Actual DelDOT news letter

[deftonesfan867]

http://delawareonline.com/assets/pdf/BL133941430.PDF

[Satty]

"All Asians are not IT professionals"

[deftonesfan867]

I knew you'd like it

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

So its perfectly alright if i went up to a white guy and said, "hey honkey, you the new guy?"

I mean it doesn't say not to say it

[Satty]

So its perfectly alright if i went up to a white guy and said, "hey honkey, you the new guy?"

I mean it doesn't say not to say it

Maybe the 2010 newsletter will have an expanded Caucasian section.

[Robert Hall]

Maybe the 2010 newsletter will have an expanded Caucasian section.

'Caucasian' is a misnomer also..my ancestors certainly weren't from cental Asia.

Edited May 7, 2009 by Cubical

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Speaking of stuff like this, i remember on some survey it was what ethnicity are you or something to that extent. I checked the other box and wrote "American".

I wonder what they lumped me in with after that...

[Robert Hall]

Speaking of stuff like this, i remember on some survey it was what ethnicity are you or something to that extent. I checked the other box and wrote "American".

I wonder what they lumped me in with after that...

At one company, I had an optional form to self-identify my ethnicity for EEOC hiring or something...I wrote, 'English-Scottish-Welsh-Scots-Irish-Irish-Native American', which is, based on my research, an accurate description of my ethnicity.

On a similar form elsewhere, I wrote, 'human', which is also accurate, I believe.

Edited May 8, 2009 by Cubical

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

I don't think Humans are an ethnicity. They are a race however.

eth⋅nic⋅i⋅ty

   /ɛθˈnɪsɪti/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [eth-nis-i-tee] Show IPA

–noun, plural -ties.

1. ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association.

2. an ethnic group: Representatives of several ethnicities were present.

So clearly my statement as "American" for an ethnicity would have to be acceptable.

[CSpec]

This is amazing.

[Robert Hall]

I don't think Humans are an ethnicity. They are a race however.

Actually, to be accurate, humans are a species. I was using 'humor' by claiming human as ethnicity.

[FAPTurbo]

Older Co-workers

• You know Wal Mart is hiring.

L.M.F.A.O

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Actually, to be accurate, humans are a species. I was using 'humor' by claiming human as ethnicity.

What is this 'humor'? some sort of bodily fluid?

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Can you recommend a good Mexican

Restaurant?

This is stereotyping and shows ignorance.

All Hispanics/Latinos are not Mexicans.

Lol, now if we called them Latin American Restaurants, is that acceptable?

Never refer to a co-worker as handicapped.

Always remember person first. It’s not the

“disabled man.” It’s the man with the

disability.

"Hey its the disabled man!" UNACCEPTABLE

"Hey its the man with the disability!" ACCEPTABLE!

Should we order fried chicken or

watermelon for you?

This is stereotyping and shows ignorance.

Now, i personally love both fried chicken and watermelons. So if i was going out to get these things for myself, would it be inappropriate for me to ask an African American if they would like me to get some for them too?

and the one about the LGBT community

I didn’t need to hear that.

If you are not interested in the person’s

personal life, simply say “Thank you.”

I don't even get this one. when someone comes out of the closet your response is supposed to be "Thank you"???????????

Edited May 8, 2009 by Teh Ricer Civic!

[Satty]

I think I'm going to print this off and give it to my team at our meeting Monday, just for $h!s and giggles. There is nothing in there about dealing with poor people, and since the corporate complex includes the distribution center, there are a lot of those around. Are we supposed to pity the poor wage slaves or mock them? Delaware doesn't have the answers I really need.

[Robert Hall]

I think I'm going to print this off and give it to my team at our meeting Monday, just for $h!s and giggles. There is nothing in there about dealing with poor people, and since the corporate complex includes the distribution center, there are a lot of those around. Are we supposed to pity the poor wage slaves or mock them? Delaware doesn't have the answers I really need.

A coworker once said you should just ignore them, like they don't exist...kind of like the homeless..don't make eye contact, don't answer them.

[Cory Wolfe]

Lawls.

[Croc]

A coworker once said you should just ignore them, like they don't exist...kind of like the homeless..don't make eye contact, don't answer them.

THAT'S SOOOOOOOOO TRUE!!

[Justin Bimmer]

This is government waste to a "T".

