I believe I am a racist. What next?

cletus van damme · 27-11-2014 02:02PM #1

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 · 27-11-2014 02:05PM

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

Streetwalker · 27-11-2014 02:06PM

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

dodderangler · 27-11-2014 02:06PM

Eh carry on with your life? Who cares

Bio Mech · 27-11-2014 02:07PM

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 · 27-11-2014 02:07PM

Xenophobic, rather than racist, going by that description.

catallus · 27-11-2014 02:07PM

What did you have for lunch OP?

Dave0301 · 27-11-2014 02:08PM

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

kryogen · 27-11-2014 02:09PM

Celebrate good times?

Irishcrx · 27-11-2014 02:09PM

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 · 27-11-2014 02:11PM

An File wrote: »

Xenophobic, rather than racist, going by that description.

doesn't have the same sense of grandure tbh.

Day Lewin · 27-11-2014 02:14PM

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

To Elland Back · 27-11-2014 02:16PM

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

vicwatson · 27-11-2014 02:16PM

Grow up perhaps?

27-11-2014 02:19PM

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 · 27-11-2014 02:22PM

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 · 27-11-2014 02:22PM

cletus van damme wrote: »

What should I do next?
Tell me AH.

I haven't a klu.

cloud493 · 27-11-2014 02:22PM

Did you enjoy your lunch OP?

cletus van damme · 27-11-2014 02:23PM

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 · 27-11-2014 02:24PM

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

cletus van damme · 27-11-2014 02:24PM

cloud493 wrote: »

Did you enjoy your lunch OP?

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

27-11-2014 02:25PM

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 · 27-11-2014 02:30PM

How about this:

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

27-11-2014 02:31PM

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