[ale] OT: Security code on Credit/Debit cards revisited

[Scott Castaline]

On 03/23/2010 11:15 PM, Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> On 03/23/2010 10:56 PM, Scott Castaline wrote:
>>> While I would appreciate the restaurant name so I may also avoid them,
>>>>   at this point that may be a poor association to make given the tenor of
>>>>   this discussion.
>> Los Acros in Lawrenceville. There were several other customers "hit"
>> with in a 2 week period. No further known activity since. I was there in
>> the middle of May last year.
>
> A single (or specific) restaurants is one thing---despite any
> commonalities in them.  The only problem that I had was the sweeping
> generalization---which, regardless of what hairs people want to split,
> is simple racism.  With the additional information here and in elsewhere
> in the thread, there could have easily been a much better, more
> accurate, and non-racist method of making the statement.  The difference
> between a racist statement and not can be as simple as a rearranging of
> words---putting just a touch more thought into what is really intended
> to be said.
>
> It doesn't help that generalization is something that we often tend to
> do, nor that generalization tends to lead to making (even sometimes
> inadvertently) racist (or sexist) statements.
>
> It sounds to me like the original statement is, as it was written, was
> both overgeneralized and likely unintentionally racist.  The appropriate
> thing to do would be a simple apology.  It's only 10 bytes to do.
>
> 	--- Mike
>
My wording was as the result of being called a racist elsewhere for 
being more specific. I was also advised how to present it in the event 
that I wished to share my learnings with others, but obviously They and 
I were wrong. It's a shame that society has reached this point that no 
matter what or how you say something, someone will twist it into a 
deliberate racist comment. I have seen many times where, yes a comment 
made by itself would be flat out racist, but when it is part of a larger 
commentary is not. People tend to zero in on little parts of what a 
person is saying, dissecting it until they find something that by itself 
and taken out of context would be racist. I myself, many times am a 
target of racism being Jewish, the religion that everyone loves to hate. 
I do have the advantage of not "looking" like a Jew so I could hide it, 
but I choose not to. I have reached out in my time to help people of all 
races, religions, ethnicities. As far as an apology, yes, I'm sorry for 
ever reaching out to share my learnings, as by doing so it appears that 
I offend someone somewhere sometime. The lesson I have learned from all 
of this is I will not ever, ever, ever try to pass on things that I have 
learned to better protect myself with others.