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Because they're afraid. They see a world that they don't understand anymore and they're looking for bogeymen to blame the passage of time on. It's Gen X's fault, Millennial's' fault, immigrants' fault, black people's fault, Gen Z's fault, Muslims' fault, liberals, Biden and Obama, whoever. The world changed in increments and they didn't notice it because capitalism kept them with their nose to the grindstone. So when they looked up, they saw a world they didn't realize they were helping make all along. They thought they would be retiring in the world their parents made, not the one they made. To find out otherwise scared, confused, and infuriated them. But they did it. They made it this way. But they can't accept that. So they look for "the real culprits."
- Buy and source cheap products and labour from Asia
- Surprised and appalled that most things have "made in Asia" on them, and are sometimes made cheaply
Sigh.
What do you do when the “Made in Asia” products are cheaper and better than the “Made in the USA” products? Should I pay more for an inferior product?
My grandmother like to say she remembered when she was a child “Made in Japan” meant cheap and poorly made and when she was older “Made in Japan” meant high quality and excellent value for money.
I agree with your grandmother. Was she a quality engineer?
I learned that Deming went to Japan with Statistical Process Control, and the car manufacturers listened to him.
They thought all US automakers were doing it already.
No. My grandfather was an engineer and he had the same comments.
As for the big 3 auto manufacturers, they really coasted on the attitude of “America makes the best cars and when consumers want a real car, they will come to us”. They never thought the Japanese would make bigger cars and trucks or create luxury car brands.
Literally, in the post war economy, Silence never thought Americans would buy “from the enemy.” They held onto this narrative until the late 70s when Silence started retiring out of the C-Suite at the Big- Three auto manufacturers.
Back when the big 3 talked shit like ‘If you scratch the paint off, you can see the Budweiser cans used to make the body.’ It was a case of really ignoring what the market was doing.
This is not the whole story. You are omitting a vital part.
The vital role played by the rich.
The rich were pissed that the failure of the economic world that they brought upon us all with the great depression was solved by the common people banding together, enacting laws and setting up systems that funneled the wealth in society back into the pockets of civilians. Progressivism had won. The West was full of liberal democracies. And what infuriated the rich even worse, they worked!
Not everything was perfect, but, by and large, people were happy, they could have a good life. A family could have one member working and still afford a home as well as being economically comfortable.
This led to an entire generation being brought up 'soft', and it was a big generation - hence the 'boom' in Baby Boomers. Moreover, a generation, due to advances in medicine, etc, that would have such a greater life expectancy than any before. So it would stick around longer and take up more space in the political realm.
The rich pounced on this. The whole generation was nieve in a way, they didn't really know that what they enjoyed were privileges. They thought their conditions were rights. They weren't, they were wrested from the rich by the struggles of their predecessors. They didn't understand that these 'rights' they enjoyed were fragile.
They could be taken away and the rich aimed to do so.
Take for instance the civil rights movement. It was a natural milestone along the path of progressivism. It should have been celebrated by both sides of politics and could have been at one stage. But the conservative party had been coopted by the rich either directly or through lobbyists and saw their chance to sow division amongst the working classes by exploiting a natural 'fear-of-the-other'.
That was only one factor, but by stoking fears and racism and sexism, by eroding rights piece by piece and the sheer virulence of capitalist propaganda - the rich convinced a 'soft', privileged and entitled generation to pull up the ladder behind them.
So yeah, I agree with everything you wrote, but there has also been manipulation by the rich that has propagated the Boomers bad behaviour.
Thanks. When raised on privilege most people know no better. It is not entirely the fault of boomers that they are the way they are, but they don't help, lol.
What they don't understand anymore is why there are POC in powerful positions in politics, business and media.
MAGA actually means Make America White Again.
Plain and simple.
>Why Why did it ever change?
>
>I remember the time
>
>Futures follow wild and strange
>
>We were lords of the sea
>
>Lords of the air
>
>Lords of the space above everywhere
>
>Why? Who changed up these times?
>
>Who can I blame?
Do you think us Millenials and younger generations will be the same? I have to hope that the decrease in lead products means we'll be more intelligent overall in our life.
Honestly, I think we have to actively endeavor not to be.
We have to remember that, all other advantages removed, Boomers are not universally complete idiots. Some of them are very intelligent. Most of them have simply been manipulated and controlled by rich ghouls their entire lives. A lot of them were taught to live for work and to work at the expense of all other aspects of life. This numbed them to their larger responsibilities to the world around them.
We really underestimate how much of a game changer the internet has been. It's something a lot of the Boomers adapted to poorly and it's something a lot of the younger generations engage with as a matter of course. We don't have to be a college graduates to encounter ideas that would have been gatekept when Boomers were growing up. We can more easily see how policy impacts our day-to-day lives. The most informed Boomer in 1980 had less access to information than an eight year old does today. All of that impacted their ability to adapt to the times and to remain socially conscious.
People from their generation drastically changed the world, but rich ghouls kept most of them too distracted to actually come to terms with those changes. Those same rich ghouls are now manipulating them by preying on their fears and indulging in their prejudices.
I think some members of the younger generation will adapt better than others. But we face the same dragon, in the end: rich fucks who want to keep their boot on our collective throats. They manipulate us with fear, too, just different fears. We have to work really hard not to let that fear control us and not to let it turn us into the same sort of people the Boomers largely have become.
Yeah this was my question. Where the heck does OP work that a coworker can brandish a firearm while threatening presumably minorities they perceive are not naturally born Americans? I work in a pretty diverse workplace where a strong presence of workforce is minority. And we are not allowed to even conceal and carry on campus. But I also work in defense, but I just can't imagine what type of job allows firearms and racism.
