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Nothing in excess
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Here
Posts: 7,496
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Nothing in excess
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Here
Posts: 7,496
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Real life dilemma
I recently started volunteering at the Citizens Advice Bureau and am in the process of training right now. In my initial interview I was asked a series of questions, one of them being "what would you do if you found a client saying something racist in the waiting room?". I answered "I would approach that person and tell them what they are saying would offend some people". To my relief, they said that was pretty much their general policy.
This morning while on break with the smokers, we started bitching about how much we hated British public transport (one of my favourite pastimes). One of my new colleagues remarked "I'm not prejudiced or anything, but being on the bus the other day was like being on the Delhi express". I didn't think much about it at the time, but now I feel rather bad for at least not challenging her on this. The thing is, I feel like I know her type. Really coarse and contemptuous of political correctness. All the same, it sounded pretty racist to me. The "I'm not racist, but..." prefix aside, why is the fact that you are on a bus with a bunch of Asians a cause for complaint? I know it is probably more ignorance than malice, but I'll probably say something to her next time.
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No matter that they act like senile 12-year-olds on the Today programme website - smoking illegal fags to look tough and cool. No matter that Amis coins truly abominable terms like 'the age of horrorism' and when criticised tells people to 'fuck off'. Surely we all chuckle at the strenuous ennui of his salon drawl. Didn't he once accidentally sneer his face off?
- Chris Morris - The Absurd World of Martin Amis
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