A white man in a high position was asked (or worse – ordered!) to apologize! How horrible for that poor white man in a high position? Who will speak for poor endangered white men in high positions who say something dumb and are directed to apologize, if not Sam Harris (or, in his absence, random racist internet weirdoes)?
Maybe you as a South African honestly don’t understand that joke either—I’ll actually give you the benefit of the doubt on that. Just FYI: saying “ladies lingerie” when asked what floor has NOTHING to do with sex. It’s a dumb joke, but a completely anodyne one. It is equivalent to saying “housewares” or “sporting goods”, because it refers to the different floors/departments of a classic department store. Therefore he was not “harassing” anyone, and certainly does not deserve “censure” of any kind.
Thank goodness we have white men around to make these sorts of determinations! Only white men can truly know the facts and truth of such matters. Thank you, oh most wise and benevolent white man!
Translation: in your Bizarro World, it’s the mirror image of the lamentable state of affairs in bygone eras: instead of white men being the only ones whose testimony is given any weight, for you they are the only ones ineligible to testify about anything—except, I suppose, in certain cases when they take the correct self-flagellating line like Andy is so fond of doing. That’s not justice, it’s tit for tat in some endless blood feud.
“Testify” all you want. Really. But when you declare from on high what the supposed “truth” about something as subjective as harassment, offense, and the intent of a certain joke, etc., is, then expect to be mocked. This isn’t about white men. It’s about you – you’re often an idiot, and I think it’s fun to point out your instances of idiocy on this board. I think this particular form of idiocy (believing that your experience renders you qualified to make judgments with certainty about things that are necessarily outside your own experience) is more common among white men, but it’s certainly not unique to any group.
Gosh, no, sir, we have no department stores nor any exposure to decades of American media here in Darkest Africa, sir :rolleyes: You dumb racist motherfucker.
Sure , Mister. *Whateeever *you say.
I guess you’re a sophisticate who knows all about American culture. :rolleyes: When I went back to my birthplace of Kenya, the native Kenyans I talked to frequently peppered me with questions that indicated they did not in fact understand U.S. culture terribly well, although they were certainly eager to learn. Which is no slight against them: most Americans are notoriously foggy about non-American cultures, and unfortunately all too often don’t care to learn. (The British sometimes strike me that way as well, which is perhaps where Americans got that tendency from.)
Oh no! A “lame, outmoded joke” might be interpreted differently in a different time, and when it references women’s underwear, taken as offensive. How terrible that Lebow was directed to apologize for saying such a (dumb) thing! What trials will wealthy white men have to endure next? Surely nothing could be worse than being directed to apologize for saying something dumb?
So you believe he should be required to profess something he doesn’t believe. :dubious: (Never mind what you think he should believe: your belief about that isn’t going to change what he actually does believe.). What is the point of that?
I’m not sure how well-versed you are in history, but this is exactly how the Chinese Cultural Revolution worked. We’re not to that extreme (let’s hope “yet” is not the appropriate adverb to add here), but it’s a difference of degree rather than kind.
But hey, maybe that sounds good to you. My late father, a Marxist anthropologist and a brilliant man in many other ways, used to defend Mao, which drove me crazy.
Newsflash: Many people who utter the words “I’m sorry” do not actually feel sorry. That doesn’t mean that requiring them to make an apology when they’ve done something jerkish constitutes some kind of Soviet-show-trial forced “recantation”.
Any decent person is sorry if a silly joke they made upset or offended somebody. Refusing to apologize just because they don’t agree that their silly joke was as upsetting or offensive as the complainant found it simply makes the joke-teller look like a conceited jerk who can’t bear to acknowledge that they’re not quite as funny as they thought they were.
That said, it would probably have been more effective for the complainant simply to be solicitous about the jerkish joke-teller’s apparent confusion, rather than appearing taken aback or embarrassed by the suggestiveness of the joke, which is a reaction that jerkish joke-tellers love to guffaw at. “I’m sorry, sir, the floors here don’t have departments, they have numbers. Do you remember what number floor you’re going to? Or does one of the people with you maybe know where you’re going?”
Conceited old sexist jerks enjoy embarrassing or surprising women with sexual innuendos but they absolutely HATE seeming to be elderly and confused.
As a reminder of what sort of apology is required:
Or, for example, “I’m sorry for telling that stupid joke”.
Eh, if the teller of the stupid joke isn’t actually sorry for telling it, then pretty much any apology will involve a statement that the teller believes to be factually false. That is not actually the intolerable assault on academic freedom that the whiny defenders of this stupid joke are melodramatically trying to make it out to be.
Listen, you dumb racist cunt, 2 things:
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Kenya is not South Africa - only ignorant racist fucksticks think what people on the street in one part of Africa know has any bearing on what’s known in a completely different country half a continent away. What does the pop cultural knowledge of Salvadorians say about your own? You really suck at making a coherent argument, but even more so when your racism obviously gets in the way.
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You seem unaware of how pervasive American culture can be, with bits of it popping up all over the place in weird ways. Kind of like a fungus, or a cancer, but there you are. I was raised surrounded by idiocy like Reader’s Digest, Beltway comics recordings and American TV.
But sure, make “You don’t really know anything about American culture” the basis of your argument, I’m *sure *that will prove fruitful, you bigotted simpleton.
Point is, I’m aware of the source of the “humour”, I’m just denying that it’s innocently-used* in this case. Or apologised immediately rather than doubling down - IME, it’s the guilty who shout back the loudest. Especially sexist pigs - look at Kavanaugh’s performance in Congress.
Oh, no, a similar joke can be found in Harry Potter! Tell me, I’m curious - how is an academic conference like a children’s book?
:rolleyes: with the reflected glory again.
I must admit, I question how “brilliant” either of your parents really were, when they so clearly failed as parents. Look at the racist simpleton they raised.
Be careful or he might show you a video of a piece of paper with a high SAT score! And then where would you be?
Doubled over with laughter?
Your transparent envy is noted. 
Hey, don’t sweat it: not everyone can be three sigmas above average! I’m sure you are both very talented in your own special ways. <pat pat>
And yet: until it was no longer convenient for you, you felt free to speak for the whole continent (“Here in darkest Africa”). :dubious:
BTW: “Beltway comics recordings”? 
Say what? I guess I missed American Culture class the day they covered that. 
Tagging my own location is not the same as “speaking for the whole continent”, you loonie.
What, you’ve never heard of the Borscht Beltway? I made an error, obviously, I meant “Borscht Belt” and it came out as “Beltway”, I’m clearly a low-sigma :rolleyes: