# Just when you think that people are decent... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167 "2011-08-26T12:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/441 "2011-09-21T19:09:08Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > I think it ought to be obvious by now that the word being loaded makes a huge difference, so I have a hard time believing that you don’t know how **villa** is going to respond to your alternate reality question. I’m genuinely trying to understand how \*\*villa \*\*views this particular issue. So unless you’re trying to get both of you banned by claiming to be his sock, I’m not sure why you’re answering for him. > [@](#): > > Constitutional rights don’t have anything to do with anything that anybody has talked about in this thread, except for the fact that I can’t report you to any authority and have your keyboard taken away for being like the ninth person to attempt to make this silly point. While noting that this absolutely isn’t a violation of the man’s rights, and it’s perfectly \*legal \*to boycott the restaurant, I’d like to simply make the observation that Constitutional rights \*do \*make a handy guide for determining the ideals of our society. Which is why I, personally, am qualifying it as unAmerican to attempt harm to someone by attempting to cause their employer to coerce them against expressing a belief, however disgusting, in a forbink space. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/442 "2011-09-21T19:21:53Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > 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? Did you miss ALL the TV coverage of the Tea Party rallies? ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/443 "2011-09-21T19:29:32Z")
> [@](#): > > So unless you’re trying to get both of you banned by claiming to be his sock, I’m not sure why you’re answering for him. I thought there was like a whole long conversation going on about it that other people were reading, but OK. If I was an Aston Villa sock I’d lose myself in the dryer, though. > [@](#): > > While noting that this absolutely isn’t a violation of the man’s rights, and it’s perfectly legal to boycott the restaurant, I’d like to simply make the observation that Constitutional rights do make a handy guide for determining the ideals of our society. Which is why I, personally, am qualifying it as unAmerican to attempt harm to someone by attempting to cause their employer to coerce them against expressing a belief, however disgusting, in a forbink space. Like you say, it’s perfectly legal. You could even say that it’s our constitutional right “to attempt harm to someone by attempting to cause their employer to coerce them against expressing a belief, however disgusting, in a forbink space.” So if we’re looking to the constitution as our guide, everything seems in order from my point of view, too. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/444 "2011-09-21T19:46:03Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > I thought there was like a whole long conversation going on about it that other people were reading, but OK. I wouldn’t be objecting so much except that you were clearly attempting to answer \*for \ ***villa**. > [@](#): > > You could even say that it’s our constitutional right “to attempt harm to someone by attempting to cause their employer to coerce them against expressing a belief, however disgusting, in a forbink space.” So if we’re looking to the constitution as our guide, everything seems in order from my point of view, too. You seem to be confused between a \*requirement \*and an _ideal_. By your reasoning, it’s patriotic to be racist, because it’s legal. The ideals enshrined in the Constitution include freedom of expression and equality of all human beings. So, just as it is \*legal but unAmerican \*for this douchecanoe to drive around with a bumpersticker that expresses his feelings that a given politician is sub-human because one of his parents is from Africa, so, too, is it \*legal but unAmerican \*for the creeptards in the OP to stalk someone to his place of employment and attempt to get him fired for an unsavory but legal opinion expressed in a forbink space and/or to curtail that forbink expression through the coercive power of his employer. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/445 "2011-09-21T20:02:23Z")
Whereas you seem to be confused about the difference between somebody who is confused by your not at all complex argument and somebody who can see where that argument is not compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/446 "2011-09-21T21:07:18Z")
See, this is why I was talking to _ **villa** _, not to you. It was \*\*villa \*\*who said “Racism is by its nature a threat of violence.” Now, the sentiment “Barack Obama isn’t fit to be President because he’s Black” is a racist sentiment regardless whether or not the word “nigger” factors anywhere into the expression of it. So I’m trying to ascertain whether \*\*villa \*\*is talking about \*all \*racism–even racism expressed without words that are themselves inherently hateful regardless of context. I don’t know if you’re the sort of person who only has “discussions” to play “gotcha ya” games with people, but when I ask a question, it’s usually because I want to genuinely know the answer and come to a better understanding of the other person’s position. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/447 "2011-09-22T02:37:42Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Apparently you’ve never noticed that I do 99.99% of my posting from the office. This means that I sometimes go days–or weeks, or months–between active posting sessions. In the case of a thread like this, where I have to deal with tedious backbirths like you, I won’t even open the update alert email until I’ve worked through everything else and know I’ll have the patience to deal with it. I’ll admit I don’t follow your posting schedule that closely. But I would have thought it wouldn’t take you very much time to repeat the stuff you’ve already posted. You’ve already claimed you’re opposed to racism while defending it. You’ve already claimed that trying to get one person fired is different from trying to get somebody else fired. You’ve already claimed that I am a troll, a fucking retard, and a backbirth. You’ve already claimed that you aren’t using any personal attacks in your arguments. I’ve already addressed these claims so I see no need to repeat myself. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/448 "2011-09-23T02:36:08Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > He’s saying that calling somebody nigger is an explicit threat of harm. That’s why he called it responding in kind. I think it ought to be obvious by now that the word being loaded makes a huge difference, so I have a hard time believing that you don’t know how **villa** is going to respond to your alternate reality question. You might as well ask whether “Don’t vote for Dumbocrats” would be equally objectionable - obviously not, unless we were in an alternate reality where it was, in which case what’s the point of the alternate reality. > > Constitutional rights don’t have anything to do with anything that anybody has talked about in this thread, except for the fact that I can’t report you to any authority and have your keyboard taken away for being like the ninth person to attempt to make this silly point. “Stalk him for his opinions that are different from yours.” Yeah, exactly that. Like a laser beam, right to the heart of the matter. Glad to see your right to ad hominem arguments hasn’t been abridged. And, in fact, I was right to the heart of the matter. You want to be a bully; your opinion is in the majority, and you want to flex some muscle and let people know you have power, perhaps get some validation, is my guess. Just because somebody used a term you didn’t like. Listen, you are wanting to extort something from somebody because you don’t like the way they think. Think about this: How would you like it if somebody came to your job and did the same thing to you because you voted for Obama? But, it’s alright if \*you \*do it, because \*you’re \*in the right. Also, you clearly missed my point on costitutional rights. I don’t give two flips for your Constitution; I’m saying that you’d be crying about your rights, and squealing like a pig if somebody did that to you. if somebody vexed you in the manner you advocate, but, it’s quite alright for you to go harass somebody that acts differently and doesn’t think as you do, isn’t it? Listen, what you want done is 1000 times worse than displaying a bumper sticker, no matter how disagreeable. hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/449 "2011-09-23T02:46:07Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Tell you what, when you convince me I have said they are the equivalent, I’ll try. But while you make the effort, I will still believe that the purpose of racist speech is to instill fear. Your thinking isn’t correct, then. And, tell me, what of somebody that hates somebody that uses the word “Nigger.” Or, somebody who uses it? What shall be done with them? You, surely, have a plan that doesn’t include letting them live their own lives without your interference, does it. Something like re-education, something punitive, I suspect…come on, isn’t that the truth? Racists are human beings, too, in spite of what you have been taught. hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/450 "2011-09-23T02:48:09Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I wouldn’t be objecting so much except that you were clearly attempting to answer \*for \ ***villa**. > > You seem to be confused between a \*requirement \*and an _ideal_. By your reasoning, it’s patriotic to be racist, because it’s legal. > > The ideals enshrined in the Constitution include freedom of expression and equality of all human beings. So, just as it is \*legal but unAmerican \*for this douchecanoe to drive around with a bumpersticker that expresses his feelings that a given politician is sub-human because one of his parents is from Africa, so, too, is it \*legal but unAmerican \*for the creeptards in the OP to stalk someone to his place of employment and attempt to get him fired for an unsavory but legal opinion expressed in a forbink space and/or to curtail that forbink expression through the coercive power of his employer. OK…I’M Waiting…what’s a ‘forbink?’ hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/451 "2011-09-23T02:52:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You think a black person isn’t hurt when he hears himself called a nigger? Why is it okay for a racist to hurt people like that? > > I have a legally held opinion too. I don’t think people should support racism. Don’t I have a right to express my legally-held opinion? Yes you do. And, there will be a demonstration at your workplace tomorrow, and they will be demanding of your boss why they tolerate your working there. hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/452 "2011-09-23T02:58:55Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Got it in one, **Jimmy.