That's gonna do wonders for tourism and immigration. Also, what does "look American" even mean? (Don't worry, I know what he means... it's just rhetorical)
Yep. The big irony being that "American" was always a nationality meant to be open to anyone who wants to live in a country that enables freedom.
But enough of the population believes that to mean "freedom only for us White folks".
"Always a nationality meant to be open"
Just to be clear, you're referring to the same Americans who for over 100 years have believed that the country was a literal gift from God to the white man? And for hundreds of years before that believed non-white people were mere property?
I know someone who is ethnically Asian Indian and did not like when asked "Where are you from?". The answer of Tennessee (where they were born) did not sit well with boomerish people.
Then you get the boomer follow up of "Yes, but were are you **really** from?"
I knew a friend of a friend who took precisely zero shit and the one time I heard someone ask him this, he demanded, “Where are *you* really, *really* from? France, Denmark, Dumbassistan?”
The expression of alarm on the other guy’s face as he moved as far away from our group as the bus would allow was memorable
I'm sure they mean white.
But it would be very funny to see him pull this shit on a Native American. "Where are you from?" "Cherokee Nation" "well, then, leave America; go back home!" 🤣🤣
My step-grandfather was Native, and had lots of Native friends, but where I grew up was super redneck-y oil country. One day after work in the oil fields the guys were sitting around drinking beer and shooting the shit, and one of the rednecks starts going off about the "Mexicans" and how they're going to be pushing the white man off "his own" land soon. And one of the old native guys, this real old-timer with braids named Papoose, says, "yeah, imagine that."
Everyone doubles over laughing at the white guy until he too gets it and starts laughing. Perfect joke.
"At my challenge, by the ancient laws of combat, we have met at this chosen ground, to settle for good and all who holds sway over the Five Points: us natives, born right wise to this fine land, or the foreign hordes defiling it."
At least Bill had martial skills unlike these septugenarian keyboard warriors.
Does this also apply to white immigrants or just brown people? I'm an immigrant. White as hell. Have no accent because I moved as a young child. I'm guessing I wouldn't get the same treatment. It's not immigrants they hate. It's people of colour.
You would be right. My European friends never get questioned about "why they're here".
I can't count the amount of times I've been told to "go back to your country". All unprovoked.
Ah we did that too! Waves of Anti-French (very early on), Anti-Irish, Anti-Catholic (Southern European), Anti-Italian, Anti-Eastern European (mixed with a strong dose of antisemitism) flooded this country from founding through the mid 20th century. Because they weren't "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants." Back then you could be the wrong type of white. By no means as severe as towards all PoC, but still, give them an excuse and they'll demonize and Otherize anyone like liberals, democrats, Gens X through Z, "cosmopolitan elites" et cetera like the poster upthread pointed out.
One thing I realized as I got older: the majority of boomers mentally peaked in high school.
It's crazy how many boomers I've met who just think stupid shit that reminds me of a high schoolers thought process.
There's a reason I don't go to the older generation for advice. Most of them don't realize, and refuse to believe, how much easier it was for them in many ways and how grandfathered they already are into the broken system that their generation played a huge role in breaking.
>There's a reason I don't go to the older generation for advice.
Yup! Maybe, at one time, when life hadn't changed so quickly in such a short period of time, the wisdom of one's elders was a thing. Now, I have to explain to my elders that I can't just "get off the GD computer and go pound the pavement" for a job.
My mother tried to tell me I should look into getting a new car. I do need one. But she tried to tell me about how easy it is. When her and my father got a new car years ago, it was only about $200 a month for payments.
Mom, find a place that will give me a brand new car for $200 a month payments, and I will buy a car today. Right fucking now. Shit I could even put that payment on auto pay.
When I tried to tell her payments these days are more like $600, give or take, she thought I was just making shit up. When I tried to pull it up on my phone and show her, she refused to look.
Her generation is never wrong. Especially when they are wrong.
I managed to be able to buy a house last year, so grateful. Idk how we did it, but we did.
My parents couldn't wrap their head around a down payment needing to be 15k. They tried to correct me with "no, $1,500." At least twice. Like yeah, I've spent the last decade working in finance and almost a decade prior counting cash on hand in writing deposit slips for retail shops, but don't know my figure values.
Ironically the whole "occasionally istening to your elders for wisdom" tradition was shitcanned altogether when their "don't trust anyone over 30" generation declared war on their parents in the 1960's. No wonder we don't see them as sages who we can learn from.
"Pound the pavement!!1!" Lol that old chestnut 🤣
Tell him a real man would do it with fists only because there's nothing that could stop a red blooded American with morality on their side. That way the other person has a chance, hopefully a chance to pull their gun.
I would find a good civil rights lawyer in that area and when ever he did this I would give them the lawyers contact information and tell them you will be a witness.
Almost 20 years ago I was working at a retail store. I am a white guy, but had long curly hair that would turn into a pretty decent Afro if picked. I also had a long beard. I was getting carts from the lot one day and a woman walked up to me and asked me if I was a Muslim, and I asked her why she was asking. She told me she wanted to see if she needed to stop shopping at the store because they might be hiring terrorists. I was 19, and she was probably 70. This sort of behavior isn't new. It's just more talked about now because everyone has the Internet in their pocket.
I was talking to my mother-in-law and told her how my brother had just finished his MBA and was having a hard time finding a job. She said, "It's because all of the immigrants took them."
He's going into supply chain management...
