I believe I am a racist. What next?

cletus van damme

Today i was invited to lunch in a restaurant I like a lot by a workmate. He also mentioned another chap who is foreign was coming. The problem is the foreign fellow has a very heavy accent (his english is decent) and I have difficulty understanding him .

So I refused and ate alone soley on the basis I'd be awkward for the hour making conversation with this lad .
The foreign lad is a decent chap so it's not that I don't like him.

Since I refused to go to lunch soley based on his accent (but that is based on his race and where he is from) I made a racist decision. Therefore I believe I am now a racist.

Based on previous AH threads - I know that all incidents of racism are equal and we can't distingush between them. So I can't pass this off as a minor event.

What should I do next?
Tell me AH.

Staplor

I think you are just lazy and can't be arsed.

Streetwalker

Everyone is racist on some level OP don't worry.

dodderangler

Eh carry on with your life? Who cares

Bio Mech

cletus van damme wrote: »

Today i was invited to lunch in a restaurant I like a lot by a workmate. He also mentioned another chap who is foreign was coming. The problem is the foreign fellow has a very heavy accent (his english is decent) and I have difficulty understanding him .

So I refused and ate alone soley on the basis I'd be awkward for the hour making conversation with this lad .
The foreign lad is a decent chap so it's not that I don't like him.

Since I refused to go to lunch soley based on his accent (but that is based on his race and where he is from) I made a racist decision. Therefore I believe I am now a racist.

Based on previous AH threads - I know that all incidents of racism are equal and we can't distingush between them. So I can't pass this off as a minor event.

What should I do next?
Tell me AH.

Flog yourself 100 times and then post the video here. At that point you will be cured.

Insect Overlord

Xenophobic, rather than racist, going by that description.

catallus

What did you have for lunch OP?

Dave0301

Learn to speak his mother tongue and take him out for lunch!

kryogen

Celebrate good times?

Irishcrx

Buy a plantation , buy slaves , whip them for entertainment...speak in a southern American accent , grow a ridiculas mustache, sign up to the KKK , encourage white power , sing anthems for the cause.

Kidnap Kane West , bring him to said plantation , put him into the sun pit and make him the house ******.

cletus van damme

An File wrote: »

Xenophobic, rather than racist, going by that description.

doesn't have the same sense of grandure tbh.

Day Lewin

Can I have Kanye West when you've finished with him?

To Elland Back

Had the same problem with a colleague from Ballybay many years ago. Eventually, we managed to tune in to each other's language

vicwatson

Grow up perhaps?

cletus van damme

cletus van damme wrote: »

Since I refused to go to lunch soley based on his accent (but that is based on his race and where he is from) I made a racist decision. Therefore I believe I am now a racist.

I would not see it as a racist decision at all. Your decision does not appear to be based on race at all. Rather on social awkwardness caused by complex communication issues.

I share this with you - and it is nothing to do with race. I feel intensely uncomfortable in social situations where I can not understand other people. That can be accents yes. But it can be slurs or stutters. Language issues. Or even _sound_ issues where I am in a situation that I struggle to make out what a person is saying (I hate night clubs for this reason).

So if your decision is based on that awkwardness - not actually anything to do with the guys race - I think you innocent of the charge you have levelled against yourself.

FullblownRose

It doesn't sound liike you are anything 'ist'. I have trouble understanding some unfamiliar accents and pronounciations- e.g Belfast, it's not something you make a conscious choice about

anncoates

cletus van damme wrote: »

What should I do next?
Tell me AH.

I haven't a klu.

cloud493

Did you enjoy your lunch OP?

cletus van damme

Deleted User wrote: »

I would not see it as a racist decision at all. Your decision does not appear to be based on race at all. Rather on social awkwardness caused by complex communication issues.

I share this with you - and it is nothing to do with race. I feel intensely uncomfortable in social situations where I can not understand other people. That can be accents yes. But it can be slurs or stutters. Language issues. Or even _sound_ issues where I am in a situation that I struggle to make out what a person is saying (I hate night clubs for this reason).

So if your decision is based on that awkwardness - not actually anything to do with the guys race - I think you innocent of the charge you have levelled against yourself.

stop being reasonable - I came here for some fun!

your social complex didn't stop you pulling two womens....:pac:

RoboRat

Well this isn't going to plan eh Cleutus...

cletus van damme

cloud493 wrote: »

Did you enjoy your lunch OP?

I did actually. I read the net and munched alone.

It probably wouldn't be enough to stop me going but it annoys me hanging out with people who I can't understand whether they're from abroad or Limerick.

Adamantium

How about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsQLWnfWqBs

cletus van damme

cletus van damme wrote: »

stop being reasonable - I came here for some fun!

I can't help it. It just falls out of me like an overly watery snot.

cletus van damme wrote: »

your social complex didn't stop you pulling two womens...

Mainly because I constructed a social scene for myself that avoid loud scenes like Night Clubs and focused more heavily on places I could communicate well.

