It's smackin' time!

[pasithea]

Grr. Ya'know. Some people really piss me off.

I'm not really a big fan of cell phone users but this isn't going quite where you might think it is.

On the train there's always people talking on their cell-phones. I can hear at least 2 different conversations right now. So it didn't bother or surprise me that the woman across the aisle from me was talking discretely on her phone. What DID surprise me was the guy in front of me suddenly yelling at her,

"Hey lady! LADY! Give us a break! Stop talking on your phone or at least talk slower".... See, she wasn't speaking ENGLISH. That seemed to be this asshat's problem with her conversation. The way he said, "Or at least talk slower" was just seething with racism.

Bad call. Don't do that in front of a purple-haired freak. Especially not if you're sitting in the seat right in front of her.

I proceeded to comment loudly on the racism implied in the statement and analyze it's content, and what kind of person makes that sort of statement. Speculation on the sort of job he must have, and then a running commentary about whether or not his hair was a toupee or a combover. I finally 'decided' it was a combover and then went on a bit about how pathetic combovers are and how if I were losing my hair I'd shave my head.

Some days you can't tell the crazy people from the cell phone users. :)

For some reason, he moved to a different car at the next stop. He glared back at me once on his way and I shot him a great big smile.

Fucking dumpy-ass little suburbanite shit. That woman rides the train every day and she was too polite to say anything about what he said but you could tell what he said had stung her. Once I harassed him off, I caught her attention and said, "Hey. That creep is gone." Which I guess was really my way of saying, "Please don't let a racist asshole ruin your day. He's not worth it."

I really sort of hope I see him at the station. I'm limited in what I can say on the train but once we're on the sidewalk, it's fair game.

In a lot of ways it feels good to be the kind of person who isn't afraid to call people on stuff. In others, it worries me. I've been 'fighting' a lot lately. Hard to know that it isn't just me. I'd hate to think I'd become just a blind raging loon. I often feel that only a hair's breadth separates me from being the crazy homeless person, and today I didn't bring MY cel phone, so I really was talking out loud to myself.

But what I mean is, how do I know this was ment as a racist comment? White guy, indian woman. I've heard the 'they talk to fast', 'gibberish' type comments before in contexts that were absolutely racist, so that probably influenced my opinion of what he said. On the other hand, why would you ask someone to talk 'slower' on their cel phone? You like to ease drop? I dunno. I think my instinct was right about this guy. Certainly his tone, attitude, style of dress, and overall demeanor matched people I was familiar with in the past who were racist. Still. I worry I'm making too many snap judgements lately.

Comments

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's jealousy. I sometimes hear a foreigner 'talking really quickly' and have to wonder -- how can ANYONE process speech at that rate of speed? Do people who talk like that think white americans talk r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y a-n-d d-r-a-g o-n e-a-c-h s-y-l-l-a-b-l-e? I remember seeing one of the black kids in that 'Boondocks' cartoon making that comment about white people.

[voidheart.livejournal.com]

I have no doubt, from the description, that you were entirely correct in your comments and analysis.

Once you accrue a baseline of asshole information, then you are naturally primed to respond to certain key phrases or phrasing that indicates you are dealing with a racist asshole. Having grown up in the south, I know the feeling about a comment revealing an entire world of information about the person you are dealing with.

Better to be a loudmouth for love than just another silent seether who sits there and wishes they had the guts to stand up for their ideals. Easy enough to proclaim all the best ideals in the world in the privacy of your own home; we're all either Ghandi (if you claim love) or the Terminator (if you claim violence) when we're safe and our beliefs aren't in the position to provoke a fight. The test is what you do when the situation occurs, that reveals who you are, and if you really believe in your ideals. Every day, in every way, you prove your heart.

You, my dear, keep showing your grasp of the truth every day. Never be ashamed of that. You are responding to a threat to humanity. Your gut reaction is perfectly tuned to that, sparky. As long as you monitor yourself (as you are doing) to determine whether you've gone over the edge or not, then you are more than perfectly safe: you are active, a rarity indeed.

Trust me, I know what looking for a fight looks like. I did it in the south when I purposely walked into a room full of white people then started talking about how cowardly the KKK and all racists are. That's looking for a fight. And it was incredibly stupid of me (not tough or brave), and egotistical, since I was foisting my own anger onto the crowd and fishing for a response. I was wrong because I was trying to force my viewpoint on them (no matter how justified or correct my view that racists are assholes) ... needless to say, it didn't work much. No one's mind changed, and I didn't make the world a better safer place. I just made myself feel better and wrongly allowed my anger out.

Responding when someone's being an asshat around you doesn't make you the asshat: it makes you the heroine.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'd totally prefer everybody on a cellphone speak a foreign language, because that way I won't get sucked into the conversation. :)

[azikale.livejournal.com]

You are seriously becoming my new hero.

Pouncing from the eaves

[frith]

That's 'eavesdrop'. Getting the drop on a conversation while perched on an eaves is anything but easy. ^_^

In what style do racists dress? Besides white sheets and Third Reich uniforms? His tirade does indeed appear to imply seething bigotry and you did well to chew him out. Unfortunately, my experience with partitionists is that they cling to their illusions no matter how hard you rub their noses in their own dung.

[shizouka.livejournal.com]

"Darn Purple haired girl exposed my tiny brained racisim!"

And what business of his was it that she speak fast or slow? bleah.