** A boycott is pretty innocuous, and honestly, unless you live in San Francisco or Cambridge, Mass, I doubt you’ll be able to mobilize people to the point that this place will go out of business. Some people are going to elect not to patronize the business because one of the employees expresses ill views and others won’t give a shit, at least not enough to change their purchasing decisions. Exactly. So is interring in camps for their protection. Also, removing the disaffected elements from the society. Such as…hmmmm…well, a lot of Muslims I know wouldn’t like to be around my part of town. Me and the boys can straighten them out. Let them know they can’t push US around! Also, there’s a bunch of them homos that have been passing on that there AIDS disease…people are dying by the millions from it. Well, I know where some of them work! Don’t worry, me and the boys… Glad you see that it’s the best course to take, and are with me and the boys. hh ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/453 "2011-09-23T03:48:28Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Yes you do. And, there will be a demonstration at your workplace tomorrow, and they will be demanding of your boss why they tolerate your working there. I think your demonstration will be a lot sadder than you imagine. What are you going to do? Gather up a few like-minded friends, dress up in your white sheets and homemade nazi uniforms, and loudly declare that Little Nemo is against racism? And you think that’ll bother me? Hell, I’m proud to be hated by Nazis and Klansmen - it’s like a badge of honor. And I’m pretty sure my last boss, who was black, won’t be firing me for my anti-racist views. You’ll have your demonstration and people will be shaking my hand and spitting in your direction. That’s what really bother racists nowadays, isn’t it? The good old days when racists could march down a public street with their burning cross and everyone would cheer them are over. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/454 "2011-09-23T03:49:20Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Exactly. So is interring in camps for their protection. Also, removing the disaffected elements from the society. > Such as…hmmmm…well, a lot of Muslims I know wouldn’t like to be around my part of town. Me and the boys can straighten them out. Let them know they can’t push US around! > Also, there’s a bunch of them homos that have been passing on that there AIDS disease…people are dying by the millions from it. Well, I know where some of them work! Don’t worry, me and the boys… > > Glad you see that it’s the best course to take, and are with me and the boys. > > hh You say that like it hasn’t or doesn’t happen. Muslims and Homosexuals carry on despite the boycotts. You have a right to join those boycotts, just don’t be surprised as history marches over your bigoted ass. If McRacist was as justified in his behavior he could stand tall and wait for history to vindicate him, meanwhile he can wait for legal protections like the rest of us. By all means if you think his cause is deserving of legal protections write to your congressman and lobby to change the law. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/455 "2011-09-23T04:19:26Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Glad to see your right to ad hominem arguments hasn’t been abridged. Your statutory entitlement to non sequiturs is likewise safe, because what? > [@](#): > > Also, you clearly missed my point on costitutional rights. I don’t give two flips for your Constitution; I’m saying that you’d be crying about your rights, and squealing like a pig if somebody did that to you. if somebody vexed you in the manner you advocate, but, it’s quite alright for you to go harass somebody that acts differently and doesn’t think as you do, isn’t it? > Listen, what you want done is 1000 times worse than displaying a bumper sticker, no matter how disagreeable. Nobody could do that to me, because I don’t put terrorist buzzwords on my property and display it publicly. If they did it because, for instance, I have a David the Gnome sticker on my car (no), then no, I wouldn’t squeal about it. I’d ask my boss why did you just call security a little while ago to have a batshit nutty person removed from the premises? This is not about the relative popularity of one belief vs. another. I don’t know why so many people have to keep repeating this: calling people niggers as a way to disparage them is a unique case historically, in that it is directly associated in a dangerous and violent way with by far the worst thing that has ever happened here. Other things are not like it, and that is an important part of the conversation. The fact that you want to talk about calling the president a nigger as if the problem is that it’s a “different way of thinking” suggests to me that you don’t know anything at all about the subject, to be honest, and I’m not taking a shot at you; I’m just saying I don’t think a message board post is really going to bridge this gap. “You’re a nigger” is not a difference in opinion. It’s not a belief to be credited in a philosophical sense. If it is a belief, as I have asked repeatedly and been ignored while asking, describe that belief to me. Who else has that belief? What are the hallmarks of this belief system of which I am risking the extirpation by saying it wouldn’t be so bad if it was hard to function in society while owning it publicly? Is there anything about that belief system that makes it a likely exception to the rule in a way that, for instance, being a Muslim would not be? Anyway, I don’t “want anything done.” What I’ve said in this thread has been that it isn’t morally wrong or un-American to boycott a business because its employee called the president a nigger. I think everybody should go to whatever restaurant they want, for whatever reason they want, and if they feel like telling the proprietor about it, they should. And if the proprietor thinks they’re full of shit he should hamhandedly mash out poorly-punctuated screeds on the internet about it. I hereby acknowledge that you think that’s worse than any hate speech, I’m a Nazi, etc. P.S. when you quote somebody saying something is innocuous, and then respond by saying > [@](#): > > So is interring in camps for their protection. Also, removing the disaffected elements from the society. > Such as…hmmmm…well, a lot of Muslims I know wouldn’t like to be around my part of town. Me and the boys can straighten them out. Let them know they can’t push US around! > Also, there’s a bunch of them homos that have been passing on that there AIDS disease…people are dying by the millions from it. Well, I know where some of them work! Don’t worry, me and the boys… the best explanation is that you didn’t read so closely. It goes downhill from there. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/456 "2011-09-23T04:32:24Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > See, this is why I was talking to _ **villa** _, not to you. > > … > > I don’t know if you’re the sort of person who only has “discussions” to play “gotcha ya” games with people, but when I ask a question, it’s usually because I want to genuinely know the answer and come to a better understanding of the other person’s position. I try not to be, anyway. I was talking about your > [@](#): > > You seem to be confused between a requirement and an ideal which was about **harry** bringing up the constitution, not anything you asked **villa**. For what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/457 "2011-09-25T21:41:54Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I am reading this as saying that you consider it okay to cause concrete harm to someone–or make a threat of concrete harm–because of the language they’ve used that indicates a disgusting point of view rather than an \*explicit \*threat of harm. Not quite. I am saying that racist language is an explicit threat of harm. Well, to be honest, I have found myself backed into to much of an extreme position. I’ve found myself moving from the concrete position of the bumper sticker to thinking of time back home and dealing with the National Front and BNP. So I have probably taken it further than I really mean. Now I need to draw a distinction. I don’t think the language of this bumper sticker meets the legal definition of an explicit threat. In other words I don’t think punching the guy in the mouth should be legal, nor do I think the bumper sticker should be banned. But I do draw a distinction between community and individual action I can support and governmental action I can support. Looking at this bumper sticker, it’s purpose is clear to me. It is not just saying “Don’t reelect Obama” - a statement with which I have no problem. The language is deliberately chosen to include the racist sentiment. It is saying that Obama should not be reelected because of his skin. It is stating that people with that skin tone are of less value. And using a particular word that is extremely loaded. > [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > How do you distinguish between someone who is looking to create fear, and someone who just has a genuine (retarded and disgusting) belief that anyone whose ancestors didn’t all come from Europe for the past few thousand years has inferior mental capabilities? That’s a good point. I think it comes down to the choice of language, and the history behind the word nigger, which you cannot avoid. > [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Let’s say someone is trying to get an octopus elected. Am I trying to instill fear if I argue that octopodes are genetically unfit to hold the office of President? Is there a difference between saying “Don’t elect the octopus” and “Don’t elect the [alternate reality octopus slur] eighty”? I.e., would you have a less vehement objection if the sticker hadn’t used such a loaded word? Well that depends. Are we assuming that octopuses have rights that should be respected? That there is a history of octopuses being discriminated against? And that the word “eighty” is one that is inextricably linked through history to violence against octopuses both by the state and private individuals? Because if yes, then I would object less vehemently in the first situation. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/458 "2011-09-25T21:42:58Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Your thinking isn’t correct, then. > > And, tell me, what of somebody that hates somebody that uses the word “Nigger.” Or, somebody who uses it? > What shall be done with them? You, surely, have a plan that doesn’t include letting them live their own lives without your interference, does it. Something like re-education, something punitive, I suspect…come on, isn’t that the truth? > Racists are human beings, too, in spite of what you have been taught. > > hh I don’t deny racists are human beings. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t hold them responsible for their actions and beliefs. But the simple fact of being a human being doesn’t mean someone can do anything they want and avoid getting smacked in the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/459 "2011-09-25T21:44:52Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > If I was an Aston Villa sock I’d lose myself in the dryer, though. I hereby invite you to pucker up and kiss my fat white ass, Sir. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167/460 "2011-12-08T17:38:33Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Is it terrible that I laughed? > > > [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > > > The word you are looking for here is “unsurprising.” I was thinking “patheti-sad”. I think this is a Drew Carey reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-when-you-think-that-people-are-decent/594167.md?page=24)