I would say both conditions could be racist or not, depending on how they are actually implemented. But personally, I'd question at the outset whether Black History Month is an appropriate thing to celebrate with this group in the first place--are the celebrations normally historic in nature? If 11 months out of the year we're celebrating someone's birthday, and then February's celebration suddenly swerves into Black History Month, I would say that comes off as bizarrely pandering in the first place. I'm trying hard to imagine what other things they could be celebrating that would be equivalent to Black History Month, and I'm drawing a blank. So my guess is the theme is poorly chosen, and the whole thing is going to be a disaster no matter what.

Clodfobble has survived UT's Kobayashi Maru.

indeed i did not expect "celebrating black history month is the racist act" as a possible answer. i don't know what the group did in previous months

we might now rewrite the Kobayashi Maru question as...

a) was it racist to celebrate Black History Month
or b) was it racist to not celebrate Black History Month

...with the preceding condition remaining, that your answer will have a direct impact on your future employment

but that question would not describe a real-world situation just experienced by J

ok because i've given up part of the game i have to turn over all the cards, it is J's team described

J is wildly pro DEI, i married her anyway, they regularly have diversity things going on and she is happily part of it. she is always part of the monthly planning because she's like that too. i married her anyway.

one of her other team members suggested that the black person ("bp" hereafter) should be consulted about the event -- and maybe it was racist not to! bp agreed to a call, and J and bp had a pleasant 15 minute conversation, in which many ideas were discussed

the next day they hauled J out to a meeting with two supervisors

bp had thought about it overnight and became angry

the presense of a racial issue made it corporate, not just a little in-group quibble

in the meeting, bp called it disgusting and revolting

J was in tears for two days, anguished at the whole thing and in fear of her possible future. she has survived, and continues to be employed, but with a mark against her in her corporate world

real diversity answer to the original question: there is no winning answer. if a person of diversity is offended, their offense has to be taken seriously and considered wrong, no matter what. this was a central point in my diversity training as well

the real world consequences: anything with any hint of diversity is a minefield you wander into at your own peril

in the future, of course, the idea of commemorating Black History Month, or anything connected to race at all, will be avoided by anyone in J's office with any sense of corporate self-preservation.

the woke outcome and the racist outcome is i-fuckin'-dentical




"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." - the computer in War Games, describing both tic-tac-toe and global thermonuclear war
 

Dude, that sucks. J's situation is fucked up in a number of ways, and I don't think anyone with good intentions should be thrown under the bus like that. The one thing I will say is I bet that, behind closed doors, bp has fucked themselves in the corporate world far harder than J has. The company will find an excuse to fire bp within the year--not too soon, because they can't, but I'd bet money it will happen.

you can call it whatever you like, but Please Just Fucking Tell Me What Term I Am Allowed to Use for the Sweeping Social and Political Changes You Demand

haha okay

i bet you think this post is about you
don't you
don't you

Clod can you start a new section of the board called PAPP, for passive aggressive puzzle posts? thanks

this can be the first post in it

f and i will be the only users in it, but at least the rest of you can avoid our shit
 

Clodfobble wrote:

But personally, I'd question at the outset whether Black History Month is an appropriate thing to celebrate with this group in the first place--are the celebrations normally historic in nature? If 11 months out of the year we're celebrating someone's birthday, and then February's celebration suddenly swerves into Black History Month, I would say that comes off as bizarrely pandering in the first place.

for completeness, I asked J more about this, and it turns out the monthly things were not events or celebrations, but planned discussions about diversity

J was an active participant in this and promoted the discussions. J is a dedicated liberal and is very much in favor of diversity

although the supervisor meeting was supposed to be kept secret, it's clear to J that it wasn't and there have been a few asides from other people in her group that suggested they heard about it

the mines are laid in the allied's fields, not the enemy's. it's a trap.
 

Last edited by Undertoad (2/15/2023 10:36 am)

J backed out of being the point person for this one, even though that too was awkward. lIke, she volunteered to do it, but then stopped doing it, and she isn't supposed to talk about why.

she won't be point person in the future, but will continue to participate.

offense is a funny thing. bp may have been offended during the call, but didn't want to display it. we make those kinds of choices all the time. or maybe she wanted to throw J under the bus but waited for supervisory help so it would be a bigger bus.

her offense doesn't seem reasonable, but there are things we can't see, both personal and identity things. there are also many things that are reasonably offensive to one person, yet aren't offensive at all to another.
 

yeah, one other bit - post-coof, the company policy is, you have to work in office half your days, but bp has never come in. she has given changing reasons as to why. flimsy reasons at first, then changed to "painful knee"

and it's like, is this related, positively or negatively? does she not come in because the office is racist? Is she playing a racist office card in order to stay at home but still be employed? Or is it entirely unrelated?

and, do people with arthritis get to stay home? i need to know
 

Last edited by Undertoad (2/15/2023 2:44 pm)