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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Racist is a word that gets thrown around too casually by some

I managed to make it all the way to the age of 38 without ever being called racist. It was actually in a comment on this website where a troll accused me of being racist and targeting brown people. It was an unfounded accusation.
I don't like labeling people by their ethnicity on this website and I hate that I had to write the word "brown" to describe what prompted the racist accusation.
In my opinion, there's no merit, unless if it's criminal in nature and a suspect is on the loose, in describing a person's physical or ethnic features when telling a story. I'm afraid I'll have to make some exceptions when telling this story.
Last night, on the bus, I was sitting behind a man who was watching a foreign-language tv episode on his iPhone with no headphones and at the loudest volume possible.
One lady asked him to turn it down because she could no longer hear her phone call. This made me laugh out loud because of the social etiquette fuckery I was witnessing. She had been blabbing in a ridiculously loud voice before he started watching his show. The whole bus got to listen to her tale about her car having been towed after she parked illegally at the Oshawa hospital and "that's why I have to take the ghetto bus".
At first I thought he turned on his show without headphones to 'out-volume' the lady talking on the phone, but minutes after she ended her call, he kept watching his show at a loud volume.
Of course, this resulted in the sighing, the rolling of eyes and the shaking of heads from fellow passengers.
I asked him if he'd like to borrow my headphones.
He tells me he doesn't like using headphones.
I tell him he's disturbing other passengers.
He tells me he came to Canada for the freedom of will and his will is to watch YouTube on a bus.
I said to him, "I think you mean 'free will'. Disturbing other passengers isn't free will."
He ignores me.
The lady on the phone decides to add her fifty cents to the conversation. 
"You're being rude," she says to him. Pot meet kettle, right?
He ignores her.
I put my earbuds back in and watch the rest of my True Blood episode. 
At some point, phone lady got off at a stop.
When it was my turn, I gathered up my belongings and stood up. I removed my earbuds and made my way into the aisle.
"You're racist," I heard from behind me. 
I turned to face the guy. "You and that lady were both being inconsiderate," I said to him.
"She told me to go back to my country," he says.
"I'm sorry I didn't hear her say that. I don't agree with that," I tell him.
Again, he calls me racist.
The bus driver, who is a visible minority, rolls his eyes at me. "Ignore him," he says. "No matter where people come from, there will always be people who just can't be nice."
How true. 
Truth be told, I wanted to punch the guy. But I didn't... because I don't like jail. 

9 comments:

Curious George said...

Hey CJ, you often say you don't like jail so does that mean you've been before? Or is that just something you keep telling yourself so you don't go all Rambo on someone and actually find out. I don't always read the comments so I hope you haven't answered this question before.

C.J. Smith said...

It's how I remain calm and avoiding throwing a punch or as you put it "don't go all Rambo on someone". Thankfully, I've never been in jail. Well, there was that one time during Monopoly...

Bicky said...

Being in an inconsiderate clod knows no ethnic boundaries.

Kudos on not going to jail. I did time in Alcatraz back in '88. It was only 10 minutes but enough to put me on the straight and narrow.

Squiggles said...

It is the last resort of those who feel slighted by having their rude behaviour called out.

That being said: 38 years is pretty sweet. I made it all of 28 before someone called me a C U Next Tuesday.

deepfish said...

Rude behaviour, overweaned sense of entitlement... resorting to claims of racism when challenged... hurling accusations of racial boas against those least liable...where have I seen this before...? Oh yeah - I work at a certain school in Mississausage...

Anonymous said...

It seems that whenever some people feel they've been wronged, they like to play the ol' race card.

Poor him. Boo hoo. Here's some advice for him: keep playing it, see how far one gets in life. Didn't get hired for the job? Oh, must be because the company is racist! Boss wants you to work overtime? He's a racist! Missed the bus? The driver must be racist!

Anonymous said...

Just another day in GTA paradise.

Anonymous said...

There are certain groups in toronto who use the term racist quite liberally. Its those same groups who you'll see only in the company of their own ethnic group, giving discounts to their own ethnic group, etc, etc. Fortunately for every one of the these closet ethnic racists, there is one person who embraces Canada, and being "Canadian" with open arms.

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