Homophobes at work

[Inspector Norse]

Fucking spot on. Someone told me that this work homophobe is "entitled to his opinion" - but it's not an opinion, is it? It's just being a cunt.

No, but the laws on that kind of thing are pretty tricky to nail down.

A few years ago, at a previous job, I had a quiet chat with a member of senior management about a couple of laddish types on my team who had been overheard making homophobic comments about another colleague, and who I had also witnessed engaged in misogynistic behaviour on the metro (taking pictures of women's behinds etc).
It was very much a "we understand your concerns but..." situation as there was nothing the employers could really do about it, but given that this was a school there was of course the issue of how suitable people with these "opinions" were to be working with children: I was informed off the record that they had been invited in for another quiet chat, and been politely asked to tone it down.

[Captain Z]

We're not aloud homophones at work, they're band.

[Cerys]

How is homophobia an opinion?

The opinion that homosexuality is in some way wrong can give rise to homophobia.  Do you see?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Homophobia is defined as a fear, but in practise it's a characterisation of a set of feelings, the expressions of which include homophobic remarks, ie. they fall within that umbrella.

Sorry for dullest post in thread. To spice it up I'd say
...Hmm..

. .. We shouldn't stone gays.

[Brundle-Fly]

Oh it's clearly me the one who's complaining about some otherwise nice oldish bloke spouting casual racism, we can't be having that can we!  Poor guy.

You've lost me.

[SpiderChrist]

The opinion that homosexuality is in some way wrong can give rise to homophobia.  Do you see?

I do.

[Cloud]

You've lost me.

Likewise.  Not sure what you were getting at in the first place.

How is homophobia an opinion?

It's not but the right have this tactic now of passing off bigotry as "just my opinion" and in a world where flat earthers exist it's getting harder and harder to prove to people that their 'opinion' is complete horseshit.  Even if you show them empirical evidence they'll claim it's all an illusion.

[Buelligan]

Well, they can think what they like as the flat (or ovalish) planet zooms towards their cockpit.

[Pingers]

They should have one of those triangular signs to warn people

[Buelligan]

PC gone mad, just like the nazis.

[Noonling]

Sadly it's fucking rife around Jarrow and back in Home, I've stopped speaking to so many people, the cold call thing really pisses me off, the usual shite, it goes something like this, 'I had a call from abroad, bloody p**i call centres', me: 'probably Indian, Pakistan isn't really know for having call centres for UK based industry', can be a bit unsafe over there', them: 'nah mate, definitely pakis, couldn't get through to the doctors today neither, I voted for Boris' and on it goes

I'm thinking of getting cue cards made with stock answers

A while ago when I was in a customer service job someone on the phone asked if "this was a call centre in India or somewhere", and didn't sound convinced when I said no. The fact that I have an English accent that is (at least on the phone) almost comically "what ho chaps!" English makes me think the caller had a bit of an obsession.

[Camp Tramp]

There was much discussion at my old workplace about the possible return of Shamima Begum to the UK. As you can imagine, most of the talk was rather negative. One chap's response always stuck with me, the way he phrased his opinion seemed very antiquated and certainly racist.

"We don't want their breed over here. The nipper could build a bomb factory."

On gays he said
"People can do what they want but it ain't right, it stops families!"

It always seems to be the stupidest people who can't articulate their thoughts who are racists and homophobes.

[imitationleather]

When I was in rehab I made friends with some people who might unkindly be labelled Legend Garys. Anyway, despite this and their outward very laddish nature they were actually nice and fun to spend time with apart from when the topic of asians came up. Then the p-word would be flying all over the shop. It was especially uncomfortable because about half of the people at the rehab were asian, but of course this stuff only ever got said behind their back. I think a lot of it was because prior to giving up heroin they had spent childhood to thirtysomething only interacting with a very small selection of people. Asians to them were either tabloid stories or the people who kept ripping them off when they were buying drugs.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It always seems to be the stupidest people who can't articulate their thoughts who are racists and homophobes

You're forgetting their allies. In the case of race, the white elitist closet (or otherwise) eugenicists. In the case of homosexuality, those in the thrall of religious fundamentalism.

[Noonling]

I feel like there are two tiers of bigots:
The Victoria sponge type who tend to repeat stuff they've read in tabloids or overheard in their family/friendship group, often without really thinking about it. Usually the people who suffer the most under the lack of social mobility in this country and misdirect their grievances.
vs
The Black Forest gâteau type who have read up all the Very Scientific Papers on how white people are the best, women are by nature subordinate and people who engage in homosexual practices all have childhood trauma. They actively seek out anything that confirms their views, rather than the more passive Victoria sponge types.

_{God I'm hungry.}

[Sebastian Cobb]

A while ago when I was in a customer service job someone on the phone asked if "this was a call centre in India or somewhere", and didn't sound convinced when I said no. The fact that I have an English accent that is (at least on the phone) almost comically "what ho chaps!" English makes me think the caller had a bit of an obsession.

Took a lot of effort not to openly laugh at a colleague who opined in broad doric that the people in the call centre 'dinnae ken fit wir speakin aboot'.

