or do, and criticizing someone for where their parents came from?

Of course. Criticize someone for something that they choose to do. Perhaps you'll get them to change. It's impossible to change one's race (even if Michael Jackson might have tried).
No. I'm someone who is way past tired of hearing racial, ethnic, and gender slurs. They dehumanize, and I'd expect you to understand the harm that dehumanization can cause.

[post="250579"][/post]​

Define, please, dehumanization. Are you speaking of what happened in Aushwitz? Because that is a far cry from racial, ethnic or gender slurring. You are way overboard on this stuff. I give all races, ethnicities and genders enough credit to be able to ignore morons who choose to "dehumanize" them using words. You, apparently, do not.

Shouldn't we be more tolerant of the morons who choose to voice these slurs. Who are you to be so judgemental of these morons? Are you moronophobic? Are you insensitive to their inability to be sensitive to others feelings? Who are you to determine what is right to say or what is wrong to say? Who made you the king of what words or phrases harms or doesn't harm?

You must be a judgemental, intolerant, moronophobic, racist who can't accept morons for what they are. If we, as a society, must be sensitive to one group then how can you "dehumanize" the morons among us. You need to become more accepting of their plight and stop being so judgemental of their mental shortcomings. Accept them for who they are and allow them to voice their jokes in peace. They do not have the ability to understand, as you do, how much "dehumanizing harm" they are causing.

After all, we all live together and must be tolerant of each other. Especially those not as smart and as sensitive as you and I.

mr

 

[Retired1]

After this has been beat to death there is probably another group out there like me. I didnt even get it.

 

[mweiss]

Define, please, dehumanization.

Merriam-Webster says it's the process of "depriv[ing] of human qualities, personality, or spirit." In particular, I'm referring to the substitution of that which makes us unique individuals with a mask, making people no longer what they make of themselves, but rather what others have made of them.

Are you speaking of what happened in Aushwitz? Because that is a far cry from racial, ethnic or gender slurring.

I'm not speaking of Auschwitz, although that could be viewed as an example of an extreme conclusion. Racial slurs are also the foundation upon which slavery of the mid-1800s within the United States (which, incidentally, began with a nonracial foundation) was ultimately built. Racial slurs were the foundation upon which "NINA" signs were posted in Boston. Racial slurs are the foundation upon which a Sikh is denied boarding on a flight, simply because he looks too much like a Muslim (what does a Muslim really look like, anyway? Malcolm X?).

Shouldn't we be more tolerant of the morons who choose to voice these slurs.

No. Behavior is chosen. Heritage is not.