This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2008.
BUS DRIVER INSULTS GERMAN MAN
did anyone witness and hear a bus driver insulting an old german man? he and his bus drivers buddies were making fun of an old german man who had trouble speaking . he wanted to get down , after finding out it was the wrong bus, but the bus driver made f
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Two things1. I hope you reported it to MT2. You do know that “German” isn’t a race, right?
Mole Rat, you do know that making jokes about a cetain nationality of people is racism, right?
I have been noticing that some of these Metro Transit drivers are getting more disrespectful/ arrogant to the public they serve. If some of these people were fired that would look good on them. However they are union men / women and think they can get away with being rude/ disrespectful whatever. In all fairness the drivers have to put up with a lot as well. Personally I try not to use the bus as much as possible. I am sick of all the crap that goes on with MT
Welcome to the wonderful world of Metro Transit, where we don’t care because we don’t have to. But we’re all proud to be union men!
I’d be more offended if he called him honky or the even more offensive, but equally as useful, jive-turkey. Come on people, I’m Russian and I don’t get all bent out of shape when someone calls me a Ruskie or even worse: a communist. Agreed, the issue is that there was a derogatory comment made about his nationality, but let’s make this clear, nationality does not equate to race. We don’t call ourselves the Canadian race. That sort of thinking lead to World War 2 and the rise of Hitler (remember the German/Arayan race?)
What bus number was it? Date and time. If you didn’t report then I will. Actually, I will report it a second time because that bastard needs to be fired. Could imagine if any of us spoke to client/patient/customer or co-worker that way?????? Our asses would be out the door. I want the same for this prick.
OK, devils advocate time ( because if you do complain i am sure SOMEONE will ask this at some point during an investigation ). As an aside, i hope you DO actually make a complaint. I have been busing to work more often now and have notices an arrogant self entitled chip on more metro drivers than I’d like to count. 1- Being “made fun of” is a subjective term can vary in degree quite a bit from mild teasing to outright harassment. Can you ( the OP ) please provide more detail of what was actually being said to or about this man, as much as you can recall anyway. 2 – Are you sure his name wasn’t actually Jerry? ( serious question )
Dr. Fever, there are plenty of people out there who aren’t offended by racist remarks about their own race. That doesn’t make racism right, and it just reinforces the idea that people should just be “okay” with it and laugh it off, which puts the onus on the discriminated groups to “deal” with it, and not on the discriminators to STFU and stop being ignorant. I’m not saying don’t have a sense of humour, but if the man didn’t know the bus driver than his level of a sense of humour about himself and his nationality have nothing to do with the fact that the driver (may have been/was) being an ignorant prig.
I agree with your statement Elocine, however, my point was that nationality is not an indication of race, which was the initial argument. Ignorance is inexcusable and I did not mean to indicate that I accept it.
When I was in Asia I was constantly stared at, pointed at, laughed at, and had racial slurs and profanity hurled my way. Sometimes I was even discriminated against in stores and nightclubs. Most of the time it didn’t bother me and it was even slightly amusing at first. That being said, it doesn’t mean that I am not mortified that people are being subjected to racism/prejudice/etc. in MY counrty. C’mon people, we can do better than that.
No, actually I don’t, “A”. If someone hates Canadians does it make them racist?Maybe you should read up on what actual racism is, instead of trying to dilute the term.Also maybe “xenophobia” while you’re at it.
“Race” is a lie. It has NO discernible definition, its a throwback to now defunct ideology like “Darwinism” and “Manifest Destiny”. Most people haven’t figured it out yet; and definitely doesn’t stop bigots from using “race” as a reason to deride and humiliate others. I would call it bigotry as a more appropriate term than racism.
Yes, I do know what xenophobia means, Mole Rat, and yes, I know what racism means as well. Your snide comment of ”You do know that ‘German’ isn’t a race, right?'” was a little unnecesary- and the snideness of it really annoyed me. If you really want to be so technical then ok, it was xenophobic of the bus driver- not racist. But I think you would agree that racism and xenophobia come from the same place, would you not? The type of hate is basically the same, would you not agree? Call me lazy or not being careful enough with my words, but the last time I heard someone say something ignorant was said about the Chinese. I walked away thinking ” what a racist asshole”, not ”what a xenophobic asshole!” I don’t think I’m so unique in this.
I stand by what I said except that yes I may have been too snide in my reply, given that the OP clearly has their heart in a good place or whatever.However, race, as it relates to the practice of racism, is generally constructed in our collective mind based on perceived innate (born) physical differences (and mental difference, by racists). Therefore racism is discrimination *based on* these traits. Language/accent/nationality are acquired, not born traits.The bus driver would not have known the man was German had the bus driver not heard his accent; otherwise, I assume they had race *in common,* if you are talking about race as related to “racism” (I am assuming they were both white.) To say that the bus driver was “racist” against the German man is inaccurate. I don’t see this as being technical. No I don’t agree that the type of hate is the same. Personally I would hardly be as offended by being called a nationality-based slur, or even a “honky,” as I would be if I was called a race-based insult existing in the context of my race’s history as an oppressed people (if I had such a history).It just bugs me when people rail against racism but don’t bother to learn anything about it beyond what they were taught in high school.
I agree that the person who made the comment about the Chinese was probably being racist, but I’m willing to bet that they were referring only to “Chinese people born in China who look like my idea of what a Chinese person looks like (i.e. Asian, and different from me).” Ignoring the fact that people of any race can be Chinese, and thus making it more about race than nationality.