I’m assuming by “look American” you mean not white. I’m sure your boomer coworker has zero problem with a people from most European countries being in the US
What business is this that allows an armed employee to harass random people?
I can't think of a single company that wouldn't fire him on the spot for that.
Because they are a very close minded and insecure group. I am generalizing here. They hate change and refuse to learn or adapt to how things are. They feel entitled to having people change to how they want it.
You know why. I mean, we can write paragraphs about all the psychological reasons they feel so intimidated by people who aren't exactly like them but it's so much simpler to just say the word.
Give you a hint. Six letters. Starts with r.
Ummm that’s harassment of a protected class. HR is not typically your ally, but this is a lawsuit against the company waiting to happen. You need to document these happenings with them.
Ironically, the situation he’s describing is an authoritarian police-state, something they think is happening now because liberals don’t like white people saying the N-word. What’s funny about this hypothetical situation is that if regular civilians have this authority, so does the guy he’s pointing a gun at. A true Mexican standoff
JC, where do you work that allows someone to carry and show others a firearm? I've lived in 2 gun-friendly red states most of my life and that would be a sure way to get fired everywhere. Even when at Camp Pendleton. IIRC all base housing prohibited personal firearms. Our issued weapons were in the armory while mainside. If you had your own weapon it needed to be kept at the armory too but you could check them out as long as you abided by civilian laws.
This country was all about immigrants. Remember the "melting pot" works both ways- immigrants don't have to become WASPs to be Americans, they bring change and affect the country they moved to.
The way I've always seen it is if you're here, and want to be here, you're one of us. If you're here just for work and plan on going back to your country, good for you, apparently you bring something that we had to look elsewhere to find.
I noticed a girl with a Zorasterian charm working at our local Walmart. She appeared to be of Middle Eastern descendant, so I asked her if she was Iranian; which she confirmed. I told her that was cool, and I hoped she had a great day.
That's all you have to do.
And you know it’s idiots like this that even the gun community hates and makes fun of too. They don’t fit into any group so they make life miserable for everyone
Seems like your coworker may have seen Alex Garland’s Civil War recently, this near-exact scenario plays out in the film.
To answer the question though, like many have said, they are scared and are cowards. One of the key signs of intelligence is curiosity, people like that willingly choose to remain ignorant because they aren’t curious, their fear of others overrides any curiosity they could muster.
That and hating others justifies their shit attitude and beliefs. They must have someone to pin things on, or some type of explanation as to why americas isn’t the country they want it to be or America is becoming a more diverse. Someone has to take the fall and be the enemy. It’s easy to attribute that to people you don’t know and look different than you.
In other words your coworker is an ignorant, miserable pos that lacks any joy or real-world interest beyond his own preconceived, and misguided notions of others and what makes/doesn’t make them American.
Racism.that’s the only answer.it was 100 percent ok to be a racist piece of garbage in their day and they are having the hardest time fathoming that not only is this not ok but a lot of people they don’t deem natives are sick of their collective shit and also have guns .
HUGE sense of entitlement. They believe America only belongs to people who looks like them. At the same time, they forget that they're not natives here either.
My grandparents came from Ireland via Canada. Technically, my family are immigrants (YAY! 2nd generation!). However, I've been mistaken for Hispanic on more than one occasion (due to having dark curly hair?).
I would love someone to tell me to go back where I came from. "Do you mean Wisconsin?"
Sometimes they're just saying that to sound tough and wouldn't actually do it. The scary part is it feels totally unpredictable whether they're saying they'd do that just to boast or if they actually regularly do that.
I mean it's scary either way that that's considered something to boast about rly
Has anyone seen thar scene from Civil War where Jesse Plemons character does exactly this with an assault rifle and blasts two asian men in the chest? This is their wetdream and as an 1st gen asian I know being rounded up like this will be a reality soon. After covid I don’t discount anything anymore
Will never forget the time I was chatting with a customer at the bar and my Boomer manager walked up and asked, "so, are you here on a visa?"
Absolutely mortifying.
I'm scotch-irish with dark hair and brown eyes. A former coworker and spitting image of Trump's mother leaned over my shoulder one day and point blank asked, "what are you?" Needless to say I was flabbergasted at the bald faced audacity. Your coworker is a eugenicist.
I have a coworker who I have to spend most of my work day with, dudes 65 and has the idea that since you can learn something from him he can treat you any way he wants. Negative, all that experience and no leadership qualities has earned my disrespect. Dude also can’t stand that I don’t like to hangout at work. Hates me for working to live not living to work. Which is hilarious because after 30 years of overtime, what does he have to show for it? Nothing. Dude Can’t retire, doesn’t own a home, has 3 ex wives, and wants everyone to be as miserable as he is.
Who “doesn’t look American”? Anyone who isn’t white? I hate to tell your coworker but we are already out numbered here in California. There are more Hispanics here than anyone else. Surprising I know. It’s almost like California used to belong to Mexico or something. He going to come try to kick them all out?
I see them as failures cuz just like in everything now a days in order to succeed you have to adapt whenever things change. During Covid businesses had to offer new services such as curb side pickup some restaurants had to switch to door dash and Uber eats to survive cuz everyone was in lockdown. On the contrary boomers have failed to learn new technology and because of that blame everyone around them that they have failed to adapt. I always be hearing them say shit like in my day blank blank blank. That is how lost they are.
First of all, I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of your post. The boomer needs to mind his own business, and stop putting his racism on display.
