![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Well, that was unpleasant
Dec. 7th, 2010 07:20 pmSo one of my supervisors sent me a "joke" email. Y'know, one of those forwards that's meant to be cute or funny or both.
Except that this one wasn't. In fact, I was pretty offended, and I am not all that easily offended.
( Cut for the joke, which is pretty damned racist. Be warned. )
...
So, yeah. Offended kind of doesn't begin to cover it. The fact that it's a "joke" doesn't mean that I am supposed to be amused by the deliberate murder of dozens if not hundreds of civilians based on their religion or ethnicity or both.
So I sent the supervisor an email expressing my sentiments, politely, and CC'd our boss.
The supervisor's defense? He's former military, and he's lost friends to the war in Afghanistan, to the enemy and to suicide. Therefore, to him, the death of any person of Arab origin or who practices Islam, is fair game for a joke.
Dude, I GET that part, but you're talking about murdering non-combattants, here. Women and children take planes too. Students, the elderly. Someone's mother. Someone's cousin. Someone's best friend.
I have friends who are in the military too. Does that mean I will gleefully look on while one person deliberately aims two airplanes at each other? No.
Anyway, he's annoyed that I CC'd the boss. *shrug* I debated about that for a while, but in the end, I think I did the right thing. Our boss needs to know if one of the supervisors is a racist asshole. At least he's removed me from his mailing list.
Except that this one wasn't. In fact, I was pretty offended, and I am not all that easily offended.
( Cut for the joke, which is pretty damned racist. Be warned. )
...
So, yeah. Offended kind of doesn't begin to cover it. The fact that it's a "joke" doesn't mean that I am supposed to be amused by the deliberate murder of dozens if not hundreds of civilians based on their religion or ethnicity or both.
So I sent the supervisor an email expressing my sentiments, politely, and CC'd our boss.
The supervisor's defense? He's former military, and he's lost friends to the war in Afghanistan, to the enemy and to suicide. Therefore, to him, the death of any person of Arab origin or who practices Islam, is fair game for a joke.
Dude, I GET that part, but you're talking about murdering non-combattants, here. Women and children take planes too. Students, the elderly. Someone's mother. Someone's cousin. Someone's best friend.
I have friends who are in the military too. Does that mean I will gleefully look on while one person deliberately aims two airplanes at each other? No.
Anyway, he's annoyed that I CC'd the boss. *shrug* I debated about that for a while, but in the end, I think I did the right thing. Our boss needs to know if one of the supervisors is a racist asshole. At least he's removed me from his mailing list.
