Posted on 11/22/2008 10:45:13 AM PST by goldstategop
In which a lunatic has an aneurism over apparently nothing.
Next April, I’m going to turn fifty. I’ll be fifty years old. Good lord.
Somehow, I’ve managed to get this far without working in a large corporate office. So today I got my first taste of a world that most of you are already much more familiar with than I am: the world of modern American big business. So what lit me up like a Fourth of July skyrocket was something that seemed to mean nothing at all to the other 23 people in the room, because today, for the first time, I had to attend a mandatory sexual harassment training course.
Now, before I get up a really good head of steam and a decent running start, let me say a few things.
First of all, I work for a great company, full of creative and terrific people, and, by some miracle of chance, not a one of them are stupid, boorish, authoritarian or in any way less than smart, well-meaning people. I understand, also, that the reason for these sessions is to provide legal protection to the company, so that if a harassment claim is made, they can say, “look, we did everything we could to combat this sort of thing.” I get all that.
I also understand that other companies are not this fortunate, and that racial, sexual and other forms of harassment go on daily and cause great harm, both in terms of productivity, and more importantly, spiritual well-being. No one should have to endure attack or intimidation. So if you think this is going to an appeal to “lighten up,” you’re going to be disappointed. For me, this is not about actual harassment, which needs to be ruthlessly exterminated from the workplace. This is about something else again.
Where do I begin?
Well, first of all, I find it deeply offensive to my personal sense of honor and integrity to be punished or otherwise lectured on something I did not do. Period. And to be subjected to two hours of second-grade style, “who can tell me what Johnny did wrong by telling Sarah she has a hot body” lecturing infuriates me on many levels.
To begin with, I do not need to be told this is inappropriate behavior. I already know that is inappropriate behavior. I learned that was inappropriate behavior not from the State of California or a battalion of corporate lawyers, but from my parents, who raised me to be polite, well-mannered, and who spent much of their own youth trying to form me into a civilized gentleman. I know, I can see the smiles on many faces already. It’s like I’m speaking in Aramaic.
I was treated to a video that had precisely the same emotional pitch and condescension as the old ABC After-School Specials, which is appropriate when aimed at 10-year-olds but in a room full of adults was unimaginably cloying and infantile. In this helpful lecture on the evils of hateful stereotypes, a clueless, insensitive white male managed to offend everyone without the dimmest awareness of his own boorishness until confronted and re-educated (with a rising string section!) by emotionally advanced, sensitive (yet strong!) women and his solemn, understanding (but firm!), black male superior.
I’m getting a little tired of this movie. I see this movie everyday.
But what really set me off was learning that there are “protected categories” of people who apparently have special claims on being harassed, and that these groups include, but are not limited to:
“Race, color…” [in case you happen to be green or of some color not associated with your race] ”…religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth…” [this being different from pregnancy presumably only if you are actually giving birth right there in your cubicle] “…physical disability, mental disability, age, military status or status as a Vietnam-era or special disabled veteran, marital status, registered domestic partner or civil union status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity or expression), medical condition (including, but not limited to, cancer-related or HIV-related), or sexual orientation.”
These – including but not limited to -- “protected categories” are areas in which “harassment” is especially hurtful, as far as I can understand it… which is not very far at all. Can you – offhand – think of any kind of harassment that does not fit into these categories? I suppose saying hateful things about the Florida State football team is okay as long as I don’t use the word “Seminoles” (which would then become offensive on the grounds of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry and military status; to which, I will add as a Gator fan regarding FSU grads, mental disability and – what the hell – sexual orientation.)
All of this is mere sophistry and cover of course, for the essence of the 22 page workbook I received (and for which I was not given a crayon with which to write nor a gold star when it was completed) was boiled down to a single sentence, in bold italics at the bottom of page 15:
It is not the intent of the alleged harasser, but the impact on the recipient.
It doesn’t matter if you meant to hurt someone. As long as someone was hurt, then harassment took place.
Now at the end of all this, the facilitator – who is clearly a lovely person, for this is not aimed at her – smilingly told us not to be paranoid but just to be careful not to offend anyone. And the other 23 people nodded happily and made jokes and goofed around to show how lighthearted and un-paranoid we suddenly all were. And yet, this harassment and sensitivity training did not succeed fully, because there was one person who was offended, and who in point of fact felt extremely harassed. And that person was me.