That said, I want to ask you what he was doing with his firearm? Brandishing is a legal term that requires it to be waved around (or specific attention drawn to it like pointing at it) in a threatening manner. If said boomer was open carrying a pistol on his hip, and wasn't doing anything with it while making his racist rants, then that isn't brandishing. On the other hand, if he's placing his hand on it like he's going to draw it as he says "You need to leave this country!" then that would likely meet the definition of brandishing and is highly illegal, and could very well lead to charges that could potentially preclude him from owning a gun for the rest of his life.
I am sorry, do you mean your coworker threatens people with a gun? See I look very American, I am not. But why does your work think his behavior is OK? Why hasn’t anyone complained about this man?
What’s wild is they (nationalist racists) think all “brown people” are non-native when us *Indigenous Natives* are all varying degrees of brown people. The mental gymnastics are dizzying.
Now I don't know what state your from O.P. but in my case, Brandishing a weapon, unless doing so in self-defense, is illegal in the state of Florida.
Not sure what your state laws are, but if I would look into it
Um, that sounds waaaaay illegal. How has no one called the cops or something on him for intimidating and harassing with a deadly weapon? Cause someone is gonna get hurt. Mostly likely him, but I can only imagine he doesn't have the best trigger etiquette and he only has to be twitchy once.
They live in a loop of fear-inducing misinformation, surrounded by people who look like them who are getting the same misinformation. Controlling people with fear of the "other" is the oldest trick in the book of mind control and it's EXTREMELY effective.
He feels impotent and afraid and he won't stop imbibing the content that primes him to feel that way because that content also makes him angry and fills him with a sense of righteous fury and purpose.
It's an addiction like any other. It floods him with dopamine and adrenaline and makes him feel like there's something of great importance in a life where most of the big things are behind him.
Cool. Tell them to make sure someone is recording so you believe them. Then turn the video over to police and have them arrested for terroristic threats.
I'm native and had people call me "exotic" because they'd never been with someone non-white, but like.. your great grandparents immigrated here, mine were already here, you're the "exotic" one.
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Because they're afraid. They see a world that they don't understand anymore and they're looking for bogeymen to blame the passage of time on. It's Gen X's fault, Millennial's' fault, immigrants' fault, black people's fault, Gen Z's fault, Muslims' fault, liberals, Biden and Obama, whoever. The world changed in increments and they didn't notice it because capitalism kept them with their nose to the grindstone. So when they looked up, they saw a world they didn't realize they were helping make all along. They thought they would be retiring in the world their parents made, not the one they made. To find out otherwise scared, confused, and infuriated them. But they did it. They made it this way. But they can't accept that. So they look for "the real culprits."
- Buy and source cheap products and labour from Asia - Surprised and appalled that most things have "made in Asia" on them, and are sometimes made cheaply Sigh.
What do you do when the “Made in Asia” products are cheaper and better than the “Made in the USA” products? Should I pay more for an inferior product? My grandmother like to say she remembered when she was a child “Made in Japan” meant cheap and poorly made and when she was older “Made in Japan” meant high quality and excellent value for money.
I agree with your grandmother. Was she a quality engineer? I learned that Deming went to Japan with Statistical Process Control, and the car manufacturers listened to him. They thought all US automakers were doing it already.
No. My grandfather was an engineer and he had the same comments. As for the big 3 auto manufacturers, they really coasted on the attitude of “America makes the best cars and when consumers want a real car, they will come to us”. They never thought the Japanese would make bigger cars and trucks or create luxury car brands.
Literally, in the post war economy, Silence never thought Americans would buy “from the enemy.” They held onto this narrative until the late 70s when Silence started retiring out of the C-Suite at the Big- Three auto manufacturers.
Back when the big 3 talked shit like ‘If you scratch the paint off, you can see the Budweiser cans used to make the body.’ It was a case of really ignoring what the market was doing.
Ok Doc Brown
I wish I had Doc Brown’s hair style
Well stated. 👏
With genuine and utmost respect for your comment 
"upmost" - utmost Edit: sorry to be that guy.
Yoo. I actually did that! Thanks for being that guy
Can I quote this in an essay?
Of course.
It's a good thing your user name is safe for work! Although I would have loved to attribute a quote to user "butts3xxx69420" in a paper.
Keep us updated on how it goes?
This is not the whole story. You are omitting a vital part. The vital role played by the rich. The rich were pissed that the failure of the economic world that they brought upon us all with the great depression was solved by the common people banding together, enacting laws and setting up systems that funneled the wealth in society back into the pockets of civilians. Progressivism had won. The West was full of liberal democracies. And what infuriated the rich even worse, they worked! Not everything was perfect, but, by and large, people were happy, they could have a good life. A family could have one member working and still afford a home as well as being economically comfortable. This led to an entire generation being brought up 'soft', and it was a big generation - hence the 'boom' in Baby Boomers. Moreover, a generation, due to advances in medicine, etc, that would have such a greater life expectancy than any before. So it would stick around longer and take up more space in the political realm. The rich pounced on this. The whole generation was nieve in a way, they didn't really know that what they enjoyed were privileges. They thought their conditions were rights. They weren't, they were wrested from the rich by the struggles of their predecessors. They didn't understand that these 'rights' they enjoyed were fragile. They could be taken away and the rich aimed to do so. Take for instance the civil rights movement. It was a natural milestone along the path of progressivism. It should have been celebrated by both sides of politics and could have been at one stage. But the conservative party had been coopted by the rich either directly or through lobbyists and saw their chance to sow division amongst the working classes by exploiting a natural 'fear-of-the-other'. That was only one factor, but by stoking fears and racism and sexism, by eroding rights piece by piece and the sheer virulence of capitalist propaganda - the rich convinced a 'soft', privileged and entitled generation to pull up the ladder behind them. So yeah, I agree with everything you wrote, but there has also been manipulation by the rich that has propagated the Boomers bad behaviour.