Well, quite.

[Ferris]

[tag]Gritty reboot of '80s Australian pub rock band expected to fail, say fans[/tag]

[Better Midlands]

[tag]Gritty reboot of '80s Australian pub rock band expected to fail, say fans[/tag]

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six-foot-four and full of muscle
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a dirty Sanchez.

[shiftwork2]

For many years I thought it was 'gave me a bit of a sandwich'.

alright nice one

[royce coolidge]

I just don't want it shoved down my throat.

[flotemysost]

My great aunt got a bit funny with my mum one year because she sent them a charity Christmas card that was in aid of the Terrence Higgins trust, as if she might need antiretroviral treatment after handling the envelope or something.

[touchingcloth]

It has been brought to my attention that I posted the below in not the gay thread, so here it is in the gay thread:

I can't help but think that homophobes are people who have realised that they are a little bit gay, but haven't realised that literally everyone is on the spectrum somewhere, and it's something to embrace and accept rather than something to pretend isn't the case. I like Marlon Brando's take on things:

Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me. But if there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing.

The ultimate answer, though, is patriarchy, innit? One way it perpetuates itself is by policing notions of masculinity, so certain men feel backed into a place where they have to vocally deny the very thought they could possibly be the slightest tiny bit gay.

The kind of bores in the OP are fucking tragic. It's depressing to know that the only reason they go on about "chutney ferrets" is because they have had more interactions where people have nodded and chuckled along with them rather than told them to keep their cunt thoughts to themselves. It's like my sister-in-law, who noisily tries to troll us when we see her by talking about the "lolocaust" while we steadfastly refuse to take the bait. It's not hard to see why when you look at her social media, cos it's equal parts friends and strangers calling her a twat or agreeing un-ironically about how lol genocides are, and adding their own edgy bants to one-up her.

[jamiefairlie]

The complacency with which we've assumed that racism, homophobia, religious hatred, etc, have somehow been erased in the population by our progressive evolution, is somewhat delusional.

All that's actually been achieved is a wafer thin patina of civility, based on 'rules' that people reluctantly follow because other people do. Once you get an environment where 'establishment' figures start questioning those rules, pandora's box is reopened and the stored up poison just spews out.

This government needs to hate certain groups to survive, for now it's the EU and the foreigns in general but it's ravenous and needs a fresh supply of new targets, expect the 'degenerates' attacks to start soon (the brewing Trans rights conflict could be the start of this lash back).

It won't be pretty but the Brexits will love it.

[Bazooka]

"he's a puffter, lovely bloke though"

"Indian chap(born and raised here no doubt), but really helpful"

Phrases my old man has uttered amongst others. I've been surrounded by these attitudes nearly everywhere I've worked all my life. 

[Urinal Cake]

The problem is that people feel too comfortable around you. Go to HR, scold them about PC etc and nobody will talk to you outside of 'the work.'

[Sebastian Cobb]

The problem is that people feel too comfortable around you. Go to HR, scold them about PC etc and nobody will talk to you outside of 'the work.'

Or just eat more eggs, preferable to being a grass.

[Ferris]

"he's a puffter, lovely bloke though"

"Indian chap(born and raised here no doubt), but really helpful"

Phrases my old man has uttered amongst others. I've been surrounded by these attitudes nearly everywhere I've worked all my life.

They don't mean to be harmful, they are just laughably out of touch. Old people are like that - you know what they're trying to say, and by their '70s counterparts they are #woke but they just haven't kept up to date.

That doesn't make it ok, but it's an explanation rather than an excuse. I'd rather they quantified it with "but they're lovely" than went all-in on the unpleasantness. It can be touching in its own malformed way.

[SpiderChrist]

Or just eat more eggs, preferable to being a grass.

I'm allergic to eggs.

Nah, the HR route did not appeal - having been on the "defendant" side of that particular power dynamic in the past, I don't fancy putting someone else through it. I'm still pretty fucking angry about what happened yesterday, though. Like Kurtan over the horsemeat in Tesco products.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

The ultimate answer, though, is patriarchy, innit? One way it perpetuates itself is by policing notions of masculinity, so certain men feel backed into a place where they have to vocally deny the very thought they could possibly be the slightest tiny bit gay.

Well this is the thing, I don't believe anyone really cares about who you have sex with - same sex or otherwise. No one is going to be bothered if Tyson Fury suddenly announces he's gay. What people object to is people acting in a gay way. For some people, laughably, even people who lead quite humdrum sensentary lives, masculinity is at a premium, and any hint of femininity is seen as an affront. This extends to cultural policing, where sad insecure men bully other sad insecure men if they're found to be doing anything seen as effete, e.g. reading literature, talking about architecture, or just enjoying anything to do with art. There is a multi-billion pound sports industry in this country whose existence, I'm convinced, is at least partly propped up by people eager to socially 'pass' as masculine without actually doing anything that requires physical activity.

That's as I see it anyway. And if you don't agree, I'll have to bash you and throw football merchandise at your house.

[idunnosomename]

It's a living!