Did I Miss the Memo?!?

[wlotus]

I thought today was Good Friday. Instead I seem to have awakened in Stuck on Stupid Day. It has been a long time since I have been aware of so much stupidity in one day.


I Know She Didn't Just Say What I Thought I Heard Her Say:
Part 1

T and I watched the news this morning as we prepared for our day. That was when we heard of Texas Rep. Betty Brown's suggestion that people of Asian descent adopt names that are easier for Americans to handle. She gave her suggestion when an associate member of the Organization of Chinese Americans testified how people of Asian descent sometimes have trouble voting because of differences between their legal names and the English name shown on their driver's licenses.

That is her solution as a white American? I contend she and her ilk would do better to stop being so lazy and learn how to wrap their tongues around people's given names, no matter their ethnicity, rather than using their tongues to make such asinine statements from their position of privilege.


I Know He Didn't Just Say What I Thought I Heard Him Say

A coworker, W, was asked by the manager to help T perform some heavy tasks she could not perform on her own. Said coworker bellyached, ignored T as much as possible, and only did half of what was asked. T brought it up to the manager later, who asked W what was going on. W said he was pissed off that when T came in this morning, he did not hear her say, "Good morning" to him.

He was not ashamed to admit to his boss that he had his tighty-whiteys in a bunch over not hearing T say, "Good morning"?!? He was not embarrassed at allowing his petty childishness keep him from doing his job?!? Back to grade school with him, pronto. That is a job site, not kindergarten.

This sort of behavior towards T is common in that department, where T is the only female. The next person to tell me women are more difficult to work with than men because they are bigger gossips, fiercer backstabbers, and over-emotional harpies will get a visit from my version of ptownnyc's Stabby.


I Know She Didn't Just Say What I Thought I Heard Her Say:
Part 2

T sat down on the train with her MP3 player and relaxed on the ride home. At one point an elderly white woman got on the train, looked at T and the two Asian men sitting next to T, and demanded, "Which one of you is going to get up?" One Asian man tore his earbuds out of his ears and looked at the woman in shock. The other jumped right out of his seat to let the woman sit down. T was sure she had not just hear that question and didn't react until a black man across the aisle angrily asked his partners, "Did you hear what she SAID?!?" When he repeated the woman's question T realized her ears had not been deceiving her, after all. This led to a long, loud discussion amongst T and the black men about racists and how shameful it is that they all have not died out. The white woman in question buried herself in her newspaper. When the train reached its destination, the other white passengers' body language suggested they were very embarrassed to have witnessed that woman's behavior.

Her wrinkled ass should have had to stand the entire ride. I believe in respecting my elders, but respect is a two-way street.

What year is it, again?!?

Comments

[verucas-chaos.livejournal.com]

It is the year of stupid, I am afraid to say....

[tiramisuz.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry!...I hope now that the workday has passed..and all is behind you of this day..you are settling down to a peaceful evening..!

[silveringridd.livejournal.com]

oh my god.

wow.

yeah. stupid is freaking right! that last bit about the train is fucking out of control.

[aamusedinatx.livejournal.com]

Betty Brown, of Terrell Texas is well...all too familiar to me as a female role model of my dreaded 17 years in that state. That said...

< insert tongue in cheek >Terrell, TX is famous for one thing only: the state looney bin. Given that, I'd say she reflects her constituents rather well, wouldn't you? < /insert tongue in cheek >


(and people wonder why I moved and why I'm so not eager to EVER move back.)

Tell T that I have an anthrax laden spork and a bad attitude at her disposal. Just say when!

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

It seems to be going around. Vermont passed a law legalizing gay marriage (hooray!), and now the conservative commentators are busy declaring the whole thing "undemocratic" because it was not put to a popular vote. Damn activist legislators.

I can feel our country's collective IQ plunging like an elevator with a cut cable.

[acoustics1220.livejournal.com]

Wow. What a day! Also, that icon is INSANE. LOL, seriously though - the petty things people just can't let go of...oh society, why must you be so egotistical and selfish? :(

Sad.

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

It's a shame that elderly woman was so disrespectful. You're right in that respect does go both ways. After four decades, she would have learned to drop that racist expectation by now.

This piece of Part 1 has me a little confused:
"trouble voting because of differences between their legal names and the English name shown on their driver's licenses"

I understand that there are translation differences between languages, but as American citizens, why would there be any differences in legal names and driver's license? All their documented information would be in English.

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

Your implication that people who don't support gay marriage have low IQs is really hateful. I think of marriage in liberal terms, and I don't see the point in anyone getting married, honestly. People live together for years, essentially as spouses, and then get married, but their relationship has not changed at all. Because there is no change in the nature of their relationship, I just don't see the point in marriage.

[joystreet.livejournal.com]

Here I thought the full moon was April 9th.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

If I understand the issue correctly--I believe it is explained in the article I linked to, as well--their legal names are transliterations of their Asian names, while the name on their drivers license is an English name...something chosen that is easy for Americans to handle.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of things going on in society that support the idea the country's collective IQ is plunging, and conservative's insistence on expending so much time and energy trying to get their personal preferences turned into legislation that oppresses another group is part of that proof. It is a hateful act, and it deserves hateful language.

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

You are correct. That was hateful, and as part of another group that often gets blamed for people's foolishness (mental illness) I should know better. I do apologize.

I have to disagree with you about gay marriage, however. I'm not saying you're wrong about marriage, but if you start challenging marriage as a whole, you will get some serious resistance. Many people want gays to have marriage rights, but the second you do something that really *does* threaten marriage as a whole, we'd develop a whole new order of ugly. A lot of support for gay marriage is straight out the window if we propose a massive change to all marriages.

While we're waiting for massive social reform of marriage, don't you think that gays should at least reap the same benefits as married het couples?

My real reason for supporting gay marriage, though, is simply this: many gay people *want* to get married. Not all of them want it or care, and some are actively opposed, but if a lot of gays think it's important, and everyone else gets it, then as far as I'm concerned, they should have it. They know better than I do what is important to them.

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

True. I believe that people who want gay marriage have every reason to support it and try to make it legal. The strange thing is that gay marriage was never illegal to begin with.

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

Why bother to make it illegal? For a long time, homosexuality itself was illegal in many countries (see Oscar Wilde). Even when homosexuality wasn't specifically legislated against, it was so socially unacceptable that most homosexual relationships were kept strictly hidden. Same-sex marriage didn't have to be illegal, because it was simply unthinkable. No minister, priest, or justice of the peace would have performed a marriage ceremony between two homosexuals, and the marriage would simply not be recognized in any way by a government or by other people if they did. Why legislate against gay marriage? It would be like legislating against purple horses -- there's no point because it doesn't exist in the first place.

Opposition to gay marriage didn't happen until homosexuality gained enough acceptance that homosexuals started asking for the right to get married, for the right to have their marriages recognized by the government, and for society to grant them the same acceptance and support. Gradually, it became necessary to legislate either for it or against it. Our society is so divided on the subject that a formal decision has to be made one way or another.

If you've never done it, you might find it interesting to search "Stonewall Riots." It was one of the very first times that homosexuals in the United States successfully stood up against some pretty brutal oppression. If you can find a copy, the book Stone Butch Blues is an interesting glimpse inside of that world.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

T felt like slapping the man who jumped up. :-) labyrinthnight says she encounters people like that on the trains all of the time, and she ignores them all of the time.