"Katrina is worse than the tsunami, b/c people who actually matter died"

[More Than A Feeling]

A guy said this to me at dinner. Now, this is about the most hateful thing I have ever heard. I muttered that he was a fucking racist and left the table. I didn't feel like I had any choice in the matter. Stuff like that, to me, is simply not socially acceptable, and I felt that I had to express that in the clearest possible terms.

Have you heard anything worse than that? What would you have done?

[meganmonkey]

1. OMG I would have freaked out.

I might have punched him, and I have never punched anyone in my life.

:grr:

[samdogmom]

2. Wow, just WOW!

How can one human truly say another human is worth more than a third human????

Beyond belief!

[MuseRider]

3. I would have done

exactly the same as you. That is inexcusable.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. This was at dinner?

What sort of food was at hand for stuffing into his mouth?

I find a large handful of sushi works well.

[pstans]

5. Wow

Great job of calling him what he is and just walking away. Staying there and arguing with a person like that is useless. If you would have sugarcoated your reaction this person would have not thought twice about what he said. What you did made him think why someone might act that way to what he said.

[iconoclastic cat]

6. A steak knife to the knee. That sounds fun.

[quisp]

7. too bad

you only muttered it and too bad you left the dinner table.

I would have said it out loud, "That is the most racist thing I've ever heard. You make me sick!" And then stared him down.

[marbuc]

8. I would have asked him to repeat himself

to see if he caught the mistake himself (it sounded better in his head?). If he said it again without remorse I would have calmly pointed out that all lives are equal, and everyone matters. I have a friend that says shit like that every once in a while, but if I point out his mistake he gets it, and he, and the world are better for it.

Tghis is the second time I've used profanity in a post without noticing. Thanks guys and gals!

[BinkieGirl]

9. I heard a similar thing...

Someone I work with told me that Katrina was worse than the tsunami. I protested, saying it was not, but her thinking was that the people who died in the tsunami didn't have anything, so it's not like they LOST anything.

The same person was talking the next day about how brave W was for going to look at the damage...after all, people are getting shot there.

I can almost not wait to see what spews from her mouth tomorrow.

[davekriss]

10. You did right

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.
-- Martin Luther King

You must be the change you want to see in the world.
-- Mohandas K Ghandi

Stare it down, hate greed and evil. Scowl, mutter, shout! It's a miracle of restraint that you didn't empty your dinner in the guy's lap. But that's where you differ from your tablemate -- you have dignity on your side.