I'm concerned about the general theme throughout this thread which focuses on rudeness by foreigners. I see cars sitting in the middle of the road near my house fairly often, with the same sort of waiting/chatting stuff going on. Are the rude folks Somalis? Maybe. But more often, they're plain old Americans of various races. I've had cars nearly run me over on my bike in my neighborhood or downtown. Are these Somali drivers or <insert your favorite ethnic group> drivers? Nay. Once in a while, maybe. But I've had more near-misses with self-important Americans driving to important bizniss appointments in their Lincoln Continentals, or driving their screaming kids to their next sports event in the soccer-mom van.
The same thing can be said of gas stations, convenience stores, and similar spots - surly employees come in all races and ethnicities, and pointing fingers at Somali employees or <insert your favorite ethnic group> employees says more about our xenophobic American attitudes than it says about the race/ethnicity that's singled out as "rude." Let's put blame where it's deserved - we have a society that is getting more tolerant of poor manners, poor customer service, poor attitudes, and a general lack of caring about anyone else. This is OUR AMERICAN society, not a problem with "them durned furriners." Just spend an afternoon at the DMV, at a coffee house, or any other place where lots of people come through, and watch who is snarky to the employees, and how pleasant (or not) each employee is. Lack of civility is indemic in our 2002 society, and it's up to each of us to try to turn that back. We aren't going to do that by pointing fingers at another culture and deciding they need to learn the American way of interacting. We wouldn't be giving them any lessons to be proud of. Roxana Orrell Central > > Message: 15 > Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 09:41:50 -0400 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Caffeinate The World), [EMAIL PROTECTED], > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Mpls] Rudeness on the Rise in Minneapolis > > Let's get back to the subject. > <snip> > As a general rule, when someone is being rude or inconsiderate, I > recommend pointing it out. Be reasonable and yes, judge each individual > situation in order to be safe. I don't know a great deal about Somali > culture, but in most areas of the world the street is where people, not > exclusively cars, congregate. That said, in America it is just plain > inconsiderate to hold up traffic. The offenders may be surprised to > learn that they are being rude. Or they may get defensive because they > don't care--each situation will be different because we're all > individuals, ultimately, whatever culture we were raised in. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
