Posted by OddipusRex on January 16, 2003, at 8:10:47
In reply to Re: posting in a non-racist manner » Dr. Bob, posted by IsoM on January 16, 2003, at 1:32:02
Why not just answer the question? No it wasn't a slur. Why does everything have to be an implied insult? I don't think Phil meant to slur anyone though perhaps it would have been a bit more sensitive to leave out the mention of the girls' concern about losing her money the morning after another person had lost her life. It's possible that someone somewhere might feel like this was reinforcing stereotypes and be offended. You can't be too careful. But I think it shows that context does matter and I don't think Phil was intentionally slurring anybody.
I think it would have been a slur if he had written "the bloodthirsty dope dealing Peruvians" or something like that.
How would you help your son know what was acceptable language and what was not in situations like this?
Written with no offense to anyone and good will towards all.
> Phil wrote:
> I met a girl working at a coffee shop and thought she looked bummed out. I asked if she was okay. She was a senior in high school and had saved $2000.00 to go to Peru with 20 other people to do volunteer work. She said her father had just told her she couldn't go and she would probably lose the $2000.00. Seems this caring, pretty young girl was Jewish and the day before a jew had been beheaded there.
>
> You wrote back:
> Is that a slur against Peruvians?
>
> C'mon, Bob, get real! You can pick any country in this world & find some hate crime that's ended in murder. Just because it's been noted in the news, what rational person would consider it a slur against the citizens of that country? That's a thoughtless example you pulled out of the air to toss back at Phil. Really, that needs an apology.
>
> Are you aware of Asperger's syndrome at all? I'm curious as my 27 year old son has it. It can be accompanied by an amazingly high IQ but the drawback of it is a lack of social understanding & skills in dealing with people. I do see some strong correlations between how you view matters & how my son sees things. He's fully aware of what he had & does the best he can to compensate. I'm curious about you. There's times you've written things that I'm aghast at, & yet I don't think you're a purposely thouhtless person.
>
>
poster:OddipusRex
thread:8766
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20021128/msgs/8834.html