Perhaps, in future editions of the handbook, we can add another victim group to the protected category: rational adults. Perhaps I might contribute a chapter to this sensitivity training. Something like:
“The rational adult is a small and shrinking minority in the workplace. His cultural heritage – which is just as valuable as anyone else's! – has taught him that “personal responsibility” means he has a right to feel insulted, offended and harassed when being lectured on things that he did not do, nor would ever contemplate doing. In this ancient and primitive culture, a person’s “honor” and “integrity” are relied upon to govern behavior. If such a person unknowingly gives insult, they will “apologize.” According to their tribal ethics, people who intentionally harm, insult or harass others deserve to be fired on the spot.”
I am told this course was “preventative” – to stop harassment before it happens. Fair enough. Tomorrow, perhaps, we can have a course on how to prevent office electrocutions by sticking screwdrivers into the sockets, or a poison-prevention class involving two role-players and a gallon of copier toner, or perhaps we can facilitate a upper-level meeting to try and determine what warning placards may be missing from every object and sharp corner in the building, or a support group for those people rendered incapable of speaking or smiling for fear of giving some kind of unintentional offense to someone. These are all areas ripe for new legislation and demanding of state funding. Because when you really get down to how much unintentional offense there remains left to give, you can see we have a genuine crisis on our hands.
Look, there are two ways to prevent young children from drowning:
1.Place barricades, gates, locks, and other restraining devices around any body of water large enough to immerse the child’s head in; in addition, provide education, audio-visual instruction, role-playing and other methods to inform young children on the dangers of inhaling large amounts of water – whether it be fresh water or sea water – and to provide the funding, continuing outreach and community activism necessary to make sure that ALL Americans are prevented from encountering these deadly dangers wherever they may be found.
Or:
2.Teach your kid how to swim.
My parents – remember them? – taught me at an early age that what people said or thought or wrote about me did not have the power to hurt me – only I can allow them to do that. My self-worth, self-respect and self-esteem are earned, and not given, and are therefore mine – impervious to anything in the outside world, which is why I am willing to sit at this desk, as the only one of 24 happy, smart, creative people, and look like some reactionary nut case for being enraged about the fact that we willingly submit ourselves to insults to our personal honor and integrity that our forefathers would never, ever have countenanced. And I am ashamed on behalf of them. But just me. No one else thinks anything of it at all.
And so, with smiles and good will all around, behind a plate of donuts and cartons of morning orange juice, we again fall another step from the adult world of action and consequence, to the warm, friendly, everlasting childhood of kindergarten, where no one’s feelings can ever be hurt and teacher is always there to make sure – in her gentle but firm way – that there will never be harmful consequences to your actions because your actions will be so curtailed in advance that offending someone – like feeding and housing yourself – are things that we simply no longer have to worry about any more.
And the endless sleep, in the warm, clean, fluffy bed, continues unabated.
Forever.
How much shareholders money is being wasted on these “diversity consultants”? Isn’t this the kind of wasteful spending major corporations need to rein in?
It’s a major industry in the PC gravy train.
Wachovia is a great example of a large corporation that has pissed away corporate fiscal responsibility and spent millions of dollars on diversity consultants and pet, liberal philanthropy. Wells Fargo has no idea what they have gotten themselves into.
>>>The white male is the target of the Left and it is against him every one else needs to be protected. He belongs to the only oppressor group in America. Its a very familiar script and a movie whose playbook never gets old.<<<
The white male now holds the same place that the Jew once held in the cultures of central and eastern Europe. There’s a reason why the left is so eagerly anticipating the day when the white male is tagged as a “minority” in this country.
Hannah Arendt was spot on when she stated that the Jews were tolerated as long as they served a purpose for the cultures of Europe (which was to act as ethnically international financial brokers for the warring little kingdoms on the continent). Once that usefulness was superceded by the creation of state-sponsored international law and diplomacy, it was only a matter of time until the underlying hatred and bigotry of the Europeans for their Jewish neighbors expressed itself as genocide.
