N-word written in bathroom stall at U of O makes the news

[Merlin]

Did I say we should spend money on training?

No, I did not.

So what someone writes on a bathroom stall that has nothing to do with you offends you? Perhaps you need to work on not being so easily offended. Seriously , if a drunk scrawling on a toilet offends you then...well....just wow.

[cybercoma]

Did I say I was offended? I'm not. in any case, Clearly the scrawling was meant to be offensive, regardless of who wrote it. Then people act surprised and criticize those offended rather than criticizing the idiots that write offensive things. It's backwards.

Edited November 18, 2012 by cybercoma

[Merlin]

Did I say I was offended? I'm not. in any case, Clearly the scrawling was meant to be offensive, regardless of who wrote it. Then people act surprised and criticize those offended rather than criticizing the idiots that write offensive things. It's backwards.

I'm simply saying "who cares?". That it is a waste of time and effort. Clean or cover it up, go back to life. We don't need an after school special about it as any good parents will teach their children that this sort of obvious racism is bad.

[WWWTT]

We've evolved into a society of people who so easily offended by everything. It's really sad actually. Some person writes something on a bathroom wall and you're knee jerk reaction is to spend money on training because this must mean that everyone who is white is a racist.

Actually if someone gets offended by what someone else might say,I would think that person would be less likely to make an offensive comment.

It would be actually scarey if more people become desensitized and have no compassion.

WWWTT

[WWWTT]

I'm simply saying "who cares?". That it is a waste of time and effort. Clean or cover it up, go back to life. We don't need an after school special about it as any good parents will teach their children that this sort of obvious racism is bad.

Hi Merlin,are you handicapped?

How would you feel if people starting writing things that were offensive to handicapped people?

WWWTT

[Guest]

I think the point here is that it was on a toilet wall, not that it was offensive. If it was written on the side of a bus, or a homeless person, then it would merit more comment. But a toilet is where the dregs of society have always gone to write garbage, and I'd bet you couldn't find a public toilet in Canada where there wasn't something written that wouldn't offend somebody, and as such, the issue is being overblown.

Edited November 19, 2012 by bcsapper

[Sleipnir]

It's so depressing the way things are. It's like there's no sensible person in charge.

In charge of what? Cleaning the bathroom stalls, teaching kids about racism, or ignoring trivial complaints from attention seeker (in this case, the guy who report it and made a drama out it)?

[Sleipnir]

Hi Merlin,are you handicapped?

How would you feel if people starting writing things that were offensive to handicapped people?

No reason to take an inch of a situation and stretch it a mile.

[bleeding heart]

No reason to take an inch of a situation and stretch it a mile.

Agreed. I imagine we've all seen all manner of vile things written in bathroom stalls....things so degraded they make casual racism read like "I Have A Dream" in comparison.

[cybercoma]

I guess when the racism is never directed at you, it would seem pretty benign.

[bleeding heart]

Fair point, and perhaps I'm understating the offense. (And my last clause is exaggerated to the point of being actually incorrect, I concede.)

My point is maybe summed up by analogy: the late Mordecai Richler once said that he had a friend working in the anti-Defamation League; and that, whenever some silly idiot scrawled a swastika somewhere, the ADL was thrilled, rather than offended.

Meanwhile, most swastika-scrawlers aren't really anti-semites with an agenda, but malcontents finding an easy way to rebel through blatant offensiveness.

The peripheral point being that a person spraypainting a swastika, or writing a racial slur on a bathroom wall, is rarely doing so out genuine malicious racism. The result is offensive; the act itself is, at least usually, not truly malign...it's even trivial. It's just stupid.

But by bathroom wall standards--replete with hate, with gleeful references to everything from rape to racism to general misanthropy real or pretended, it's just another piece of ugly foolishness.

[Argus]

I think the point here is that it was on a toilet wall, not that it was offensive. If it was written on the side of a bus, or a homeless person, then it would merit more comment.

Uhm, do people commonly write on homeless people out there on the wacky west coast?

I'm picturing mad graffiti types spray painting the backs of bums as they sleep, or while pushing their shopping carts along the sidewalk...

[Bonam]

Uhm, do people commonly write on homeless people out there on the wacky west coast?

Of course. It's like a free walking billboard. That's how we do most of our political campaigning out here too. It's not the same out in the eastern reaches of the land?

[Guest]

Uhm, do people commonly write on homeless people out there on the wacky west coast?

I'm picturing mad graffiti types spray painting the backs of bums as they sleep, or while pushing their shopping carts along the sidewalk...

It could happen. You never know..

[jacee]

Of course. It's like a free walking billboard. That's how we do most of our political campaigning out here too. It's not the same out in the eastern reaches of the land?

No we use toilet walls.

"For a good time, vote xxxxx"

Some people write malicious things on toilet walls.

Other people scratch them out.