[Lamar]

I lol'ed. Well, inside. My wife's sleeping.

Oh, and

Now, i personally love both fried chicken and watermelons. So if i was going out to get these things for myself, would it be inappropriate for me to ask an African American if they would like me to get some for them too?

Probably. Unless you know them THAT well.

[Intrepidation]

Never refer to a co-worker as handicapped.

Always remember person first. It’s not the

“disabled man.” It’s the man with the

disability.

So changing the order of the working makes it better or worse?

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

I lol'ed. Well, inside. My wife's sleeping.

Oh, and

Probably. Unless you know them THAT well.

But in the exact same situation, if i asked say an Asian that very question, it would not be questionable?

[Intrepidation]

I think people are way too hung up on race...maybe if we just treated each other the same regardless of color, number of limbs, and so on as opposed to tippy toing around them we might actually have real equality.

Or maybe I'm just crazy.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

I think people are way too hung up on race...maybe if we just treated each other the same regardless of color, number of limbs, and so on as opposed to tippy toing around them we might actually have real equality.

Or maybe I'm just crazy.

+1

I hate people that turn everything into a racial issue. Political Correctness is the worst possible disease ever to have spread throughout the civilized world.

[Croc]

No, political correctness is necessary as it's a part of having good manners: making people feel comfortable, especially if you do not know them.

And asking an Asian about fried chicken and watermelon is way different than asking an African person the same thing...just like there's nothing wrong with asking an African person about chow mein and egg rolls, while that could be offensive to ask an Asian.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

No, political correctness is necessary as it's a part of having good manners: making people feel comfortable, especially if you do not know them.

And asking an Asian about fried chicken and watermelon is way different than asking an African person the same thing...just like there's nothing wrong with asking an African person about chow mein and egg rolls, while that could be offensive to ask an Asian.

And thus you are now evaluating people subjectively based on their race thereby promoting stereotypes and continued racism.

You promote them because you guilt people into making them think its bad to say certain things to certain people, which reinforces stereotypical notions, even if you are to suppress it.

If these stereotypes fall by the wayside there will be nothing to be politically correct about, instead of perpetually continuing racism and creating closet racists.

A word has no meaning unless you attach something to it.

Gafoozawazle!

[Intrepidation]

And thus you are now evaluating people subjectively based on their race thereby promoting stereotypes and continued racism.

You promote them because you guilt people into making them think its bad to say certain things to certain people, which reinforces stereotypical notions, even if you are to suppress it.

If these stereotypes fall by the wayside there will be nothing to be politically correct about, instead of perpetually continuing racism and creating closet racists.

A word has no meaning unless you attach something to it.

Gafoozawazle!

[Croc]

And thus you are now evaluating people subjectively based on their race thereby promoting stereotypes and continued racism.

You promote them because you guilt people into making them think its bad to say certain things to certain people, which reinforces stereotypical notions, even if you are to suppress it.

If these stereotypes fall by the wayside there will be nothing to be politically correct about, instead of perpetually continuing racism and creating closet racists.

A word has no meaning unless you attach something to it.

Gafoozawazle!

I see reading comprehension is not either one of your strong suits. I never said you had to refrain from saying certain things. I never said "this is good," and "this is bad." If you haven't noticed yet, speech is contextual. Someone dies an untimely death due to their criminal involvement in someone, you probably don't want to remark about that in front of their grieving family. You don't make a disparaging remark about molesting priests and your views of the Catholic church's response to the problem outside a Cathedral as people are leaving Sunday mass. All I said was that political correctness is a part of being gracious (on the outside) and therefore part of good manners.

I didn't even say anything was "bad" about asking an African about chicken and watermelon--just that it is different than asking an Asian the same thing, and asking an Asian about chow mein and eggrolls could be offensive. Not necessarily is, but could be.

Speech is contextual. That's where tact and diplomacy come in. Go ahead and have a conversation with an African person about fried chicken and watermelon, I won't stop you--but you DO have to be a little more tactful about it if you want to ensure you won't offend him or her. Seriously, this isn't rocket science here.

And please explain to me the correlation between political correctness and closet racism--because last time I checked, someone is either a racist or they aren't, and it has nothing to do with running at the mouth inappropriately.