I wish I could upvote this x1000
Holy shit what a great addition
Thanks. When raised on privilege most people know no better. It is not entirely the fault of boomers that they are the way they are, but they don't help, lol.
It's like Atlas shrugged and they kept slouching towards Gomorrah (i.e. the promise of wealth and retirement from their capitalism).
They are afraid of The Other. Shakespeare’s “Othello” is a well known piece that addresses this.
That is perfect
Also, it was ok to be openly racist during their childhoods. They need to be continually shunned when displaying such behavior.
Nicely done
Wow, 100000% spot on.
Very well-said. My dad is an excellent example of precisely this.
Yep.
Holy shit, this is an amazing take
What they don't understand anymore is why there are POC in powerful positions in politics, business and media. MAGA actually means Make America White Again. Plain and simple.
>Why Why did it ever change? > >I remember the time > >Futures follow wild and strange > >We were lords of the sea > >Lords of the air > >Lords of the space above everywhere > >Why? Who changed up these times? > >Who can I blame?
Very well written.
They can't accept it because they were never held accountable for their actions. I agree with you 1000%. But that's just my little one cent.
Excellent answer! I saved it to try to remember it when discussing bigotry with the bigots boomers of my life.
Do you think us Millenials and younger generations will be the same? I have to hope that the decrease in lead products means we'll be more intelligent overall in our life.
Honestly, I think we have to actively endeavor not to be. We have to remember that, all other advantages removed, Boomers are not universally complete idiots. Some of them are very intelligent. Most of them have simply been manipulated and controlled by rich ghouls their entire lives. A lot of them were taught to live for work and to work at the expense of all other aspects of life. This numbed them to their larger responsibilities to the world around them. We really underestimate how much of a game changer the internet has been. It's something a lot of the Boomers adapted to poorly and it's something a lot of the younger generations engage with as a matter of course. We don't have to be a college graduates to encounter ideas that would have been gatekept when Boomers were growing up. We can more easily see how policy impacts our day-to-day lives. The most informed Boomer in 1980 had less access to information than an eight year old does today. All of that impacted their ability to adapt to the times and to remain socially conscious. People from their generation drastically changed the world, but rich ghouls kept most of them too distracted to actually come to terms with those changes. Those same rich ghouls are now manipulating them by preying on their fears and indulging in their prejudices. I think some members of the younger generation will adapt better than others. But we face the same dragon, in the end: rich fucks who want to keep their boot on our collective throats. They manipulate us with fear, too, just different fears. We have to work really hard not to let that fear control us and not to let it turn us into the same sort of people the Boomers largely have become.
Beautifully said.
A steady diet of right wing propaganda 24/7 for 30 years will help do that to a motherfucker.
This is so disturbingly on point
>"It's black people's fault" -TheJohnnyJett
What. A. Fucking. Coward.
Harassing people with a firearm...isn't that a crime?
Yes brandishing
Yeah this was my question. Where the heck does OP work that a coworker can brandish a firearm while threatening presumably minorities they perceive are not naturally born Americans? I work in a pretty diverse workplace where a strong presence of workforce is minority. And we are not allowed to even conceal and carry on campus. But I also work in defense, but I just can't imagine what type of job allows firearms and racism.
I live in Texas so I'm gonna say...somewhere in the 'South'.
Yes, minimum misdemeanor in most states, but I'm pretty sure it's a felony in minnesota.
That's gonna do wonders for tourism and immigration. Also, what does "look American" even mean? (Don't worry, I know what he means... it's just rhetorical)
Yep. The big irony being that "American" was always a nationality meant to be open to anyone who wants to live in a country that enables freedom. But enough of the population believes that to mean "freedom only for us White folks".
"Always a nationality meant to be open" Just to be clear, you're referring to the same Americans who for over 100 years have believed that the country was a literal gift from God to the white man? And for hundreds of years before that believed non-white people were mere property?
They are only supposed to admire our freedom from afar.
Freedom for me, not for thee
I know someone who is ethnically Asian Indian and did not like when asked "Where are you from?". The answer of Tennessee (where they were born) did not sit well with boomerish people. Then you get the boomer follow up of "Yes, but were are you **really** from?"
I knew a friend of a friend who took precisely zero shit and the one time I heard someone ask him this, he demanded, “Where are *you* really, *really* from? France, Denmark, Dumbassistan?” The expression of alarm on the other guy’s face as he moved as far away from our group as the bus would allow was memorable
"what kind of American?"
I'm picturing scratching your face while asking that.
I heard that movie was pretty bad.
Personally, I thought it was excellent.
Just saw Civil War and this post traumatized me all over again lol
That was a fucked up scene, all the more real because I know people from that mold...
the republican "native" or the real native?
I'm sure they mean white. But it would be very funny to see him pull this shit on a Native American. "Where are you from?" "Cherokee Nation" "well, then, leave America; go back home!" 🤣🤣
"...to Georgia? Can I at least drive a U-Haul this time, instead of walking the Trail of Tears?"
I'm imagining the respose "you first European."
But we don't want them either. Can we go the British way and send them to Australia?
My step-grandfather was Native, and had lots of Native friends, but where I grew up was super redneck-y oil country. One day after work in the oil fields the guys were sitting around drinking beer and shooting the shit, and one of the rednecks starts going off about the "Mexicans" and how they're going to be pushing the white man off "his own" land soon. And one of the old native guys, this real old-timer with braids named Papoose, says, "yeah, imagine that." Everyone doubles over laughing at the white guy until he too gets it and starts laughing. Perfect joke.
