Sabotabby, Scourge of Racist Drunkards

[sabotabby]

Yesterday afternoon, the class having wrapped up, I found myself on a patio sipping beer with my classmates and one of the instructors. I was the youngest person in our group, and the only woman. Behind us, a group of rowdier and older drunks were conducting their own inebriation session. Construction on the road provided a steady soundtrack of industrial-level pain.

A woman walked by, dressed all in black, wearing a niqab. As if to prove that street harassment happens no matter how many clothes a woman is wearing, one of the guys behind us started shouting at her.

"Terrorist!"

"Go back to your own country!"

"What's wrong with you?"

I stood up, turned around, glared, and in my best teacher voice, asked one of the men, "And what's wrong with you?" The guys at my table turned around to stare at the offenders as well.

The men at the other table hastily started making apologies for their friend: "He's drunk!" "He's crazy!" I sniffed disdainfully, sat back down, and returned to my beer and lively conversation.

Comments

[sqrt-joy.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[hopita.livejournal.com]

Good for you.

[hopita.livejournal.com]

Also, "kill whitey" is probably my favorite of your icons, but it's really troubling how many opportunities you have to use it.

[sabotabby]

I know. It's a Problem.

[tanyahp.livejournal.com]

"Likes" this! May all anti-racists stand up under such circumstances!

[kappsgurl.livejournal.com]

I think we've all said some pretty stupid things while drunk, but that one is just beyond me. I don't think he gets to use that excuse.

[sabotabby]

Well, here's the thing. I have gotten tremendously shitfaced and may have turned into an asshole, but I was still an egalitarian, anti-racist, commie sort of asshole. Whereas I suspect he holds the same opinions sober but feels more inclined to express them when drunk.

[kappsgurl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not like one of the side effects of alcohol is racism.

[sabotabby]

Warning: May impair ability to drive and cause erectile difficulties, liver damage, and racist asshaberdashery. Please drink responsibly.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Mel Gibson, for example.

[corwin77.livejournal.com]

You're awesome! You are like a super hero but with more sensible clothes.

[sabotabby]

I now own spandex-type things.

I am not sure how to feel about this.

[corwin77.livejournal.com]

Have you read this article: 5 Most Impractical Aspects of Superhero Costumes?
It has much to say about superhero costumes and spandex.

[sabotabby]

I did see that. Spandex is good for reducing chafing when wearing dresses. I never liked that look but it's grown on me.

[corwin77.livejournal.com]

Well I think you're okay as long as you don't wear only spandex with your undies on top. And no friggen capes.

[sabotabby]

Capes get you killed in revolving doors.

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

I hope he learned his lesson. He actually might, since it sounds like his friends weren't interested in defending him so much as apologizing for him being an asshole. That's gotta be embarrassing for the guy, drunk or not. Maybe embarrassing enough for him to take it to heart. I've witnessed similar epiphanies first hand, so who knows.

I also hope the woman heard this exchange so she knows that there are Canadians who aren't willing to tolerate this racist crap.

[sabotabby]

I don't think she heard anything. I actually didn't notice her at first—I was facing sideways and minding my own business, and it's not like she had two heads or was walking a capybara down Bloor St., or anything else that would have differentiated her from any other passerby. People wearing niqabs aren't uncommon either where I live or where I work. So by the time I realized that the drunk was shouting at a particular person, she had almost passed by, plus there was the noise of the construction.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

I love you, Sabs. :D

[sabotabby]

I love you too. Also, I'm envisioning the chainsaw in your icon saying that, like my whole love affair with the blowtorch.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

Rest assured, Chainsaw loves you too. 8D

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

You win.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

p.s. does this make a Mean White Lady now? lol.

[sabotabby]

A Stern White Lady.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

yay you!

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

my hero!

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Booze.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

But thanks for standing up against that drunkard.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

The scenario might, I suspect, be a bit different here.

[northbard.livejournal.com]

I'm going to take a stand and say I'm disappointed in you. You passed up a perfectly good justification for a full-on drunken bar-brawl WITH MORAL SUPERIORITY ON YOUR SIDE!!

Oh sure, good on you for calling a dick a dick..but...no whuppings?

[sabotabby]

That would have gone badly. I am an upstanding pillar of society who cannot engage in drunken brawls, no matter how justified.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

WELL DONE!!!!!!

My dad annoyed me greatly the other day saying he was on the bus "next to a terrorist woman who changed seat because she did not want to sit by a man." I just said, "much as I dislike the niqab myself, I wouldn't associate it with "terrorist" like that," and he apologised half-heartedly.

I do really hate seeing women with their heads covered when it seems to be a religious thing, because I find the idea that women should have to hide parts of themselves from the supposed unstoppable gushing of male lust both absurd and offensive, but AAAARRRGH! it doesn't mean it is anyone's business but that of the person wearing it for fuck's sake, or that my dislike of it would permit me to be offensive or upset someone over it! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[sadie-sabot.livejournal.com]

right on.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

[trias-cube.livejournal.com]

Good for you for standing up to him!

[symphorophilia.livejournal.com]

Right on!

[thegiantkiller.livejournal.com]

Well done and thank you! You set the bar high.

[ironed_orchid]

Good response.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

Yay you! Faced with that sort of behaviour, many disapprove but few speak up.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Well done you.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

sabotabby = made of awesome.