01:38 - 02.06.06
Imagine
The discussion between my sons and I last night was mostly about comedy as an art form and music - of course. You see we default to the comedy channel in this house and I suspect my other sons have the same set up at their home. We were critiquing the comics we were watching. One in particular seemed to be determined to offend every person in the audience. Yet at the same time, what angered one block of the audience had another block howling with laughter. Why? Well, he was puncturing each group's illusions about themselves. You know those stereotypes that are more true than we like to admit. We all have our shadows and that was what he was illuminating. The old freudian trick of taking something one agrees is true and inflating it to the ridiculous so we can see what the illusion really hides. Dangerous practice that. Even being of Celtic stock I'm not certain I understand why umbrage was taken at this comment. I would have thought "fiddlin while Rome burns" might be considered more perjorative, unless one had something to hide. Being Canadians are inclined to be polite though, it just means next time the invitations go out he won't be invited back.
I was telling my sons about some of the videos I had found on youtube once we had segued into music. The issue of offending people coming up again. The one video that seems to be a satire was the focus of the discussion. If I can't understand the words and their implicit meaning, should I really be posting it? I tried to make my decision from the comments that had been left by various observers. It didn't sound as though anyone took it as anything other than funny, but one never knows. How do I know those observers are typical of the people the video was teasing? I don't and being not of the culture, words that sound ok to me may have implications that I would not catch. Subtleties and subtexts. For example, there was a big uproar in the classical music community in Quebec about one of their eccentric stars. He had worn a T-shirt to rehearsal that carried a single word on it considered an offensive term in that community. Since I only know a few bad words en quebecoise, I would guess it was likely Tabernac. "I swear by the tabernacle", loosely translated. Musicians lodged a grievance and threatened to boycott the rehearsals as a result. Say that word anywhere else in Canada and you will more than likely get a blank stare. It has no emotional power and no history to evoke a response. You see what I'm trying to say, dear diary? The audience has to be chosen who actually invests a sense of outrage in the words or it becomes meaningless.
That doesn't mean though that it can't have a negative impact on people who aren't aware of its import though. For example, one of the supervisors I did not rehire from the 2004 election said something and gave directions to one of their workers of another culture, that I knew was a deliberate attempt to make that worker lose face with her assembled co-workers. The intent was patently racist, based on how our culture goes about expressing itself on the issue, and what they said came across as very demeaning. It was obvious the other co-workers caught the insult and they watched to see what response would be forthcoming. That supervisor hadn't realized I was present nor did I confront them immediately. I wanted to talk with the victim first to see how they wanted me to proceed with discipline. The reason being that sometimes one can cause more harm to the person targetted if the response appears to be an over-reaction that triggers a backlash. Quite frankly I was tempted to fire the bully on the spot, since I knew of other incidents that had occurred with several other workers not of the same cultutral background, but I had only heard of them second hand and hadn't been able to find anyone who would commit to documenting their concerns. Also, one has to give both parties their opportunity to explain their behaviour. Everyone makes dumb comments or mistakes without meaning to, after all. This was the first one I had seen directly, but I thought it might require a complaint from the target in order to ensure due process. Walking a tightrope for certain. The targetted person looked at me blankly when I raised the incident with them. "But that is just the way things are in the office jobs". You see the two people also worked together in another setting, but the same relationship and likely this was what they and some of their other non-majority colleagues were subjected to often without realizing it was inappropriate. Therefore, at that point disciplining the supervisor when the target didn't see anything wrong with their treatment wasn't viable but at the same time her loss of face and credibility within the group was likely to cause her more disadvantage within that group. What I finally did was speak to that supervisor in the same way with the same words that they had used with their target in the next meeting of the group. It didn't resolve anything but it did put the supervisor at the same level with the group as the person they had targetted and the supervisor - even if no one else - got the message that their bullying had been noted. They couldn't complain about how I had spoken with them when they had already been seen doing the same thing themselves now could they? At the same time they complained about another issue with that supervisor that would not be deemed racist, because it is standard Elections Canada office procedure that applies to all staff, but which in the culture of the person complaining was considered insulting. Catch 22. However, maybe positive changes in behaviour will come slowly as it has from the Enron decisions in court.
Today? I spent time working on more job searches. Uploading resumes and such. Cleaned a little. The weather was extremely warm again - for this part of the world coming in in the mid 80's F/27 C - and I found that my energy levels plummeted by early afternoon. The cats and I made certain we stayed really hydrated, but not very active. I did spend some more time on arts and cultural issues though. That video of the Mona Lisa was fascinating. I wasn't certain what to makes of this one with the WildBoyz in Bollywood and this one reminded me about the philosopher writing his book about unrequited love. It made me teary, even though I can't figure out why. Anyway time for bed. Another hot day tomorrow means early morning is the best time for working. Right?
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