Let’s say that someone, in instructing you as to the decent/correct way to complete some job-oriented task in the officeplace, prefaces the suggestion with, “Now, the white-man thing to do would be to…”
Would this offend you? If so, what would you consider an appropriate response?
I would simply let it slide without comment. It ain’t worth getting worked up about it, and I am not going to change someone’s viewpoints in one poignant rejoinder.
You made me laugh, though, because you reminded me of one morning many years ago when I was calmly and quietly seated at a break-room table, minding my own business, when a friend seated across from me said “You’re mighty loud for a white boy” in a deadpan voice. I think I was at a loss for a correct response, just as you are now. Suffice it to say that that little catch phrase is not in my repertoire.
The phrase itself doesn’t bother me as much as the odds that it’s how the guy sincerely feels.
If it’s just a lame attempt at sarcastic humor, telling him to cool it before he gets himself and everyone else in the room in trouble might be one way to go.
If this is how he actually thinks, though, I’d go with the ‘document and report’ approach. He’s probably getting off on the shock he thinks he’s causing, and he’s old enough to know better.
Of course, my real response would be something about giving syphillis to the natives, but that’d probably do more harm than good.
[caveat] it does indeed depend on whether or not the remark is pejorative in intent [/caveat]
But in the vernacular, the “White-Man” way is the “by-the-book, predictable, duplicatiable, logical, dependable…the long” way. Fishing with store-bought fiberglas/graphite rods, monofilament line & artificial lures for example. Methods ascribed to persons of alternate ethnicities are more “solution-oriented” and elegant if not pretty.
I might find such usage unprofessional and therefore unacceptable in a work environment and echo the “document & report” approach mentioned earlier (if only to distance myself from the imminent fallout), but am unlikely to be offended if an acquaintance makes a similar off-handed remark.
Ah. Matchka brings up an incorrect assumption I’d made. I was thinking that his “white man’s” way meant the better way to do something. Probably because of constantly listening to my co-worker start every project with “well, we could do it the Japanese way, or…”, meaning an uncoordinated thumblefuck that goes nowhere.
Well, you try responding to “You are pretty smart. I mean, for a girl.” That was not someone off the street. That person has a one degree down and another one in progress, is a minority, and lives in New York City.
It depends, are you a white man?
Since I’ve heard that phrase before, I think my immediate reaction would be “Wha-a-a-a-at??”
I’d say “I’m sorry, but hearing something described as the ‘whiteman thing to do’ bothers me. Would you mind not using that phrase around me?”
It wouldn’t offend me as such, but I’d want to tell the person that the way it was phrased was foolish - whether it meant “the stupid, long way” or “the suck-up way” or “the thorough way”.
I’d go with “what’s the Viet Cong way?” if I thought the person was being casually racist. “What’s the Leet haxor way, dateless grasshopper?” if they were being pseudo-cool.
Next time he says “Now, the white man thing to do would be to…”, catch him and finish the sentence with “…fuck it up beyond all recognition? Sure, I can handle that,” then wad up whatever papers are in front of you and jump shoot them into the nearest wastebasket.
I’ve replied to racist comments in the workplace by mentioning that my grandfather was black.* It was obviously a BS line, but I made sure to smile afterwards and I think it got the point across without causing any further problems at work.
*[sub]Yes, I was thinking of Steve Martin in The Jerk as I said it.[/sub]