Politically Incorrect

In college, I wrote a paper on political tolerance which I immensely enjoyed writing. The topic was still gaining ground then, according to my professor who, at that time, was specializing on the subject. Although I found the whole concept worth fighting for, I never really made it my personal advocacy in a professional sense. But every now and then, I hear people who must still be living in the dark ages make politically incorrect statements, and whenever that happens, I turn into this militant undergrad (not that I ever was one, but hey, I had my share of causes which I fought for back in college) and right away put these people in their proper places.

Like yesterday.

I was having lunch with some office mates when this girl who’s part of our staff started to talk about stereotypes. She apparently found it funny, but since I found it impolite and insensitive,I wasted no time giving her a full blown lecture on racial profiling. But she didn’t seem to get my point. And to make things worse, another office mate who was pretending to be on my side started saying things that were totally off tangent and irrelevant. Duh. 
   

A few hours later, that same office mate who thought she was contributing to our earlier conversation told me about a joke that someone said. Now let me clarify that I’m not normally pikon when it comes to my status. In fact, I’m usually the first person to make fun of it, and I have this blog to prove that. BUT. When the joke is uttered by someone not close to me, someone with whom I have no personal relationship at all, someone who doesn’t even know a thing about my lovelife-past, present, and future (assuming and hoping there will be a future) then I draw the line. So when I heard her joke, I feigned stupidity and made her explain it until she realized what a bad joke it was.

I hope these people realize that when it comes to making comments about a person’s state of life, there’s a thin line between funny and annoying. And unless you’re a genius like people in my circle (which you are not, obviously), please don’t even attempt to make jokes like that. And I’m sorry I have to b**ch this way, but this is just me setting things right. Oh no wait. Actually I’m not sorry. You deserve every word I said.   

I don’t normally correct people. I don’t wear my religion, my education, and my values on my sleeves. So normally, and even sometimes to a fault, I don’t speak up when I hear really irresponsible comments. But there are things that I just can’t keep silent about. And I won’t feel bad saying things that you ought to know if you consider yourself a normal person. 

But then maybe telling you all these yesterday was pointless. Because I really doubt if you will ever get it. Ever.