Racism

[Churchill]

I think there are degrees of racism. There's ignorant racism (which is what I believe we have here) where someone casually uses terms that can be offensive to the people concerned although they may not mean them to be offensive. Having said that I always wonder why they felt the need to use the word to describe them. In Churchill's case, if the owner of the shop had been white he would probably have referred to it as the corner shop, newsagent, off-licence etc. No need to comment on the owner's race or nationality. That's why it's racism.

Then there's the more obvious hateful form of racism that you think of when you talk about the KKK etc. I would agree that it's unlikely there's anyone fitting that description here on the forum.

I agree about being offended on other people's behalf. I'm not offended by comments that don't apply to me, more surprised that people aren't aware that they could be offensive to the people they refer to.

You're just making that crap up, aren't you?

It's symptomatic of society today, nobody thinks things through.

Here's an example...

Recently while in a restaurant we decided that we'd feed "junior" so I asked the waitress for a cup of "warm" water so that I could warm the bottle of feed through.

"Oh no, you can't have that."

"Why not?"

"It's Health and Safety"

"Oh, really? So you're not allowed to serve a Hot cup of tea or coffee to your guests?"

Another example.

Zoiderman misquotes Lord Justice Auld and you all believe him.

Incredible, really and truly incredible.

[Alf W]

Paki noun
offensive
Definition
a person from Pakistan

(Definition of Paki noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

I don't know why people insist on their right to offend people unnecessarily with words. It's usually the same ones who cry unfair and go on about "the PC Brigade" impacting their right to be racist, homophobic or any other unpleasant discriminatory view they may have.

[MarillionFan]

You're just making that crap up, aren't you?

It's symptomatic of society today, nobody thinks things through.

Here's an example...

Recently while in a restaurant we decided that we'd feed "junior" so I asked the waitress for a cup of "warm" water so that I could warm the bottle of feed through.

"Oh no, you can't have that."

"Why not?"

"It's Health and Safety"

"Oh, really? So you're not allowed to serve a Hot cup of tea or coffee to your guests?"

Another example.

Zoiderman misquotes Lord Justice Auld and you all believe him.

Incredible, really and truly incredible.

That's because you'd burn yourself. They're looking out for you. If they give you water and you burn yourself you can sue them. Lots of places do it.

Asking for them to do it for you is fine.