Pedro's Compadres

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

]Get me a Dominican on here who says he's offended by "Pedro's Compadres" (you don't have to actually invite one, just find me a link or something.

Not for nothin but it might be just as easy and valid to find a Mexican offended by the association of their culture with Dominicans.

All that said, and all that said above, I'm sure in their heart of hearts the New Hardhats aren't trying to be offensive and mean no harm to themselves or others, even if they cause it. They're just ignorant mooks looking to get on TV and support their guy.

[Willets Point]

Ding ding ding! The peeeeeeeeee ceeeeeeeeeeeeee card has been played.

[Guest old original jb]

I do agree that you have to take into account that in their own way, these guys are really trying to pay tribute to their hero who happens to be Dominican. This greatly mitigates my offense.

Intent counts; if they were Yankee fans razzing Pedro, the use of Mexican imagery would be in the service of aggression and would surely be blatantly offensive. But these are Mets fans who love Pedro almost as much as they love trying to be in the limelight.

So the feeling I get is something akin to the feeling I'd have for some very poorly informed coworker who honestly thought that his Ukrainian (Eastern Orthodox) boss (whom he loves to death) would love to be presented with a giant poster of the last Pope (who was Polish). My feelings would be distributed among:

1: Sympathetic embarassment that you feel when you see someone else is making such a fool of himself that it (almost) hurts to watch.

2: The stupidity of the gesture undoes the gesture.

3: The pathway to no Xmas bonus is paved with good intentions.

4: Next time do your homework, fool. (or you are so ignorant that you deserve whatever flak comes your way no matter how well intentioned you were.)

[Centerfield]

Except in your scenario jb, when told of his mistake by other co-workers, your baffoon would react with:

"What's the big deal? Church is church. Why are people getting so bent out of shape? I'm trying to have a good time here."

[Guest old original jb]

And that's where I'd start feeling more condescension than either sympathetic embarassment OR righteous outrage. But given his original good intentions, I'd also hope that someone would find him a face saving way to learn what he needed to know in order to choose more appropriate gifts in the future.

I'd have someone hand him a copy of "The History of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church for Dummies" with the "dummies" part underlined in red.

If he then kept up with the "Church is Church" bit I'd start to think that he was more an ass than a bufffoon. And I'd laugh at him really hard when the boss finally did get so offended by his stubborn clinging to ignorance that said buffoon was switched from selling bikinis in Honolulu to selling ice cubes door to door in Anchorage in December.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

jb - well stated!

[Theoldmole]

Pretty much agree with Vic and Willets, think JB's point is important too.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Kinda makes you be ashamed to be a Mets fan, don't it?

[Centerfield]

It's early. There's still time for us to turn things around.

[Guest martin]

it would be nice if we could all lay off the tribalism and be individuals. to me, heritage, ethnicity, region, all that stuff, it is fair game to make fun of because it is insignificant. i am from a white southern christian family, but you dont see me giving a damn if these groups are disprespected or waving my flag to show how proud i am.

in fact the opposite is true. christians to deserve to be taunted and mocked at every opportunity. christianity is terrible and i hate it. and nothing pleases me more than taunting of whites and southerners and americans. i don't think these things don't define me, so i dont care.

so if i apply the golden rule, i should be able to taunt everyone, because i dont mind a good taunt myself.

however, i realize the golden rule doesnt always apply. not everyone thinks like i do, they are tribal loyalists who give a damn about whatever random group they happen to be affiliated with. so i need a happy compromise.

i realize most people don't think like me, and i am not trying to be a buzzkill for all the cavemen tribalists out there. i have to live in the world and be friends with everyone so i cant go around dropping racial slurs on everyone, even though i think that would be fun. so i keep quiet.

so when other people do things that people are offending people, i never care, but i realize that sometimes if they are pissing people off they should slow it down. there is no such thing as something that is inherently offensive, but if you fond someone who is worth any respect who is angry, the polite thing to do is to tone it down, even though you know it is infantile to give a damn. life is a series of compromises.

[Elster88]

I think I understand now...

[Guest martin]

my point was, if we are gonna dance around like idiots and be pedros compadres, we are not doing anything wrong other than acting like dummies, but if people whine loud enough, you gotta quit. you have to make allowances for people and their stupid tribalism.

there is nothing wrong with being an ignorant jerkass. the problem is with the people who are offended. but that doesnt mean you shouldnt quit when they ask.