I do not think I ever managed to pull in a night club because I could literally not hear a word girls were saying to me. Even pubs just a bit too loud and I tend to shut down socially. Maybe I should get one of those invisible hearing aid things

cloud493

cletus van damme wrote: »

I did actually. I read the net and munched alone.

Well there you go. Don't worry about it.

cletus van damme

RoboRat wrote: »

Well this isn't going to plan eh Cleutus...

you are 100% correct. this isn't going as planned.
I thought I'd have an afternoon of banter, abuse and what not.
alas

etoughguy

No biggie racism is a victimless crime!

sbsquarepants

You'll have to get a taxi licence OP. It's the only logical next step.

conorhal

Have you considered starting tumblr campaign to disproportionately villify yourself before releasing a sobbing appology and entering rehab?

Cpt Sh!t Craic

I'm not a racist... I just hate everybody...

Tombi!

OP isn't racist or xenophobic. Calling him xenophobic is really stretching it.
I'd rather not have lunch with anyone I can't understand.

Laura Palmer

Not racist, just a bit anti-social IMO. With the other guy there it wouldn't have been that awkward.

demanufactured

So I hear your a racist now father

BlaasForRafa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4zWdSxKYFo

MattD1349

cletus van damme wrote: »

Today i was invited to lunch in a restaurant I like a lot by a workmate. He also mentioned another chap who is foreign was coming. The problem is the foreign fellow has a very heavy accent (his english is decent) and I have difficulty understanding him .

So I refused and ate alone soley on the basis I'd be awkward for the hour making conversation with this lad .
The foreign lad is a decent chap so it's not that I don't like him.

Since I refused to go to lunch soley based on his accent (but that is based on his race and where he is from) I made a racist decision. Therefore I believe I am now a racist.

Based on previous AH threads - I know that all incidents of racism are equal and we can't distingush between them. So I can't pass this off as a minor event.

What should I do next?
Tell me AH.

Contact Aodhan O'Riordan, he seems to know that deep down all irish people are bigots & only he can carry the torch of enlightenment.

iDave

Resign from your job and make a public apology. Don't make a public appearance for a decade and try and get some work in eastern Europe or the Middle East where they dont give a crap about this sort of thing.

Littlekittylou

cletus van damme wrote: »

Today i was invited to lunch in a restaurant I like a lot by a workmate. He also mentioned another chap who is foreign was coming. The problem is the foreign fellow has a very heavy accent (his english is decent) and I have difficulty understanding him .

So I refused and ate alone soley on the basis I'd be awkward for the hour making conversation with this lad .
The foreign lad is a decent chap so it's not that I don't like him.

Since I refused to go to lunch soley based on his accent (but that is based on his race and where he is from) I made a racist decision. Therefore I believe I am now a racist.

Based on previous AH threads - I know that all incidents of racism are equal and we can't distingush between them. So I can't pass this off as a minor event.

What should I do next?
Tell me AH.

Go hang out with the other racists they will accept you. Well if you are all the same race.

You'll like the KKK lovely bunch of lads.

Good Luck OP. You'll need it.

Try not to get murdered.

MarkAnthony

demanufactured wrote: »

So I hear your a racist now father

Beat me too it

Fecking Greeks!

EoghanIRL

I hate everyone equally .

Sir Osis of Liver.

Apparently, I suffer from xenophobia...

I bet I caught it off some fcuking foreigner.

MarkAnthony

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Apparently, I suffer from xenophobia...

I bet I caught it off some fcuking foreigner.

Probably one of them computer viruses!

CollyFlower

Don't worry about it, as was said earlier, we're all racist to some degree, you have the guts to admit it.

Gummy Panda

To avoid missing further lunches, put some white sheets on and scare him away.

Foreigners fear ghosts

Littlekittylou

Good lord ah is quite understanding of Racists and peados next door...but dawdle at the atm and my god!

PizzamanIRL

You can apply for disability allowance now. Racists are deemed to be mentally unstable. So you got that going for you.

chillywilly

In fairness, it would have been much worse if you had sat with him at lunch and immitated his accent the whole time to try and make each other feel more comfortable.

You are just being honest.

Plenty of people in the same boat wouldn't dare to be so honest, for fear of the 21st century "thought police" who will torment you and tell you exactly what is acceptable for you as a white Irish person to think, but will meanwhile force you to be completely tolerant of other people's beliefs and wouldn't dare lecture to them.

Everybody is racist by the modern description of what is racist, in fact I find more racism among non-Western people than among the "white devil".

Laura Palmer

But what he did isn't racist. He even said he likes the guy. The opening post is tongue in cheek - poking fun at people who would consider it racist I guess.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

You're not racist if you've a coloured telly at home.

delw

TheBeardedLady

Laura Palmer wrote: »

But what he did isn't racist. He even said he likes the guy. The opening post is tongue in cheek - poking fun at people who would consider it racist I guess.

Are people missing the tongue-in-cheekiness to it? Eh....how??