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November 6, 2009
adding another deadbolt to my door
So how do you guys handle it when some stranger (or even friend) says something bigoted around you? This can range from the n-word to gay-bashing to sexism.
Not that I'm above tweaking these groups myself, but it's always affectionately and to friends who are members. Do I call gays "prancing Nancies?" No. I just call Mike that. And then he rips me back. It's what we do. He is my pink d'Andre.
No, I'm not talking about un-PC banter amongst friends. I'm talking about sitting next to a white old fart on the plane who groans, with the gravity of a man in the same beleaguered foxhole as me, "I ain't ever had a lady pilot before."
"I have," I said, obviously mocking him. "It was horrific." He nodded as though I needn't have added that part. It was a given. "I'm, um, kidding," I felt compelled to add.
What do you do in this circumstance? Humor them in silence? Tell 'em to shut up? Treat it as a learning opportunity, the ultimate act of hubris with a man clearly determined to learn nothing in his 70 years on earth?
posted by john at 10:10 AM • permalink