Racism in 2007

[Amianthus]

He says he never hires blacks because they are lazy. He says it has nothing to do with their skin color.

That is a contradiction.

[The_Professor]

He says he is not racist and that he doesn't hire them because they are lazy, NOT because they are black.

[_JS]

That sounds terribly racist.

[Amianthus]

He says he is not racist and that he doesn't hire them because they are lazy, NOT because they are black.

Equating black with lazy is racist.

Some of the laziest people I've met have been white. And some of the hardest working people I've met have been black.

[kimba1]

you know who doesn`t like blacks
africans

in new york africans cabbie won`t take black fares.
a co-worker(who`s nigerian) doesn`t care for blacks at all.
I`ll even go as far as say quite alot africans think blacks are inferior

the very reason obama will have trouble getting the black vote
he`s not black to alot of african-americans.
doesn`t help that kenya still has slaves now
but it`s accepted because it`s only females.

[The_Professor]

That sounds terribly racist.

When I basically told him that (in a much nicer way), he told me it was business. He said he hires real workers, not lazy workers. He says he has a worker from Chile who, like him, is more than happy to be in America and be employed in ANY job. He also said that in his opinion most Americans take America for granted.

[Xavier_Onassis]

He also said that in his opinion most Americans take America for granted.

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Why would an American NOT take America for granted?  Should Americans be deported for not slaving away as much as the immigrant bossman thinks they should? Who died and made this alien peckerwood some sort of hero?

[kimba1]

 He also said that in his opinion most Americans take America for granted.>

can`t really argue with that.
i get upset with people who say mcdonalds work is beneath them.
I can understand it not paying enough,but not because it`s beneath them
I`ve done mcdonalds and it`s not beneath anybody
if anything it`s too tough for people to do.
flipping burgers is tough ass work

[yellow_crane]

That sounds terribly racist.

When I basically told him that (in a much nicer way), he told me it was business. He said he hires real workers, not lazy workers. He says he has a worker from Chile who, like him, is more than happy to be in America and be employed in ANY job. He also said that in his opinion most Americans take America for granted.

I know that somehow this absolutist rah rah is supposed to reflect the bottom line of capitalism--real worker, lazy worker-- but the truth is, in business, when you have a boss or employer who demands others be exploited without boundaries, where workers are supposed to prove every seven minutes that they are a rabid worker and to poster the cowering that is expected along with it, the business disintegrates into an us-them mentality, and then hardens into a tyranny.

Of all the offenses to God that we as a collective have committed, treating workers like cattle is among the very worst.

Some companies are happy places to work, but they continue to get fewer, while the WalMart let-em-eat-shit mentality reflects the age old sweat shop tyranny, the sweat shop mentality of China.

Just bullshit.

God spoke of loving work, and being proud in ones work, but the new capitalist generalissimos have rendered it a sick and putrid thing and call it good.

American capitalism in the Global arena is just Peabody Coal on steroirds.

How many sweat shops are there south of Miami?  Do you know?  The shoe factories and carpet mills in South Carolina, do they continue to be sweat shops?

[Amianthus]

How many sweat shops are there south of Miami?  Do you know?

You'd have to ask Castro.

The shoe factories and carpet mills in South Carolina, do they continue to be sweat shops?

Not any more than the shoe factories and carpet mills in Minnesota.

[Xavier_Onassis]

How many sweat shops are there south of Miami?  Do you know?

You'd have to ask Castro.
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And this would be because Cuba is filled with sweatshops? That would explain why every Wal*Mart is crammed with products Made in Cuba.

Sweatshops in the garment trade are a thing of the past in this country. In Miami, a seamstress is given something like 100 dozen left sleeves to sew together and told that according to the anonymous assembler's figures, a good worker can sew 100 together in one hour. The work is done at home, on the "contractor's" machine. The fact is that it would take three people to do it in this time, but the government does not have any real supervision here. When the work is delivered, it is inspected, and it turns out that some percentage are deemed defective, so the company pays only $10. Someone else does the right sleeves, the placket, and only in the factory are the sleeves sewn on. This way, disgruntled workers can't simply keep the merchandise.

In Cuba, the saying is that the workers pretend to work and the government pretends to pay them.

Most clothing is imported used. A used plastic grocery bag from the US sells in Cuba for one Cuban peso.

Castro may be infamous for many things, but running sweatshops is NOT one of them.

One of you less accurate snide remarks, I would say.

[Amianthus]

Nice description of what happens in Miami.

But the original snide comment was about sweatshops south of Miami.

There ain't a whole lot of anything other than gators and water south of Miami in the US. The next country south of Miami is Cuba.

And perhaps you just can't get the subtly of humor?

The fact is that it would take three people to do it in this time, but the government does not have any real supervision here.

And where do you find this "fact?"

[Lanya]

That sounds terribly racist.

When I basically told him that (in a much nicer way), he told me it was business. He said he hires real workers, not lazy workers. He says he has a worker from Chile who, like him, is more than happy to be in America and be employed in ANY job. He also said that in his opinion most Americans take America for granted.

Yes, it's a very racist point of view, even if he won't own up to it being racist.
But look at what he's glad for: our air? our cuisine, our scenery? Probably not.
He is probably glad to be in a country that has an infrastructure of passable roads, hospitals, electricity, free public schools, etc.  All the Big Government things that make life so attractive here.  These things are worth working very hard ---and paying taxes---to live here. 

[BT]

infrastructure of passable roads, hospitals, electricity, free public schools

Most of these are local government or privately provided.

[_JS]

infrastructure of passable roads, hospitals, electricity, free public schools

Most of these are local government or privately provided.

On the contrary, all of them receive state or federal funding in some way or another. The only possible exception is electricity. My electricity is from a cooperative, which works really well.