The other day my friend was telling me about how at the college he is attending they were trying to recruit different people to play on the hockey team. They spotted a really big guy that they figured would be perfect for their team. He also added that he was black and they had no diversity on their team so they thought it would be perfect to get some different people to play with them. They approached the kid and started talking to him about hockey and whether he wanted to play or tryout for the team. When they started talking with him they quickly found out that he had no interest in playing hockey because it might break his nails he said (which were painted a nice shade of pink and blue my friend added) this took them by surprise. He also said that the guy was very nice and they didn't treat him any differently then any other person. I was telling this story to some of my friends here and one of the girls flipped out on me saying how I was being politically incorrect and that even if the kid was gay he could play hockey. I never once said he couldn't play hockey in my story, nor did my friend. The girl just kept on going about how I was a horrible person and I was being homophobic because I wouldn't want a gay person to be on the same team as me. I just let her keep going on and on, and when she was done I simply asked if she was finished and she got up and stomped away. The remaining people in the room just had blank stares on our faces and didn't get what she flipped out about. I never once said he couldnt play hockey, I was just saying how my friend was taken buy surprise to find out this guy was gay, which I probably would have been too.
This event was significant to me because the longer I am in this social work class it seems like the more I notice people reacting to different things I choose to say. Before I started this class I would have most likely kept going on and fighting with this girl but I chose to ignore it because its her views and I will never be able to change her attitude towards it. While I was witnessing her freaking out on me and calling me names that if you ask me were more offensive then being taken by surprised about the hockey guy, I didn't interupt her I just let her vent and say what she wanted to say. I would have typically interrupted her and let a few of my thoughts in there but I just didn't feel like dealing with it. This even didnt change my opinion towards anything because I dont think there was anything wrong with the story. My friend was being racist, discriminating, or any other word you can think of that would be negative towards a person. When I told the story I wasn't being mean either, I was just saying how it would have caught me off guard as well. I guess some people just are really sensitive towards subjects that to me dont bother me because I have more important things to get worked up about then listening to someones story.
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Hmmm interesting. It sounds as though she was quick to judge. Maybe she has dealt with people in the past that stereotype and she just misunderstood. I can see why it would be really frustrating to you though. Having someone yell at you when you don't believe you have said any thing wrong is very confusing. I don't believe this story would have offended me at all, but then again, that is just my opinion.
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