White men - specifically, the WASP, immortalized as the Puritan and the Pilgrim - have supplied the cultural work ethic for the United States for hundreds of years. Add to that the Scotch-Irish, who have supplied the United States with a disproportionate number of its warriors, and the immigrants from Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, who supplied the United States with the workforce needed to create the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. We’re in the midst of one wave of emmigration, with industry moving overseas, and immigration, with non-Europeans moving here in record numbers.
Like the Jews of old - who are my ancestors, by the way - the usefulness of those European immigrants to the United States is now drawing to a close. We may not live to see genocide, and I really hope that I am wrong, but examples ranging from World War II to Rwanda to Yugoslavia keep pointing out that people whose identity resides first in their race and ethnicity often go to war against their neighbors. The United States used to have a way of dealing with that problem by teaching kids that American values like liberty, freedom, and individual rights are more important than skin color or where you came from, but those days are gone, too.
By this analysis, we’ll start to see small examples of persecution and oppression right now - as outlined in this article. We already see Obama getting almost 100 percent of the African-American vote, presumably based on skin color. I can tell you personally that many Native Alaskans also voted for Obama because of his skin color. Listen to the Rev. Wright. Or the Nation of Islam. Or La Raza. The next step is the creation of “the ghetto” based on race. This doesn’t have to be formal - just pressure the whites of California to move to Idaho and Montana, for instance, with aggressive rudeness, and then, to make sure, accuse those who move of being racist. Then, the genocide of those who remain when their minority status becomes sufficiently small and their power sufficiently weak.
If this is not a bleak forecast, I don’t know what is. As always, I prayerfully hope I am totally, insanely wrong about this.
...And Wachovia claims they have no choice but to spend millions on diversity programs because they fear a “B” or a “C” grade from NAACP...
...but Wachovia doesn’t mind a “BBB-minus” grade from S&P.
You are spot on with that analysis.
"Fred, I am a mature woman, and I don't have to put up with any of your sarcasm" she told me. That really cleared the air, taught me a valuable life lesson, and we became great friends. No lawsuit necessary.
“It was nine years ago and my gut still hurts when I think about it. I left that workplace a month after being acquitted, chucked my pension, and gave up twenty one years on the job. It had become a “hostile work environment” all right, but for me. Only one co-worker even said goodbye.”
Unbelievably wrong!
This is a lot like a woman who falsely accuses a man of rape but is never punished.
Thankfully, I am now retired, but while I worked as a civilian employee of the Department of the Army, I was forced to endure this same training. It was labeled Consideration of Others. When I pointed out that I was a minister’s child and my parents had taught me early on to do unto others as I would have them do unto me, my immediate supervisor informed me that the training was MANDATORY. In other words, either you attend the training or you will be written up for insubordination. We progressed from that to something known as POSH - actually Prevention of Sexual Harassment - which was not required until William Jefferson Clinton occupied and defiled the Oval Office. I strongly resented being subjected to these lunacies since I have never knowingly mistreated or harassed any person in my entire life, but if you want to keep your job with the government, you attend. It does not matter in the slightest if you find it offensive or insulting!
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
I found out while in the Navy that there are numerous ways to make the boss look bad without leaving any fingerprints. Also works with coworkers, too.
Had one feminazi at a company I worked for who liked to pull the harassment stuff. After one of the more popular male engineers left because of her, her team got tired of the bs and dealt with her. First, they arranged to get her promoted into a position they knew she couldn't handle. Then, the sabotage began - little things, all perfectly innocent to an outside observer - and to Ms. Feminazi, at first - and not traceable back to an individual. Suffice to say, deadlines slipped, and eventually she couldn't talk her way out of being canned.
The interesting thing about all this is that the team's women engineers were especially sneaky and crafty. It's not just men that get tired of this crap.
Do you mean the skin color of Arabs and Sub Saharan Africans?
That's where you find slave owners these days. In fact, that's who the rest of the world bought the slaves from.
Do you mean the skin color of Arabs and Sub Saharan Africans?
That's where you find slave owners these days. In fact, that's who the rest of the world bought the slaves from.
How about this one?
Red Stripe Beer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRr7-w_Kwk
Just modified it to be a little more descriptively correct.
I’m offended by this. Who can I complaint to, and will they pay me money?
You know, that one’s actually kind of funny. “White men can’t dance” is a “negative” stereotype I can deal with.
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