Email etiquette.....please read before pressing send!
 

A few weeks ago, the Toronto Star reported that Aileen Siu, a young woman who worked at the Ontario government accidently sent an email to Evon Reid, a prospective applicant, labeling him a "ghetto dude" . The girl has since left/been fired, the premier of Ontario apologized and this guy has been innundated with job offers.

What's interesting is that people are only discussing this from a racism POV and not an email etiquette POV (actually Aileen shouldn't have sent this out in the first place, at least not at work) or even classism (Evon is from Malvern, a rough part of Toronto. If we're going to get stereotypical here, my bets are that Aileen is a Markham Princess (Markham, Ontario is a middle to upper middle class area with a large Chinese population). It's also interesting that this was first reported a couple of weeks ago and it's STILL BEING DISCUSSED!

Discrimination: More than just semantics

In politics, thou shalt not offend

ok, i agree that this was an email no-no. hell, i may have even called him a ghetto dude, if i was so inclined. i just never would have put it in an email. whether or not it was racial, only she knows...

question is...does she still have a job and if not...how long will it take HER to find a job after that

Do you read before you post?

wait, we're supposed to READ the previous posts before making one of our own? Damn, I knew I've been doing something wrong... :)

I havent read thru the whole article (I am sorry I didn't read the post...just the article...) yet....I have a job I am supposed to be doing.....LOL

I am not shocked by the angle of POV. Racism and the discussion there of it, is very alluring and provocative versus your Southern cousins in the United States...

Are you upset that the guy is getting offers and the girl got fired and cannot find a job because of what she thought? I dunno? Does Canada have the right to free speech?

The judgement of one group versus another is morally reprehensible, especially if you call yourself certain things. How can we reach the BEYOND in humanity when we cannot communicate effectively?

Discernment and deference is key.

1. Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right to Freedom of Expression

2. I am also very surprised the the (mainstream) media has not addressed minority on minority racism (and little talk of classism in this case too).

3. We aren't sure if the girl was fired or if she resigned.

I am of the opinion that is very difficult for those ethnic groups who have been oppressed in the past to be racist. But that is my opinion. REMEMBER I SAID RACIST--NOT BIGOTTED... I do believe ANYONE CAN BE A BIGOT!!!

If I say some craziness that I hate another ethnic group outside my own, it will not may a dayum bit a difference on that entire ethnic group. I have little power to affect the bulk of people.

However, I have the ability to select someone or not for a job position based on physical features/factors, to me that is hatred and bigotry. Racism, provocative as it could be, just by that act, the young man has several offers!!!

For the US, it is the same as Michael Richards or Don Imus invoking the N-word. Although, they lost careers--temporarily--in a few years, they will be back where they want to be carefully manuvering through the fine line of racial division.

However, this incident make have taught us that we all must be vigilant for all people's human and civil rights. We cannot kid ourselves into fathoming that during these times of duress--for the U.S.--we need can all learn to love a little bit longer as well as stronger... :)

Maybe, but it's an entirely different story for first generation immigrants and their children (which I assume Aileen is). who live in an area where oppression is quite low. Many of these immigrants still believe in what they were taught in the old country and like it or not, it rubs off on their kids. A lot of Asian groups are very, very racist (some even have trouble understanding the concept of being foreign AND being from their own culture.)

I'm sorry-WHAT? What does this have to do with their posts?

While I am beginning to see the divisions with in various Asian cultures, I see that after some things have happened in the U.S., folks here are getting crazy against anyone who physically looks Asian. I hear it, and it hurts. I think it is crazy. If it continues, I often do say something.

I.e. my boss is old and a bigot, he has said the N-word to me justifying why words are harmless. Well... Let's say I can live in suspended animation for roughly 2 seconds before I need to catch my breath, but going off on my boss--not gonna happen--with enough psychotropic meds. Anyhow, he told a co-worker of mine who is Asian, that he appears "suicidal"... I could see that my co-worker was obviously pissed. I usually wind up saying some crazy stuff to my professor... Like, discussing opiate and cannabinoid receptor turnover...

Now what does that have to do with racist Asians who came to Canada long after anti-Asian immigration laws were repealed again??

All I'm saying is that Asian cultures are often very racist, sometimes with their own cultural groups as well (Western born Asians going to the "old country" to work often talk about locals not really grasping that they too can be foreign.)

Thats also reframing the word racist as a political term.

Its a subtle distinction made more so because its not one used by the average person in the average conversation.

Because my boss said it in reference to the young man who killed all those students at Virginia Tech to my fellow coworker. You can see the seething anger he had toward my boss.

I know how it feels when some crap like that is said to me. But because it is happened so often, I have developed defense mechanisms. The mental combat tactics have to honed.

That's why I argue with ignoramouses on GC!!! It helps me say all kind of crap to people who are "real" in my life without having to go crazy...

Yes, I know some Asians are "racist" (your terminology). I work with both Japanese and Chinese. You should see the elitism among some people... I haven't figured out a way to deal with it, but I know it is wrong when folks say that chit.