A friend of mine showed me a picture that a friend of his took of the vehicle parked in front of his in a downtown parking lot yesterday. It was a large black pickup truck, complete with testicles dangling off the trailer hitch, and it had a bumper sticker taking up most of the rear. The sticker said “Don’t Re-Nig in 2012.” It was not homemade, so some company is actually profiting from making this filth.
I am not generally someone who wishes victimization upon others, but I have to say I’d cheer a little if I found out this dude got punched in the face or his truck got vandalized. But I’m somewhat amazed that in this day and age, someone could drive around with that on their vehicle and feel perfectly okay doing so. In my universe, racism is something that people keep to themselves, only letting it out when they think you’ll agree with them, or when they don’t realize that what they’re saying is racist. It’s not something that’s broadcast on the back of a pickup truck for the whole world to see. I thought things were getting better, that our country was becoming more color-blind and accepting of differences. But are we, when that asshole feels perfectly safe driving around displaying that crap for the world to see?
The guy who took the picture actually figured out who drove the truck and confronted him (not that the conversation went anywhere). He also found out where he worked (a fast-food restaurant in a building with lots of government offices) and is organizing a boycott of the restaurant, complete with a heartfelt letter written to the restaurant manager and signed by many of his co-workers, telling him that they would no longer be frequenting the restaurant and why. But that won’t change the fundamental issue, and I doubt anything will.
A large black pickup truck, you say? :eek: Scandalous.
re: the bumper sticker, there are any number of websites that will print custom bumper stickers for you, and they don’t give a rat’s ass what you want on the sticker.
Yes, because people should keep their opinions to themselves, especially when they run contrary to yours.
I thought so too, until you showed me this single data point to the contrary. Now, like you, I believe this whole goddam nation is going to hell in a handbasket.
If anyone doesn’t feel perfectly safe expressing their opinions - no matter how radical - then we have a problem far more serious than you are imagining.
Fantastic! You’re going to bring all kinds of nastiness to bear on a restaurant owner because of the opinions one of his employees expresses on his own spare time? I’m so proud of you.
Interesting. His sticker says “don’t re-nig”, yet he has a black truck.
Reminds me of when my brother lived in Denver, which had a rash of KKK/skinhead violence about 30 years ago. In a “pro-America” fervor, some skinheads graffitied his Datsun pickup. When he saw it and who had done it, he whined, “But it’s a white truck!”
You think it’s just ‘expressing an opinion’ to proclaim that you don’t want a nigger re-elected?
I fully get the outrage.
I am in the unfortunate circumstance that I am mostly Democrat but have hobbies that are primarily pursued by republicans. On another forum site, dedicated to the restoration of vintage snowmobiles, a very prominent member posted the same thing. It was a campaign poster with that phrase on it.
And, the next several replies were all along the lines of patting him on the back and agreeing.
I reported it and the site moderator disappeared the thread. But it’s obvious that that opinion is not just of one person - or that the “don’t Re-Nig” message wasn’t his idea and limited to his truck.
Someone doesn’t live in the Redneck South, where “No Bitch, No Bama” bumper stickers grace all sorts of vehicles. And by all sorts I mean pretty much pickup trucks.
“I won’t patronize a restaurant where I’m going to be served by someone who is an open bigot” seems a reasonable stance to me, and informing the restaurant owner so that he knows about the situation seems equally reasonable.
And of course it’s not “perfectly safe” to express your opinion, if by “perfectly safe” you mean “safe from experiencing any negative consequences whatsoever.” If you publicly reveal your bigotry, expect people to let you know they think you’re wrong - which is also an expression of free speech, by the way.
A Mexican restaurant near my house always had Fox News on two giant TVs when I went in there. One time the family and I got there a bit early and Glenn Beck was on. It was too much for me, so we turned around and left. My wife was both annoyed and amused.
So, when we got home from the a different Mexican restaurant a little farther down the road I wrote a letter to the first restaurant. I pointed out that the next time I walked into the place and Fox News was running I’d turn around and walk out.
Back when I delivered pizzas I told a big stack of them to a convention/swap meet going a local hotel. I even ran into an old gym teacher (Hey, Mr. Bradley!) who was running the convention.
The objects of their affection? Antique duck lures. So, carved wooden ducks.
For the record, I think the truck owner is an asshole. I’m just a little weirded out by the OP’s obsession with the expression of those opinions, rather than the fact that those opinions are held by someone:
IOW, it seems he’s OK with someone being a racist, as long as they’re discreet about it.
If the truck owner starts exhibiting racist behavior on the job, then a complaint to his employer is in order. But if he’s well-behaved when he’s on the clock, then what he does/says on his personal time ought not cost him his livelihood.
I have absolutely no problem with a verbal confrontation; I’ve never regarded conversation or the expression of opinions as any kind of threat. In the context of the OP’s remarks:
it seemed clear to me that the safety he was referring to was physical safety, and he was appalled that the truck owner did not feel physically threatened for expressing racist opinions.
Oh, I did miss that nuance. I will agree that you should feel physically safe to express whatever opinion you choose, although I still say that the business boycott is completely reasonable under the circumstances.
Also, I don’t think Drain Bead is saying that she thinks racism is just fine as long as you shut up about it. She’s saying that it’s surprising that someone is willing to be as open and public with their racism as the truck guy is. (And I agree.)
That’s an interesting take on it. I read that as “Apparently, we live in a society where this kind of mindset is socially acceptable, as this person is clearly not hesitant to publicize his views.” She’s not saying it’s okay to be racist; quite the opposite, rather. The reason why people only express their racist views behind closed doors with people they know will agree with them, is because they don’t want to have their asses handed to them for expressing repugnant views. When someone is loud and proud about their racist views, it gives the impression that the person feels comfortable enough with the general community’s racism to express such a view freely.
Driving through the mid-west my Wife and I saw a lot of Buck Ofama bumper stickers but the worst was a truck emblazed with lots of anti Obama stuff and it had a fake black plastic hand dangling by a chain from the rear bumper.
I don’t think her point was that someone should be discreet about being a racist. I think she was saying somebody should be ashamed about being a racist. It’s like being a pedophile; maybe you can’t help yourself from thinking the things you do but you should realize there’s something wrong with you and not act on your dark impulses. Or at least not brag about what you are in public.
I know there is no “right” answer here, but given the the juxtaposition of this thread with this one filled with jokes in the face of a baby’s painful death and a mother’s likely undertreated postpartum psychosis, I am very curious to hear the range of thoughts about what people here think is appropriate to make jokes about in public and what the appropriate response should be to what.
Publicly saying “nigger”, specifically referring to our President as one. Giggle? Silent disapproval? Silent approval? Mind your own damn business? Disagree but endorse the free speech expression? Say something if it is a friend? Confront a stranger? Boycott a business that employs someone who says it? Punch out?
Less offensive but still clearly prejudiced and stereotypic comments/jokes about any other discriminated groups? Same options or others.
Gilbert Gottfried’s Japanese girlfriend break up joke after the earthquake/tsunami ("They’ll be another one floating by any minute now.”) Public reaction that lost him his AFLAC gig out of line?
A Holocaust joke, say the classic one: “How do you fit 100 Jews in a car? 2 in front, two in back, the rest in the ash tray.” Laugh? Outrage? Object? Or?
Again, no right answers but I do personally think there are some wrong ones. But I am curious to know what the range is here. As one poster stated in the other thread, I might be surprised … or more likely not, just a bit sad.
