But we are going round in circles because one one hand we have people that are saying it's no big deal and people who say it's outright racism. It's not up to you to say it's a 'not a trivial matter by saying it's just a joke' because that decision should be up to those that administer the appropriate punishment.
The serious issues at the centre of this incident only arise if there is collective ignorance or 'closing-the-ranks' by having an inappropriate punishment for this incident. But 455driver is basically right. This is only one person with such a viewpoint towards a minority, and as such, there is no reason for the overreaction we are seeing here because we just don't know if this is a deep-rooted issue in the rest of the company.
So you are right we have exhausted this subject. We don't know if he meant it as a 'racial slur'. We don't know if he is a racist because of his ignorance to that fact. All we know is he made an inappropriate statement and that's the end of the matter. The rest of it is.. subjective.
You can dismiss me as being an ignorant GOG. You can laugh it off. But to say you KNEW FOR A FACT he was being racist just makes your arguments look pompous and self-indulgent.
I don't understand why it is not up to me to say it's not a trivial matter. All I am doing is expressing my opinion, the same as you are expressing yours.
As far as I, and apparently others, are concerned, the serious matter is not so much the actions of the guard, but the underlying issue of how we regard others.
It's not about the thoughts of one individual, or the company. It is about whether it's a good thing to perpetuate stereotypes, and how this contributes to the prejudices that fuel hatred and intolerance.
Of course, we all make judgements all the time, we wouldn't be human if we didn't and I'm sure I'm as guilty as anyone else of that. But is it really helpful or useful to make jokes against groups of people based on prejudice and (usually) negative stereotyping.
All I ask is that everyone who says 'It's just a joke', or 'It doesn't really matter' takes a minute or two to think about the real problems that lie behind what the guard said, and ask themselves whether it really is funny to joke about all Irish people being stupid, all Jews and Scots being tight fisted, everyone from Brighton being homosexual, all Muslims being terrorists, and so on.
If someone has considered all of this, and remains of the opinion that it's all fine, it's all a huge over-reaction and Chubby Brown should have had his own prime time TV show for the last thrity years, then fair enough, the debate will never convince them otherwise!
So it's not about the guard at all, he has just inadvertantly highlighted the deeper issues that are affecting our society.
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Also, racism does not necessarily have anything to do with intention, which is what makes it such a serious problem in society today as most people don't even realise what they're doing. We've already been over this...
Quite, the fact that so many people don't realise that such 'jokes' are racist is part of the problem.