[BC_chick]

Uhm, do people commonly write on homeless people out there on the wacky west coast?

I'm picturing mad graffiti types spray painting the backs of bums as they sleep, or while pushing their shopping carts along the sidewalk...

It wouldn't be good for the 'brand' or else someone out there would've already implemented the idea.

[GostHacked]

It's telling that people are more outraged at the story than the racism.

You should visit some of the washrooms in some of the other more 'established' places. Even the bathroom at work before it was remodeled had all sorts of stuff these people would go ape over.

Now this crap is going to tie up resources that could have been put to better use.

[GostHacked]

I guess when the racism is never directed at you, it would seem pretty benign.

I've had an unfortunate experience where a former roommate claimed I called him 'nigger' one day. The claim was false but that did not stop him from claiming I was a racist against black people. If I was prejudice against blacks, I don't think I would have asked him to be a roommate.

I think people are too sensitive these days about that kind of thing. No matter how much you teach tolerance and all this nice fluffy politically correct language, this kind of stuff is going to happen.

We can draw attention to it like this and bang on the desk saying 'we must do something' or we can simply laugh at it, move on and we can all go have a drink instead of going at each others throat for something some idiot did.

A nice twist to this story would be that the person who wrote it on the wall was ... black.

[Signals.Cpl]

I've had an unfortunate experience where a former roommate claimed I called him 'nigger' one day. The claim was false but that did not stop him from claiming I was a racist against black people. If I was prejudice against blacks, I don't think I would have asked him to be a roommate.

I think people are too sensitive these days about that kind of thing. No matter how much you teach tolerance and all this nice fluffy politically correct language, this kind of stuff is going to happen.

We can draw attention to it like this and bang on the desk saying 'we must do something' or we can simply laugh at it, move on and we can all go have a drink instead of going at each others throat for something some idiot did.

A nice twist to this story would be that the person who wrote it on the wall was ... black.

You are absolutely right, this person might not even be racist, just someone who wants to start sh*t. Ultimately this comes out as some unknown person writes a racially charged comment and the other 99.99999% of people who had nothing to do with it end up being treated as racists and criminals.

[cybercoma]

I think people are too sensitive these days about that kind of thing.

Again, as I said in the post you replied to, it's easy for you to say these things when you don't experience them and the hatred isn't directed at you. Telling people they're too sensitive about these things is a form of psychological abuse called gaslighting. It denies them the legitimacy of being hurt by hateful language.

Your story about your roommate making crap up is immaterial. When hate speech is used and the person isn't lying about it, then it doesn't matter if you were "just joking" or "didn't mean it that way." You're not the target of the language and the target has every right to be upset or offended and every right to criticize the language and social systems that allow it to flourish.

[cybercoma]

You are absolutely right, this person might not even be racist, just someone who wants to start sh*t.

Someone that starts shit by being racist is a racist.

[Shady]

Who cares?

[GostHacked]

Again, as I said in the post you replied to, it's easy for you to say these things when you don't experience them and the hatred isn't directed at you.

I have not faced racism but I have had a few experiences were people called me Nazi/Jew Killer ect and crap because my grandfather fought on the German side in WWII. I simply just don't care about it. You either let it get to you, or you don't. And if you do, then you need to figure out a way HOW to deal with it properly.

I chose to not let it get to me, because people are quite damn ignorant.

Telling people they're too sensitive about these things is a form of psychological abuse called gaslighting. It denies them the legitimacy of being hurt by hateful language.

People really ARE to sensitive. If I got pissed at everything said to me like that I might be a very unhappy person. However one must chose to either be affected by it or not. The choice is yours. The easiest way to marginalize hate speech is to simply laugh at it.

Your story about your roommate making crap up is immaterial.

Actually because he thought me and my other roommate were racist against him, after multiple threats FROM him, I evicted him. On his way out he end up cleaning out my roommate completely and as well as some of my items. Claiming I don't know what it's like to be black. And well, he is right, I DON'T know what it is like to be black. Kind of irrelevant.

When hate speech is used and the person isn't lying about it, then it doesn't matter if you were "just joking" or "didn't mean it that way." You're not the target of the language and the target has every right to be upset or offended and every right to criticize the language and social systems that allow it to flourish.

So what would be your stance if it was a black person writing 'cracker' on the wall. You get upset by that? And what if it was a black person who wrote 'nigger'? What kind of position of hate speech would you tow there? Self hating black man?

Listen to any hip hop or gangsta rap? And this lick on the wall offends people? Really?

Edited July 8, 2013 by GostHacked

[cybercoma]

Who cares?

The people that it's directed towards obviously.

[Boges]

It seems the event that caused the creation of this thread is rather outdated.

A more recent example of how people react to the word in question is the Paula Dean story.

The Food Network personality admitted using the N-Word in the past and now people that did business with her are turning their back on her.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Boges