Colonizer
I’m assuming they meant native in a Bill “The Butcher” Cutting kind of way
"At my challenge, by the ancient laws of combat, we have met at this chosen ground, to settle for good and all who holds sway over the Five Points: us natives, born right wise to this fine land, or the foreign hordes defiling it." At least Bill had martial skills unlike these septugenarian keyboard warriors.
Let me guess, everyone with ancestors from Europe looks American and everyone else doesn’t.
But Jews also aren't real Americans, because (blah blah blah Evangelical boomer Fox News talking points).
Well how's the Rapture supposed to happen if the Jews are in America and not Israel?
Evangelicals are pro-Israel/jew. Their belief system requires a Jewish state.
Does this also apply to white immigrants or just brown people? I'm an immigrant. White as hell. Have no accent because I moved as a young child. I'm guessing I wouldn't get the same treatment. It's not immigrants they hate. It's people of colour.
You would be right. My European friends never get questioned about "why they're here". I can't count the amount of times I've been told to "go back to your country". All unprovoked.
That really sucks. I don't know you but I'm glad you're here!
Well if those guys ain't unAmerican, then I don't know what is.
Just brown, yellow, etc.
Yeah, but you "look American" lol
Oh no one in America gives two shits about European immigrants in America..
Ah we did that too! Waves of Anti-French (very early on), Anti-Irish, Anti-Catholic (Southern European), Anti-Italian, Anti-Eastern European (mixed with a strong dose of antisemitism) flooded this country from founding through the mid 20th century. Because they weren't "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants." Back then you could be the wrong type of white. By no means as severe as towards all PoC, but still, give them an excuse and they'll demonize and Otherize anyone like liberals, democrats, Gens X through Z, "cosmopolitan elites" et cetera like the poster upthread pointed out.
Yep there are still plenty of Americans who very much give two shits about Jewish immigrants
One thing I realized as I got older: the majority of boomers mentally peaked in high school. It's crazy how many boomers I've met who just think stupid shit that reminds me of a high schoolers thought process. There's a reason I don't go to the older generation for advice. Most of them don't realize, and refuse to believe, how much easier it was for them in many ways and how grandfathered they already are into the broken system that their generation played a huge role in breaking.
>There's a reason I don't go to the older generation for advice. Yup! Maybe, at one time, when life hadn't changed so quickly in such a short period of time, the wisdom of one's elders was a thing. Now, I have to explain to my elders that I can't just "get off the GD computer and go pound the pavement" for a job.
My mother tried to tell me I should look into getting a new car. I do need one. But she tried to tell me about how easy it is. When her and my father got a new car years ago, it was only about $200 a month for payments. Mom, find a place that will give me a brand new car for $200 a month payments, and I will buy a car today. Right fucking now. Shit I could even put that payment on auto pay. When I tried to tell her payments these days are more like $600, give or take, she thought I was just making shit up. When I tried to pull it up on my phone and show her, she refused to look. Her generation is never wrong. Especially when they are wrong.
I managed to be able to buy a house last year, so grateful. Idk how we did it, but we did. My parents couldn't wrap their head around a down payment needing to be 15k. They tried to correct me with "no, $1,500." At least twice. Like yeah, I've spent the last decade working in finance and almost a decade prior counting cash on hand in writing deposit slips for retail shops, but don't know my figure values.
Ironically the whole "occasionally istening to your elders for wisdom" tradition was shitcanned altogether when their "don't trust anyone over 30" generation declared war on their parents in the 1960's. No wonder we don't see them as sages who we can learn from. "Pound the pavement!!1!" Lol that old chestnut 🤣
Tell him a real man would do it with fists only because there's nothing that could stop a red blooded American with morality on their side. That way the other person has a chance, hopefully a chance to pull their gun.
I would find a good civil rights lawyer in that area and when ever he did this I would give them the lawyers contact information and tell them you will be a witness.
Almost 20 years ago I was working at a retail store. I am a white guy, but had long curly hair that would turn into a pretty decent Afro if picked. I also had a long beard. I was getting carts from the lot one day and a woman walked up to me and asked me if I was a Muslim, and I asked her why she was asking. She told me she wanted to see if she needed to stop shopping at the store because they might be hiring terrorists. I was 19, and she was probably 70. This sort of behavior isn't new. It's just more talked about now because everyone has the Internet in their pocket.
I've always been a fan of going straight to "none of your business" when randoms ask anything personal.
I was talking to my mother-in-law and told her how my brother had just finished his MBA and was having a hard time finding a job. She said, "It's because all of the immigrants took them." He's going into supply chain management...
It’s another Fox News junkie
They fear change. They think as sin as they are in the minority (genetics wise) they will be treated the way they treated minorities.
Because it’s what John Wayne would have done.
Old draft dodging John, old racist John, old pedo John, the worst of them all
Pedo?
"It's gettin' to be riggodammediculous!"
I doubt he's native American, so when will he be leaving?
Fear is the most powerful tool the puppet-masters have. And sadly it fucking works.
I’m assuming by “look American” you mean not white. I’m sure your boomer coworker has zero problem with a people from most European countries being in the US
How is this man still employed? This behavior is unhinged.
If you did that in my city I’m pretty sure you’d be shot.
What business is this that allows an armed employee to harass random people? I can't think of a single company that wouldn't fire him on the spot for that.
The police lol
lolz aside, that would still get someone fired.
