My Neighbor must think I'm racist! What do I do? (plus a question about racism)

[Shemtov]

Ok, I've learned my lesson. It part because of you guys and in part because.....

How would you feel if your neighbors greeted you with "shalom," every time that they lay eyes on you and treated you as a Jew first and person second?

....What goes around comes around, because that scenario Matt said actually happened to me today. Except, Instead of being "Shalom" it was "Mazel Tov", which is even more offensive since it should only be said at a wedding, Bris, A Celabration of the finishing of a Talmudic Section, or Bar Mitzvah. It's not a standard greeting. It's like she just said the first Jewish thing that came too mind.

 

[Darthphere]

Well maybe she thinks life is a celebration, hence Mazel Tov!

 

[C. Lee]

Looks like Shemtov was burned by a Mazel Tov coctail today.....

 

[CJ]

Looks like Shemtov was burned by a Mazel Tov coctail today.....

 

[POWdER-man]

Would you be offended if for some reason I thought you were Canadian because of your accent/appearence/whatever & while casually walking past said "bonjour" to you?

Yeah if you were casually walking past me and just said bonjour to me I would be taken back by it. Even though I can speak French, English is my first language.

Would I be offended, no, but it would take a lot to offend me. I would probably think you were being a jackass as you normally speak French in French towns, villages, communities so saying it in majority English city would be out of place. That is unless French is your only language and you actually have a follow-up to just saying bonjour and were asking for directions or something.

yeah, quebec and montreal are they only regions I know in canada that speak primarily french.

Psst, Montreal (city) is in Quebec (Province), so identifying them as two different regions would be comparable to saying Texas and Dallas. For the record, New Brunswick is the only official Bilingual province, and there are French communities in every province, however besides Quebec most areas are Anglophone.

 

[chamber-music]

I've had white african strangers try to strike up a conversation with me by asking where I'm from.

I guess thay wanted to know if I was from their country Zimbabwe or South Africa or something. I wasn't offended.

If they started speaking some random African language I would probably just think they were weirdos.

 

[CConn]

This exact thing happened to a coworker of mine, when he mistook a Chinese customer for Korean and tried to say goodbye in Korean.

 

[terry78]

This exact thing happened to a coworker of mine, when he mistook a Chinese customer for Korean and tried to say goodbye in Korean.

Why didn't he just say goodbye in English, is probably the main point we're all trying to argue.

 

[CConn]

Why didn't he just say goodbye in English, is probably the main point we're all trying to argue.

Because he was kind of a pretentious dick.

 

[Darthphere]

Heh.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

I once met someone in a Superman t-shirt and I asked him what he thought of the New 52. He looked puzzled and walked away.

 

[Immortalfire]

...no.

Speaking of which, I can't tell the difference between a American and Canadian...although if they like hockey a lot that may be a sign...

I'm an American, and I like hockey. I am offended by your racist assumption.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

Don't they say "eh" a lot? That's what South Park taught me!

 

[Maximum Carnage]

Presumption at the workplace is dangerous.. I assumed this person was an older lady, said "good evening, ma'am!" and it turned out to be an older man when he said "hmmf."


Not my fault! NO!

 

[Webfoot Hero]

Don't they say "eh" a lot? That's what South Park taught me!

And that the top half of their head moves when they talk.

 

[POWdER-man]

Don't they say "eh" a lot? That's what South Park taught me!

Don't make fun of Canadians. We can laugh at ourselves but we can only be pushed so far.

[YT]ej68sIEI8Fg[/YT]

Even our Prime Ministers aren't afraid to get into the action.

[YT]WvjfJ6bAi0U[/YT]


Edit: This is of course pre-Stephen Harper era who would probably just sue you for looking at him.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

Terrence and Philip! <3

 

[Maximum Carnage]

I'm not gonna lie, if a government official grabbed me by the neck and tossed me - I'd be pissed. Lol.

 

[Karem-Knight]

This sounds all like an episode of Curb your Enthusiasm

 

[Immortalfire]

Presumption at the workplace is dangerous.. I assumed this person was an older lady, said "good evening, ma'am!" and it turned out to be an older man when he said "hmmf."


Not my fault! NO!

I've had those occasions where I don't know what gender someone is.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

I've had those occasions where I don't know what gender someone is.

I've had a couple of those experiences. I didn't interact with them but kept taking glances at them or listening to their voices to finally determine what they were.

 

[Scourge2099]

Would you be offended if for some reason I thought you were Canadian because of your accent/appearence/whatever & while casually walking past said "bonjour" to you?

I get offended whenever someone thinks I'm Mexican and starts speaking to me in Spanish. I'm not even Mexican. I'm half Creole ( French , Black , and Native American) and half Japanese. I get pissed off at that since I was born in California and the only language I know is English.

 

[Dark Raven]

I get offended whenever someone thinks I'm Mexican and starts speaking to me in Spanish. I'm not even Mexican. I'm half Creole ( French , Black , and Native American) and half Japanese. I get pissed off at that since I was born in California and the only language I know is English.

Well after 9-11, weren't there some people who were attacked as Muslims who weren't even that, but from some country completely different? People can't always tell the difference or can't be bothered to find out but just make assumptions.

That's why it's best to actually have a conversation with the person as a human being and asking them where they're from instead of imposing assumptions on them.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Well after 9-11, weren't there some people who were attacked as Muslims who weren't even that, but from some country completely different? People can't always tell the difference or can't be bothered to find out but just make assumptions.

That's why it's best to actually have a conversation with the person as a human being and asking them where they're from instead of imposing assumptions on them.

exactly, I really don't see the confusion that people seem to be having with this concept.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

lol bumping