I was looking at the definition and was thinking about legal repercussions and such, and would be curious to hear people's opinions on this. Heinous: # flagitious: extremely wicked, deeply criminal; "a flagitious crime"; # Totally reprehensible, horrible, wicked
Situation: I was talking to someone who owns a small restaurant and he was telling me about some [explicit] customers. For example, a guy spending whole days there, likes to actually head out to purchase beer cans at the convenience store in front, because it's cheaper than the beer at the restaurant, and drink them outside, or sneak and drink inside in secret. (Owner even often finds empty beer cans in garbage cans) This has the effect of pissing off the restaurant owner, and he confronted the man about this. And he told me he was extremely close to saying something quite bad. The client just happens to be jewish, and the comment was in relation to the holocaust... Luckily, he did not say a heinous comment, but said he was very tempted... And these type of comments I want to point out I do not agree in the least.
I can somewhat feel his pain. I have nothing against any group in particular, well actually I do for some groups, but I hold no prejudice, I judge people by their actions. In this case, the I really have nothing against jews, I'm actually quite supportive in jews and Israel, with Palestinians, right to defend themselves, etc..., but in this case, I told the guy, he could have simply ended the conversation with: "you know you're really not helping the jew stereotype" or "and I don't want in my restaurant again you cheap jew".
I know this can sort of be considered racist even though 'jew' isn't a race, but sometimes, when someone really rubs you the wrong way, you would sort of want to get in their face and return the favor... It has actually nothing to do with the race, it's just something to get in their face and get some rise out of them and most importantly associate their bad behavior with something they most probably wouldn't like associated with... ex: jew, cheap
Another example, some f*** tries to skip ahead of you in a line, you say something like: "What do you think you're doing?", then I don't know, they ignore you, or tell you to go f*** yourself, and then, you know, you say something like "stupid fat f***", pointing out to the fact that he might be obese, for example, or, again, if they're of a particular race, or actually anything about them, that I don't know, that he's a lawyer, garbage man or whatever... "stupid garbage man!" Again, no offense to garbage men in general... Just pointing out the obvious, to add an exclamation point, and maybe for them to think that if they don't like people whining/discriminating/having prejudices/etc vs xxx, then they should not act like they just did... Because it reflects poorly on xxx...
This isn't random though, just pointing out the obvious, and associating their bad actions with the fact that they are xxx. And I think that's where the big difference is. You're for example not insulting someone because he's xxx, but pointing out their bad conduct and pointing out to the fact that they are xxx, and yeah, I guess associating the bad behavior with the fact that they're xxx. Obviously you would have to consider the surrounding and surrounding people, as you wouldn't want to upset any one else besides that 1 person... Like, wouldn't want to do the 'fat' comment if someone tried to skip the line at a McDonalds, you'd probably get a ton of angry stares all around you who would also feel targeted by the fat comment...
*sigh* but anyhow, I'm not 'cool' or tough enough or whatever to act that way, I usually just think it, at worst sometimes say something without the racist or whatever connotation, or more likely just shake my head and walk away... People in general are quite hopeless, and doing something other than shaking the head is worthless in pretty much all cases anyhow.
In the case of the restaurant beer jew, the owner was saying he could have been sued if he pointed out the fact that he was cheap and that he was a jew... I said I clearly doubt it, as I'd doubt anyone would see offense in calling a jew who consistently spent all day in a restaurant and snuck in food to save a couple dollars cheap... I mean, context is important no?
What are your thoughts in this whole 'heinous' comment thing?
What's even crazy, I'm actually a bit uncomfortable typing this. Which is a bit silly. Sure, it's not very politically correct, but at one point, can't you call a horse a horse? I guess part of the issue is the PG, and I do believe that PG is sort of necessary... For example, associating a line skipper with a race, the fact that you're not of that race, could increase racial tensions: The comment could make him dislike more your race which he might already dislike because of past racism...
Yeah, I think that's the big point here. I think people do not need to be reminded that they are xxx and that they are behaving badly. They're most likely aware of both. Well, I would sure love to think so, but I think that would sadly be giving too much credit to people... Which brings me back to the point that simply shaking your head and saying nothing is the correct behavior. Or at worst, staying polite and definitely not saying anything which could have negative connotations... If they're not aware of the obvious, then they're simply lost causes anyhow...
Avoiding conflict is #1... Seen so many ridiculous things... Guy (40), getting out of a bus to fight with a kid who pushed him a little because he was trying to get off the bus while the 40 guy didn't want to make any room for him to pass... *sigh* So pathetic...
