H.M. Murdoch
Well-Known Member
When I graduated college, I went to work as an engineer (long ago). And after a couple months at that job, we had a memorable "all hands" meeting in the name of "getting to know one another better".
The project manager gave a speech, all rah rah go get 'em, and then took questions.
For effect, let me say that the first questioner from the audience was an older, savvy black man who was good friends with the white project manager who was at the microphone (and his name was XXX Coon). Ok...
So the black man asks this as the first question: "Hey XXX, can I just call you Coon?".
And the project manager replies (in front of the whole audience, which consisted of about 100 people of differing races): "Only if I can reciprocate."
We all laughed our asses off. Whites, blacks, foreigners, all of us.
And that was in the heart of racist Alabama in the 1980's.
So, does anyone see the humor in that? Or are the people of today so stern, serious, and with a lack of humor that blinds them from seeing the humor in the situation I just described?
Nah, today someone would file a hate crimes lawsuit against XXX, and the court would convict him and sentence him to life in prison, lest he offend a Ferguson family.
The project manager gave a speech, all rah rah go get 'em, and then took questions.
For effect, let me say that the first questioner from the audience was an older, savvy black man who was good friends with the white project manager who was at the microphone (and his name was XXX Coon). Ok...
So the black man asks this as the first question: "Hey XXX, can I just call you Coon?".
And the project manager replies (in front of the whole audience, which consisted of about 100 people of differing races): "Only if I can reciprocate."
We all laughed our asses off. Whites, blacks, foreigners, all of us.
And that was in the heart of racist Alabama in the 1980's.
So, does anyone see the humor in that? Or are the people of today so stern, serious, and with a lack of humor that blinds them from seeing the humor in the situation I just described?
Nah, today someone would file a hate crimes lawsuit against XXX, and the court would convict him and sentence him to life in prison, lest he offend a Ferguson family.
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