Just because you don't ascribe any meaning to something like "fried chicken and watermelon" doesn't mean that anyone else is aware of that fact. Many other people have historically ascribed negative connotations to that context so that the natural assumption, in a general context, is that if that is directed at an African person from a Caucasian person, it is ignorant at best, racist at worst. And yet, it still depends on the context, and how much social finesse you have.

This is 2009, and I am amazed at how often the ignorance of the need for a degree of "political correctness" is presented on this board. This isn't the 80s, guys.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Well Croc, i don't know, i come from a younger generation who feels like a lot of these problems are the result of the older generations. I guess i don't have the same life experiences as you do and therefore i cannot understand where you are coming from as well.

In my defense you said

political correctness is necessary as it's a part of having good manners

I guess the necessary thing is what got me.

As for the closet racists, i had a class where we say a test of peoples racism. People were generally categorized into 3 spots... the non-racists, closet racists, and blatant racists.

Now, obviously a lot of people responded that they were non-racists, however the test proved otherwise. There were also some people who openly admitted their racism.

Now the test itself is what was interesting. It was a simple principle, you have these people work with others from another race on a project. Your performance was evaluated simply on how long it took for the project to get done.

The results? Well unsurprisingly the truly non-racists were by far the fastest to complete the project. In second came the blatant racists who admitted as such. Why do you ask? Well they knew they were racists, but they had to get this project done so they admitted it and put aside their differences to complete the project. In last place, the closet racists. BY a LONG shot these guys were the last. I don't fully remember the reason but i think it had to do with saying one thing but showing something else in body language... or getting tied up with what to say or not to say.

But as i have said earlier, maybe it is just a generational thing that we (im assuming dodgefan is of my generation) do not ascribe the same feelings towards this topic.

Edited May 8, 2009 by Teh Ricer Civic!

[Croc]

I don't really think we are of different generations here, unless, of course, you were born sometime after 1990. I certainly agree that the problems of racism generally stem from previous generations, and that is exactly what I am getting at; because of the histories involved, certain things are potentially offensive when said to/around certain audiences.

I will say that the test (at least as you described) would not pass scientific muster. Was everyone in the class a classic Type A and goal-oriented? Were the least-performing group members actually closet racists, or were there many indecisive/passive people in that group? Of the two best-performing groups, was everybody represented? Was it really a group project? There are a lot of variables in play and I don't see how the speed at which a team completes a project correlates to racist tendancies or the lack thereof. That seems to be an overly-simplistic analysis, at best.

Being aware of what you say and to whom you say it is necessary in the practice of good manners and getting along with other people; as such, political correctness is also necessary.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

I will say that the test (at least as you described) would not pass scientific muster. Was everyone in the class a classic Type A and goal-oriented? Were the least-performing group members actually closet racists, or were there many indecisive/passive people in that group? Of the two best-performing groups, was everybody represented? Was it really a group project? There are a lot of variables in play and I don't see how the speed at which a team completes a project correlates to racist tendencies or the lack thereof. That seems to be an overly-simplistic analysis, at best.

Yeah i don't remember it all that well, its been a while. I will see if i can't dig it up on the web later on today.

[K.C.]

Never refer to a co-worker as handicapped.

Always remember person first. It’s not the

“disabled man.” It’s the man with the

disability.

So changing the order of the working makes it better or worse?

For the person with the disability or their loved ones, it makes it better, because you are seeing them as a person first. When I had cancer and was going through chemo, no one ever introduced me as a cancerous man. I was a man with cancer. I am a person that has cancer. I am not cancer that has a person. The same goes for people with other disabilities. People that have disabilities or illness do not want them broadcast for everyone to hear, especially if its mentioned before what they really are. It's putting a stigma out there that is negative and everyone is so much more than their disabilities.

For example, someone with a cognitive disability (formerly called mental retardation) should never be referred to as a retarded person, retard, or a 'tard. If you must refer to their disability (which should be rare), then it would be that person with a cognitive disability. I have found that in most social situation, mentioning the disability is unnecessary because most people will figure it out for themselves.

I have never mentioned this before, but I have fathered three children. I had a son that would be 18 this year. He was born with a cognitive disability and was labeled mentally retarded. He lived until he was 9 years old and died from a long battle with a very rare brain cancer called Glioma. During his 9 years, he had to endure classmates calling him a retard. While he tested very low on IQ and other tests that measure cognitive development, he was smart enough to understand that other classmates were being mean to him based on his disability. He said to me one day, "I wish I smart so my classes would like me, but I can't help it." Nothing has hurt me worse as a parent than seeing my kid being discriminated against for his own disadvantages. Thankfully, he is in a better place now where that is no longer happening to him.