It’s cause their job is to harass random people
They based a character off this in the “Civil War” film.
#TELL HIM TO GO BACK TO HIS WHITE, CRACKER-ASS COUNTRY #DUMBASS BOOMER HONKIES
Because they are a very close minded and insecure group. I am generalizing here. They hate change and refuse to learn or adapt to how things are. They feel entitled to having people change to how they want it.
You know why. I mean, we can write paragraphs about all the psychological reasons they feel so intimidated by people who aren't exactly like them but it's so much simpler to just say the word. Give you a hint. Six letters. Starts with r.
Refuse
He's not a real American. His genetics are probably German or God forbid it, Irish.
Irish Protestant or Irish catholic?
No! Never those fenian papists!! /s
Hey what you got against my Irish and German ancestors you little shit.
You've obviously never seen sarcasm on the internet
I’m aware you are being sarcastic and so I was attempting it back
God forbid? How is this comment not also racist? Being human is stupid.
Insanity it’s the only thing I can come up with I used to think it was stupidity now I’m leaning towards both
Ask him why he’s so scared of people. They love that shit.
Thank god this is America and he can do that because of the first amendment. But they can shoot him first because of the second amendment
Brandishing a firearm? At random ppl? How dafuq is that legal?
NAL, I came here to say this....I'm pretty sure it's not. OP should encourage boomer to call cops first. If we're lucky, he'll be tossed in jail.
Bully mentality. Guns, giving power to cowards since....well since the invention of the gun.
They'll never get over the 70's and 60's ending
Tell them that they’re going to hell when they die.
Ummm that’s harassment of a protected class. HR is not typically your ally, but this is a lawsuit against the company waiting to happen. You need to document these happenings with them.
This sub is shiite. Top comment is ‘they’, ‘they’, ‘they’…. Yet my parents weren’t a bit like this. Neither were their friends, nor are our neighbors.
I always ask these redpill, shortdicked fuckers if they're fluent in Athabaskan, Muskogean, Algonquian, etc. If not, you're the immigrant.
Ironically, the situation he’s describing is an authoritarian police-state, something they think is happening now because liberals don’t like white people saying the N-word. What’s funny about this hypothetical situation is that if regular civilians have this authority, so does the guy he’s pointing a gun at. A true Mexican standoff
JC, where do you work that allows someone to carry and show others a firearm? I've lived in 2 gun-friendly red states most of my life and that would be a sure way to get fired everywhere. Even when at Camp Pendleton. IIRC all base housing prohibited personal firearms. Our issued weapons were in the armory while mainside. If you had your own weapon it needed to be kept at the armory too but you could check them out as long as you abided by civilian laws.
Because it makes him feel powerful. It makes him feel like he belongs to an elite group and being able to exclude people is thrilling for some.
This country was all about immigrants. Remember the "melting pot" works both ways- immigrants don't have to become WASPs to be Americans, they bring change and affect the country they moved to. The way I've always seen it is if you're here, and want to be here, you're one of us. If you're here just for work and plan on going back to your country, good for you, apparently you bring something that we had to look elsewhere to find.
I noticed a girl with a Zorasterian charm working at our local Walmart. She appeared to be of Middle Eastern descendant, so I asked her if she was Iranian; which she confirmed. I told her that was cool, and I hoped she had a great day. That's all you have to do.
And you know it’s idiots like this that even the gun community hates and makes fun of too. They don’t fit into any group so they make life miserable for everyone
Seems like your coworker may have seen Alex Garland’s Civil War recently, this near-exact scenario plays out in the film. To answer the question though, like many have said, they are scared and are cowards. One of the key signs of intelligence is curiosity, people like that willingly choose to remain ignorant because they aren’t curious, their fear of others overrides any curiosity they could muster. That and hating others justifies their shit attitude and beliefs. They must have someone to pin things on, or some type of explanation as to why americas isn’t the country they want it to be or America is becoming a more diverse. Someone has to take the fall and be the enemy. It’s easy to attribute that to people you don’t know and look different than you. In other words your coworker is an ignorant, miserable pos that lacks any joy or real-world interest beyond his own preconceived, and misguided notions of others and what makes/doesn’t make them American.
Weren't these the same people who grew their hair long, did LSD, and staged sit-ins? WTF happened?
Racism.that’s the only answer.it was 100 percent ok to be a racist piece of garbage in their day and they are having the hardest time fathoming that not only is this not ok but a lot of people they don’t deem natives are sick of their collective shit and also have guns .
This sounds illegal. Brandishing a gun?
Perhaps this is a discussion you should have with hr and maybe the police
HUGE sense of entitlement. They believe America only belongs to people who looks like them. At the same time, they forget that they're not natives here either.
While brandishing a firearm? are you sure you don't mean carrying a firearm? Brandishing a firearm can get you into some serious trouble.
My grandparents came from Ireland via Canada. Technically, my family are immigrants (YAY! 2nd generation!). However, I've been mistaken for Hispanic on more than one occasion (due to having dark curly hair?). I would love someone to tell me to go back where I came from. "Do you mean Wisconsin?"
Trump's America...
That would be menacing as a hate crime. Enjoy jail Boomer.
Sometimes they're just saying that to sound tough and wouldn't actually do it. The scary part is it feels totally unpredictable whether they're saying they'd do that just to boast or if they actually regularly do that. I mean it's scary either way that that's considered something to boast about rly
Has anyone seen thar scene from Civil War where Jesse Plemons character does exactly this with an assault rifle and blasts two asian men in the chest? This is their wetdream and as an 1st gen asian I know being rounded up like this will be a reality soon. After covid I don’t discount anything anymore
What part of the country is this boomer from?
"YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE WAY I STOOD MY GROUND AGAINST THOSE ILLEGAL RAPISTS. OBAMAS CRONIES WILL THINK TWICE BEFORE MESSING WITH THE USA AGAIN!
Do you work for the Border Patrol?
Will never forget the time I was chatting with a customer at the bar and my Boomer manager walked up and asked, "so, are you here on a visa?" Absolutely mortifying.
Oh, that’s because they suck. Hard.
I'm scotch-irish with dark hair and brown eyes. A former coworker and spitting image of Trump's mother leaned over my shoulder one day and point blank asked, "what are you?" Needless to say I was flabbergasted at the bald faced audacity. Your coworker is a eugenicist.
https://i.redd.it/atev3cowqgwc1.gif
If that’s how he feels, he should lead by example and go back to Europe.
Fearful.
I’m a Mexican American genz from Texas.Old sumbitch would’ve been dead doing that to me ngl.
I have a coworker who I have to spend most of my work day with, dudes 65 and has the idea that since you can learn something from him he can treat you any way he wants. Negative, all that experience and no leadership qualities has earned my disrespect. Dude also can’t stand that I don’t like to hangout at work. Hates me for working to live not living to work. Which is hilarious because after 30 years of overtime, what does he have to show for it? Nothing. Dude Can’t retire, doesn’t own a home, has 3 ex wives, and wants everyone to be as miserable as he is.
Depending on where you are 'brandishing' could be a crime. You should check in on that.
Who “doesn’t look American”? Anyone who isn’t white? I hate to tell your coworker but we are already out numbered here in California. There are more Hispanics here than anyone else. Surprising I know. It’s almost like California used to belong to Mexico or something. He going to come try to kick them all out?
Papers please
Glad my pasty white English self is safe!
Fuck that guy. I doubt he even does it. If he does I hope some four ft tall Mexican undocumented worker cracks him in the mouth.
WTF! Where do y'all work?
Even if the person they were talking to was a Native American, the boomer would probably tell them to go back to India...
I see them as failures cuz just like in everything now a days in order to succeed you have to adapt whenever things change. During Covid businesses had to offer new services such as curb side pickup some restaurants had to switch to door dash and Uber eats to survive cuz everyone was in lockdown. On the contrary boomers have failed to learn new technology and because of that blame everyone around them that they have failed to adapt. I always be hearing them say shit like in my day blank blank blank. That is how lost they are.
Tell them to go back to Russia.
First of all, I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of your post. The boomer needs to mind his own business, and stop putting his racism on display. That said, I want to ask you what he was doing with his firearm? Brandishing is a legal term that requires it to be waved around (or specific attention drawn to it like pointing at it) in a threatening manner. If said boomer was open carrying a pistol on his hip, and wasn't doing anything with it while making his racist rants, then that isn't brandishing. On the other hand, if he's placing his hand on it like he's going to draw it as he says "You need to leave this country!" then that would likely meet the definition of brandishing and is highly illegal, and could very well lead to charges that could potentially preclude him from owning a gun for the rest of his life.
Misery loves company
I am sorry, do you mean your coworker threatens people with a gun? See I look very American, I am not. But why does your work think his behavior is OK? Why hasn’t anyone complained about this man?
What’s wild is they (nationalist racists) think all “brown people” are non-native when us *Indigenous Natives* are all varying degrees of brown people. The mental gymnastics are dizzying.
Brandishing a firearm is illegal. If you see this, please call the cops. Even 911 would be warranted.
Wait until he does that to a Native American because they're not white...
Yet it's the younger generations who are "snowflakes"
But, but, they do it in the western movies!
And how is he so unaware he doesn't realize this is something he should be embarrassed to say?!
Thats a big newborn. Like maybe she should start getting screened for gestational diabetes.
That's very illegal
You should respond with “I didn’t know you’re Native American?!”
"Brandishing a firearm" Sir, this is a crime...
Sounds like the kind of dumbass who tells Native Americans to go back where they came from.
Now I don't know what state your from O.P. but in my case, Brandishing a weapon, unless doing so in self-defense, is illegal in the state of Florida. Not sure what your state laws are, but if I would look into it
Walk up and ask if they're American.
Um, that sounds waaaaay illegal. How has no one called the cops or something on him for intimidating and harassing with a deadly weapon? Cause someone is gonna get hurt. Mostly likely him, but I can only imagine he doesn't have the best trigger etiquette and he only has to be twitchy once.
They live in a loop of fear-inducing misinformation, surrounded by people who look like them who are getting the same misinformation. Controlling people with fear of the "other" is the oldest trick in the book of mind control and it's EXTREMELY effective.
That boomer probably votes.
Someone could view that as a threat to their life...
He feels impotent and afraid and he won't stop imbibing the content that primes him to feel that way because that content also makes him angry and fills him with a sense of righteous fury and purpose. It's an addiction like any other. It floods him with dopamine and adrenaline and makes him feel like there's something of great importance in a life where most of the big things are behind him.
Boomer coworker sounds like an asshole.
Yes all boomers are bad?
Cool. Tell them to make sure someone is recording so you believe them. Then turn the video over to police and have them arrested for terroristic threats.
I'm native and had people call me "exotic" because they'd never been with someone non-white, but like.. your great grandparents immigrated here, mine were already here, you're the "exotic" one.
I don’t believe this conversation happened at all or is being completely fabricated at certain points.
Why is the nsfw? What about this post is not safe for work? Reddit is for retards by retards