Seriously. What is wrong with you jackasses? Let’s run down some examples of your “incredible wisdom” (all of which I’ve heard in the last few weeks):
[ol][li]The robin doesn’t mate with the bluejay.[/li][li]The Chinese have no concern for human life.[/li][li]“Jap” isn’t a derogatory term.[/li][li]Muslims cannot join the American Legion.[/li][li]If you can’t speak English, you’re not a real American.[/li][li]If you’re Jewish, you have dual citizenship with Israel. Oh, and that Israeli citizenship takes precedence over your American citizenship.[/li][li]Catholics have a secret agenda and a Catholic President will obey the Pope instead of the Constitution.[/li][li]Freemasonry is a false relgion.[/li][li]Mormons have a secret agenda and a Mormon President will obey the church president instead of the Constitution.[/li][li]All Muslims want to take over the world and institute Sharia everywhere.[/li][li]All Muslims really want to kill infidels.[/li][li]Our school cannot hire Blacks because the parents are worried that the children will be afraid of African-Americans. You know how bad Africans behave.[/ol][/li]
Sadly, I’ve seen some of these–or words to their effect–on SDMB over the years. There are other asinine bigoted comments that’ve cropped up, both on the boards and in real life, but I think this is fairly representative of it.
For those of us who aren’t bigots, how about we stem this stupidity at the outset. Each and every time some jackass blurts out one of their bigoted comments, interrupt them immediately and demand they show some proof. Call them out on it.
Of, if it so happens to be legal in your jurisdiction (and please, let there be somewhere it’s legal), beat some sense into them.
Just had to vent a bit. I’m past tired of bigotry.
Is it really that wrong to say that Freemasonry is a false religion?
First, it’s not even a religion under most conventional definitions. And if it were, I probably would think it’s false, just like I think Christianity is false, Hinduism is false, etc. Not sure how that’s bigoted.
But anyway, yes, I’m sure everyone agrees bigotry is wrong. Even bigots would agree to that, because they generally don’t think of themselves as such.
Yes, it’s that wrong. Especially when the morons blathering about it actually do consider it to be a religion. Their use of the term “false religion” is equal to their use of the term “evil religon”. And, yes, I’ve heard the same people use both terms.
Freemasons worship satan/evil spirits
Calling a black person an ape is ok if they look like one
“they” are making us racist - how dare “they”
Any school with a dome or cupola and foreign looking writing on the sign is a “bomb making school”
All foreign languages translate to “gooky gooky gooky”
Various iterations involving “towel-head” “abo” “nigger” and on and on and on
I’m an American! Let’s see if that stereotype fits me:
Well, I’m not into religion.
Ok, I’m not morbidly obese either, but I could lose a pound or two.
Guns are awfully neat, though. I think I might be part of why that stereotype exists.
As far as they go, one out of three isn’t bad for a stereotype. It’s still wrong, though.
I’m just tired of certain people trying to give away Texas. It makes me sad. We’re not all young earth creationists, who think abortions should be televised to shame the mother if the Feds won’t let us ban it entirely. <sigh>
Wow. What a fucking bold stance to take right here in this day and age. Who would have thought someone would ever have the courage to stand up to bigotry!?
I’ve found that “I’m not a racist, but…” usually precedes comedy gold. Mostly because it is something that wouldn’t be racist, but there they are bringing race into it. My favorite second half of that sentence is:
“Koreans could learn to make a goddamn donut.”
No, I’m not telling you who said it. But I will admit to rolling on the floor laughing until I was crying at the absurdity of that sentence. Afterward, I explained that some Koreans do indeed know how to make a donut, but most donut shops are bad, and it’s not because most of them are owned by Koreans. I’ll also admit to not verifying that every Asian-owned donut shop in my area is indeed owned by Koreans. In the defense of the “I’m not a racist, but…” in my life, I haven’t been into an independent donut shop in years that wasn’t staffed by Asians. I’m not sure why they’re so heavily represented in the industry.
The latest gobsmacking one I’ve seen is “Why are you rioting, Muslims? Don’t you have some goats to fuck or something?”. The layers of profoundly hateful ignorance are astonishing.
Maybe they don’t have NO concern, but I’m regularly disturbed by the news reports that come out of China. There are frequent stories of infrastructure failures (bridge/building collapses) that kill people. Melamine has been added to food products. Lead in candy and makeup. Beijing pollution is offscale-high, despite the existence of technology that could clean it up. And there’s the famous recent case of that little girl who was run over by a truck in a busy marketplace, and then ignored by numerous passers-by as she slowly died. And this week’s slaughterhouse blaze, which killed 120 workers due to locked fire exits.
Am I a bigot for noticing all that?
Or is it just because China is 4X as populous as the US, and that the per-capita incidence of disregard for human life is actually about the same as the US?
To be fair, China isn’t the only place where human life is cheap; the recent collapse of a clothing factory in Bangladesh comes to mind (with the building owner telling employees to get back to work even after structural cracks were noticed), and fatalities due to locked fire exits seem to be a depressingly common thing in many parts of the world.
Now, if you’re using the extra quarter-second that it’d take to form the syllables “–anese” to staunch a spurting artery, then it’s understandable. But I’d think long and hard before using a “nickname” for someone’s race. And ask yourself why you can’t just call them “Lichtensteinians” (I really don’t know why they object to 'Lickers"-- just sensitive, I guess).
ETA:
Hey, wait a minute. Looks like you’re from Scotland. I have relatives from there… who fought the “Japs” in the Pacific*. So maybe you don’t get to decide what’s derogatory.
"Alistair Urquhart was a soldier in the Gordon Highlanders, captured by the Japanese in Singapore. Forced into manual labor as a POW, he survived 750 days in the jungle working as a slave on the notorious “Death Railway” and building the Bridge on the River Kwai. Subsequently, he moved to work on a Japanese “hellship,” his ship was torpedoed, and nearly everyone on board the ship died. Not Urquhart. After five days adrift on a raft in the South China Sea, he was rescued by a Japanese whaling ship.
His luck would only get worse as he was taken to Japan and forced to work in a mine near Nagasaki. Two months later, he was just ten miles from ground zero when an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. In late August 1945, he was freed by the American Navy—a living skeleton—and had his first wash in three and a half years…"