Courtesy and Interest or Politically Incorrect?

[TillieTrotter]

I'd feel exactly the same Loz. Which is why once we get to know people's personalities i.e, *BoB*'s ironic, witty posts etc, you sort of count them as people you know!! Well I do anyway.::o

[KalamityKel]

Personally I've taken offense to everything written on this thread (yes even my own comments) :p u cant please/tip toe round everyone! :p

[*Bob*]

I would have thought that after 1800 postings, people would have the measure of me: an enlightened, 18 year-old university-educated black Jewish man who works for the race relations board.

*don't tell my boss about the kebab gag

[lozzyloz]

I think *Bob* is the master of irony (actually a close second after Alan) and I crack up when reading his comments, not to mention the recipes and furniture restoration tips. His comment didn't offend me and I do see the funny side. But I can also sympathise with Atila (despite him being an Arsenal fan).

[TillieTrotter]

How could you possibly sympathise with an Arsenal fan?;-)

[KalamityKel]

Have we reached the end of the subject/thread/debate thingy now? :))

[TillieTrotter]

Hope so.

[Jah Lush]

I can and I'm a Spurs fan and we've had our little contretemps in Football Focus thread in the past but there you go.

[blinder999]

lozzyloz Wrote:

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> I think *Bob* is the master of irony (actually a

> close second after Alan)

uh oh now that's insensitive

[Brendan]

I can see how *bob*s comment could have been funny but I think they were badly timed and perhaps ill-conceived for a public forum where not everyone reading it has an intimate knowledge of his online persona.

Remember irony is not always the easiest thing to get across in text.

[atila the gooner]

To qoute a good old cockney saying I think Bob is bang out of order and a xenophobic dick head who takes the cowards route of hiding behind "irony" to excuse his racism, and screams that everyone is far too sensitive when offence is taken. So it's ok for me to say that all English men are beer swilling, footballing loving, hooligans that have a very bad dress sense, who eat crap food, are lousy lovers, read the Sun, wear Union Jack shorts on holiday, shout at foreign waiters on holiday, and in restaurants because they can't speak English, and who love their dogs more than their wives/children . Is that ok because it is "irony"?

[mockney piers]

"Remember irony is not always the easiest thing to get across in text." ...or an australian accent.

[TillieTrotter]

Would you have taken offence had someone made a quip about throwing a springbok (or something) on the barbie when finding out you were a Saffer though Brendan? I doubt it somehow! I think sometimes we can be overly sensitive about things:-S

[Brendan]

I'll irony you mate!

[TillieTrotter]

Atila, most of the world think we are pretty much that or bowler hat wearing twats!

[georgia]

Have to agree with Tillie on this one - I find it difficult to believe that people have taken such offence. As you said Tillie, I can also laugh at blonde jokes and also at jokes about nurses without getting offended/upset. You can usually tell comments which are meant to be offensive or hurtful and which are meant as a joke.

[TillieTrotter]

Exactly Georgia. Maybe us big busted blondes have thicker skin a! >:D

[*Bob*]

Sexist

[TillieTrotter]

Too bloody right;-)

[lozzyloz]

But what if you can't? I've got a great SOH but I don't find ALL comedy's or comedians funny. Comedy, like music, literature etc is a personal thing and often relates to ones personal experience. I find Rising Damp hilarious but I accept that others don't because of the racial stereo typing, but it is also very ironical.

[Brendan]

No you?re right there Tillie I don?t take offence to South African stereotypes. Except when racist English people think that South Africans are racists like them and therefore they can let forth a torrent of discriminatory rubbish and expect me to agree with it. Unfortunately this happens quite often and has led to some unpleasantness in the past.

[TillieTrotter]

You get xenophobes in every walk of life all over the world. They of course are to be avoided.

[lozzyloz]

Brendan, I must admit that I was once affected by SA sterotypes and used to be quite hostile to South Africans in the past (pre 1988), partly due to an incident in Nairobi with two Oaks and a lazer gun sight. I'm better now but I have to say that in my experience, society in SA (across the racial divide and within) is still very rascist. I kind of expected better post Apartheid but perhaps I was being naive.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Interestingly the people I would expect to bang on about the nany-state and political correctness are getting the most offended by *Bob*s comments and are looking for some sort of protection

Mockney called it bang on: *Bob* and his persona, witticisms and ideas are sufficiently aired on this forum for anyone with a brain to see he is no racist. That doesn't mean he can't make an ill-judged comment which upsets other people - but that's a different point

Atila - away from the football forum you often come across as more enlightened than the brash character you portray in there.I took *Bob*s comments to be a reference to something you said in the football thread - namely:

"As far as eating out goes I'm very lucky, I'm from a Turkish Cypriot background and get great treatment from my fellow Turkish restaurant owners. "

yes you meant "fellow Turkish" as opposed to "fellow Turkish restaurant owners" but you can see why *Bob*s comment was humourous and not intentional.

Even if the reference wasn't connected to that, it was, at worst, stereotyping, and not racist. He didn't say there was anythingwrong with owning a kebab shop, or suggested they be deported, or suggest there is anything wrong with them - usually the motivation behind racist commenst I would argue

What else have we learned today?

a) typing the asterisks around *Bob* is a pain in the arse

b) Lizzy - you have a real bee in your bonnet about "the gang" don't you?

[atila the gooner]

georgia Wrote:

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> Have to agree with Tillie on this one - I find it

> difficult to believe that people have taken such

> offence. As you said Tillie, I can also laugh at

> blonde jokes and also at jokes about nurses

> without getting offended/upset. You can usually

> tell comments which are meant to be offensive or

> hurtful and which are meant as a joke.

You find it difficult to believe because you are not on the receiving end of this morons "irony". As stated somwhere on this thread, the written word is not always easy to interpret because you don't get the luxury of facial expressions and body language. To assume that because I am from Turkish Cypriot stock , I am in some way involved in the fast food trade is a huge sweeping stereotypical remark, as is saying that all Irish people working in construction, all afro-carribeans work on public transport or in the health service, and so on. Would you be suprised if these people took offence at such stereotyping? I wouldn't.