[GMTruckGuy74]

K.C., thank you for sharing that information with us. I teach high school kids, and they don't think before they speak. They don't care if someone gets offended by their choice of words, because it doesn't apply to them. However, say something that offends them and watch out! Humans by nature are hypocrites. It's only when we experience something for ourselves do we take the time to make an adjustment or change.

As a father of a 3 year old and a step-father of a 15 year old, you have my sympathy on the loss of your son. I can't imagine losing either of them, not what my life would be like without them. You have my respect for continuing on in your son's honor. Because we're on the Internet and don't personally know one another does not give us the right to name call or make assumptions about anyone. And just because you or a small group of posters find something funny doesn't mean that another poster is not hurt by those words.

Kindness, respect, and empathy are missing from a lot of people in today's world. Fitting in & belonging to popular groups have replaced moral and ethical standards.

[pow]

All I said was that political correctness is a part of being gracious (on the outside) and therefore part of good manners.

Exactly.

It's not about what you are "allowed" to say. But if you act like a complete douchebag, surely the people you've just annoyed will at least have some sort of response.

Edited May 8, 2009 by empowah

[Justin Bimmer]

The government better start changing all their signage then for parking, because last time I checked, the blue spots were for a "Disabled Person" or a "Handicapped Person" even on their license plates in California it says "DP" on them.

[K.C.]

I guess my point in all this that people throw around words such as retard, faggot, etc with no regard for others. It's my experience that people laugh about those words, or use them continuously, until you let the person know, "Hey, I know someone who is. . ." or "Hey, my child is . . ." before people start thinking about what they say. In my opinion, it should never get that far. Unfortunately, people in general have gotten more rude, less caring over time.

Croc has a good point about political correctness. You have the right to dislike someone for whatever reason you have, but it is important to be gracious to people because that is how you would want to be treated. Everyone has traits about them that someone will hate or not understand. Nobody wants to have those traits held against them. It's not fair, and its very disrespectful. That is why it is so important to be politically correct with others. It is another word for being respectful.

[K.C.]

The government better start changing all their signage then for parking, because last time I checked, the blue spots were for a "Disabled Person" or a "Handicapped Person" even on their license plates in California it says "DP" on them.

I believe that is in the process of being changed. It just takes time.

[Intrepidation]

For the person with the disability or their loved ones, it makes it better, because you are seeing them as a person first. When I had cancer and was going through chemo, no one ever introduced me as a cancerous man. I was a man with cancer. I am a person that has cancer. I am not cancer that has a person. The same goes for people with other disabilities. People that have disabilities or illness do not want them broadcast for everyone to hear, especially if its mentioned before what they really are. It's putting a stigma out there that is negative and everyone is so much more than their disabilities.

For example, someone with a cognitive disability (formerly called mental retardation) should never be referred to as a retarded person, retard, or a 'tard. If you must refer to their disability (which should be rare), then it would be that person with a cognitive disability. I have found that in most social situation, mentioning the disability is unnecessary because most people will figure it out for themselves.

I have never mentioned this before, but I have fathered three children. I had a son that would be 18 this year. He was born with a cognitive disability and was labeled mentally retarded. He lived until he was 9 years old and died from a long battle with a very rare brain cancer called Glioma. During his 9 years, he had to endure classmates calling him a retard. While he tested very low on IQ and other tests that measure cognitive development, he was smart enough to understand that other classmates were being mean to him based on his disability. He said to me one day, "I wish I smart so my classes would like me, but I can't help it." Nothing has hurt me worse as a parent than seeing my kid being discriminated against for his own disadvantages. Thankfully, he is in a better place now where that is no longer happening to him.

I gotcha, that makes sense.

[Lamar]

KC, Croc, and GMTG74 are spot on here.

It may not be complete anytime soon, but there is coming a time that DelDOT will have no need to publish such letters. As we actually get to know each other, such things diminish.

But that won't mean that certain epithets, gestures, slights, and stigmata will ever have a place at that time either, no matter how "good" it gets.