An Afternoon Downtown

I think JTF is right, that racism issue goes both ways. And sadly nothing is going to change this, 1000 years from now we'll still be arguing about this issue.

Is it racist now to point out someone's bad behaviour? If that is the case then I am racist towards white trash, Chinese/Asians, Jamaicans, Mexicans - hell, I guess I am racist towards the entire human race! Running a gauntlet of gob is not fun no matter where one happens to be and it is disgusting and boorish. Like I said, the young man in question was the one who raised the ethnicity issues, not me. I am only telling a story and as far as I am concerned and maybe I am an a$$hole here for doing so but my mention of him and my thoughts regarding the same litany of BS I have heard now for years does have a place in my discourse.

There is no excuse for bad behaviour in a civilized society.

BTW did I mention the ethnicity of the thief who got taken down by Winnipeg's Finest yesterday? Just for the record, he was First Nations. I chose not to mention that yesterday but now I feel somewhat compelled to do so.

death128 if you weren't native I highly doubt you'd find what miz p said racist. Rudeness knows no colour or ethnicity. I refuse to go downtown, Portage Place is filled with scum and sadly most of said scum are natives. Am I racist?

What I meant... by her singling out 'First Nations' it opens the door to others (SMW) to make his remarks... She laters makes an effort to fix what was started by pulling more ethnicities into the equation... yet there is a fundamental mistake with even her 'retraction'. Miz will realize the fundamental mistake in her post if she looks at it... 'white trash, Chinese/Asians, Jamaicans, Mexicans'

Don't forget the latest style...
Romanians...

Those damn romanians....all of them are gypsies!

I find it even more gross than spitting when I see people throwing away their cigarette butts. That is the worst kind of littering, and these things are full of communicable diseases. I feel for the city workers who have to pick up this bio hazard trash.

death128 wrote:What I meant... by her singling out 'First Nations' it opens the door to others (SMW) to make his remarks... She laters makes an effort to fix what was started by pulling more ethnicities into the equation... yet there is a fundamental mistake with even her 'retraction'. Miz will realize the fundamental mistake in her post if she looks at it... 'white trash, Chinese/Asians, Jamaicans, Mexicans'

yeah call me a female version of Archie Bunker perhaps? (nah, I think not) I dislike anyone who is rude, boorish, slovenly - what have you....their nationality, pigmentation, religion - don't matter a fig to me...notice Death how in the beginning as I said earlier I chose not to discuss the ethnic background of the dude being taken away in cuffs who btw put up a pretty good fight.....also some media outlets CBC in particular do not say "aboriginal" if referring to a criminal who just happens to be First Nations but some outlets have taken to saying "aboriginal in appearance" if the suspect is still at large.

Miz point wrote:

casualchris wrote:lets keep in mind spitting, especially spitting and missing you is not the end of the world

I will give one more example as to an act of rudeness that has existed here for a long time....people who do not line up proper to catch the bus. In NYC if you jump a queue you will get called out on it.....in a city of two million (Manhattan) folks have learned to be polite - they may come across as abrasive but I have found New Yorkers to be very polite - one has to be when such little space is shared with so many.

Same thing in vancouver regarding transit lineups, they also are quite stogy about escalators, something about stand right walk left that winnipegers just 'do not get'.

Oh the humanity.

For the record, i've spit on the sidewalk before, sorry if it offends you. Get out of my way on the escalator.

Every time I am in Vancouver and using the skytrain I find people RUDE beyond belief. Pushing, shoving...not waiting for you to get off the train before they all start boarding.

could you classify those people by race?

I believe her point being, and that in some ways would concur with Death and myself, is that race does not really matter.....but what mattered yesterday was that one particular cultural group dominated the scene yesterday.....and yes, even though I am well-traveled it did not escape my attention that yes, for a change, i was the minority and that in and of itself does not bother me in the least but i felt it had to be acknowledged......

We are all strangers in a strange land in some ways as soon as we leave our immediate comfortable environs but that being said, and I am in the middle of prepping some stuff here, there are far deeper ethical, philosophical and perhaps even spiritual issues at play here.....

The primary issue however is respect for not only public space but for the space of other individuals which I believe if we all respected the latter then the former would just be a motherf**king given.

Sorry to say, but downtown is going downhill. And, as many have pointed out, there is a large aboriginal presence, and many of us can relate similar stories to MizP's. Thats not racist, thats just a fact.

I live downtown 30+ years ago, and worked there for many years, and I find myself venturing downtown now and then, but it is not a pleasant experience.

Spitting is disgusting and I am annoyed by it at work. It merely shows a lack of respect for the rest of us.
As far as the guys comments to MizP, he was just an a$$hole.

Thank you.....btw when I mentioned "prepping" earlier I was referring to the following:

roasted poblanos and then peeled
added after being peeled and chopped to heavy cream and blenderized to be added to -
a roux
to be a sauce for later to be added to....

stuffed mexican rice and meaty green roasted peppers

as well to be used with the
SEAFOOD ENCHILADAS I am assembling this evening......

to be served with english cukes diced with roma tomatoes in a balsamic/olive oil dressing......

not all of this gets eaten tonite....Helgi and Mr P take food out to work.....

the other project tonite is taking my one month old sour dough paste and working it into some rye loaves.....

that is all.....and I do not even have to spit into my food.....brilliant.

casualchris wrote:could you classify those people by race?

Yes I could.

I live and work downtown, I guess I've learned to block out others behavior until I'm affected by it. I can't help every drunk with his or her hand out, so i walk by eyes forward. I can't make someone stop spitting, so I roll my eyes and walk by. I cant stop every injustice. I cant make the people who push onto the skytrain not push, so I keep up and hope not to be pushed to hard. I understand why people push, because there are lots of people dilly dallying to get on, and me getting on this train means me getting to work on time, making a doctors apt or another reason why we need to get going onto the train.

That's what living in the big city is all about eh Chris.

The more the population, the more the hustle and bustle it seems.

I found transit in Toronto to be clean and friendly. There are a LOT of people focused on getting somewhere so that may be interpreted as rude. There are customs/courtesies that a visitor may not be aware of, like the escalator thing. You are expected to keep right if you are standing, left if you are walking up or down. People do get very irate if you don't comply (or don't know)!

Friend and I went downtown Saturday night to the kings head. Our car was not broken into, we were not asked for a cigarette or change, no one gave us that "should I mug these guys or not" look. We had a beer, checked things out and headed out. I was quite surprised, a new experience for me.

JTF wrote:That's what living in the big city is all about eh Chris.

The more the population, the more the hustle and bustle it seems.

yes, but for the record i would prefer the small town of tofino even with the tourists any day

a89aries wrote: no one gave us that "should I mug these guys or not" look. .

dont suppose that had anything to do with this

a89aries wrote:I just got accepted into the RCMP which has very similar pay scales. Not sure if I am going to go for it or not yet.

Sorry, I don't consider the King's Head to be downtown, rather in the Exchange District. So to say that what happened to MizP did not happen to you is like comparing apples to oranges IMO because of the different locations.

I thought the Exchange District was part of downtown....

If it isn;t we better stop dumping money into it in an effort to spruce/pump up downtown.

Triniman wrote:I thought the Exchange District was part of downtown....

It is a part of downtown.

Exchange is technically part of downtown but very different from walking down Portage Ave. I'd consider 'downtown' between Portage and Broadway from Main to Osborne/Memorial.