10-07-00
One of the few things that I have absolutely no tolerance for is ignorant prejudice. As a warning, I should inform you all that this is going to be a rant about prejudice and will contain explicit and offensive language.
Living in a place like Iowa City, with it's great racial and social diversity, it's far too easy to forget that less than 20 miles from here, people still burn crosses on other people's lawns.
My boss, Overlord Carol, is from West Branch, home of President Herbert Hoover, and disgruntled cross-burning teenagers. And though I adore her, I am constantly astounded by her level of ignorance and social ineptitude.
First off, she calls all Asians 'Orientals', despite having been told several times that this term is offensive to Asians. I actually heard her ask a Korean woman where she was from, and then tell her as a reply, "I can never tell where you people (meaning Orientals, I suppose) are from."
All other nationalities are referred to as 'Foreign' as in, "Some foreigner is on the phone for you."
I have several male clients named Chris. The most regular of them are a gay man named Chris who 'sounds straight' and a straight man named Chris who sounds like a 'big nelly queen'. When asked which Chris was on the books so that I could pull out his card, since both of them get color done, she loudly stage whispered, her face contorting into the disapproving grandmother face, "I think it's the gay one." (Of course, this means it's the non-gay one, and I know which card to pull.)
She uses the word 'Jew' synonymously with haggling, as in, "We're going to jew him down on his prices." I've told her several times that this bothers me a great deal, as it's a beautiful culture and religion, not a slang term.
Oh, and there's so much more, but I can't even put them to words. The only thing she seems remarkably sensitive about is mental/physical disability. And, I'm not exactly sure why. If there is one class of people who probably aren't going to realize that you are mocking them or denigrating them in some fashion, it's probably going to be someone who is mentally incapacitated.
Now, I can't say that I don't have my prejudices. I have all kinds of prejudices about economic status, like the fact that I abhor the white trash element. Maybe it's wrong, but just because you are poor, it doesn't mean you have to be white trash. We were totally on welfare when I was a kid, and I don't think we were ever white trash, not even when we lived in a trailer court. Government cheese has never crossed these lips.
If you're poor, you can get a good education and a good job, and become financially solvent. The same can't be said about other prejudices. It's not like a black man can wake up one morning and decide to be a white man. Reality doesn't work that way, unless you're Michael Jackson.
If you're ignorant, you can get an education and become wiser. You aren't doomed to ignorance, as it is a completely reversible state of existence.
Carol's daughter has run around for years calling things she didn't like 'Gay', without being corrected by her parents. Last year, she was in a class in a round table discussion about racial prejudice and shared with the group that her family called their black lab a 'Nigger'. One of her classmates, who is black and has received a lot of racial intolerance in her short time on this planet told the principal of the school, and Carol's daughter got a 3-day suspension for making racial epithets in class.
The school handled the situation all wrong, and even went so far as to question Brittani (Carol's daughter) about whether or not she felt all black people were dogs, much to her confusion. However, they have a zero tolerance policy for things of that nature. Instead of chastizing her daughter for making an inappropriate comment in class, which I personally think was wrong but didn't merit a kick-out, she told her that she'd been screwed, and hired a lawyer to fight the suspension. Britanni has now learned from her parents that you can say whatever you want without regard to whom it may offend or hurt.
I'm not sure what the point of this all is. Maybe to think before you speak. Maybe that I'm frustrated by working with someone who has so little regard for other people. Maybe I'm tired of having to apologize to clients for other people's thoughtlessness.
I don't know what else to tell you that I haven't already said.
