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Area theater upholds right of Muslim women to watch a movie in peace
By adamg on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 9:09am
A local movie buff forwards the following exchange between a patron of a local movie theater and the theater's manager. The manager agreed to release the exchange on condition names be excluded.
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2015 9:10 AM
To:
Subject: Security
Dear Mr ____,On Saturday December 5 my date and I attended the 4:15 showing of Spotlight at the ***** . Just before the show started I was returning from the men's room , when I came across two Muslim women with large backpacks speaking a foreign language entering my theatre . I don't have to remind you what has happened in Boston, Paris , or San Bernardino lately . I then went up to speak to the manager, I believe his name was ___. He told me backpacks were allowed and took no action. Well I'm takes action , I will never attended you theater again until you have a policy the improves the security at you venue as many venue already have . I would be happy to see your response.
Thank You
The manager replied:
Dear _____,
As you can see by the fact that these two women enjoyed their movie and nobody was harmed, your fears are unfounded. You may also be aware that the majority of deadly terrorist attacks in the United States are carried out by white males, so imagine how these women might have felt surrounded by so many of them at the movies, especially given that white males are solely responsible for all of the movie theater shootings recently!
If my policy of nondiscrimination means you never step foot in my theaters again, I am happy to have one less customer who comes off as a xenophobic piece of racist garbage.
Hope that helps!
Merry Christmas,
______
Director of Operations
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Comments
I totally understand
...why the manager wants to stay anonymous and protect his email inbox and his employees from Trump-American unhinged rants or worse (or much worse) but, man, I wish I knew where this was so I could throw him some business.
Exactly, good on him...
only a "Happy Mawlid al-Nabi" at the end instead of the "Merry Christmas" could have made that response sweeter!
(Muhammad's b-day comes Dec. 23rd this year, well, NEXT year, I can't claim to understand the different calendar)
Now they have to bomb the theater
The logic of terrorism means that now they should bomb this theater because you feel safe there
Hint
There are 2 independently owned movie theaters in the Boston area, and 1 is showing Spotlight.
Independently owned movie theaters
I count at least twelve such theaters scattered through Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Dedham, Brookline, West Newton, Salem, Beverly, and Danvers. Probably a few more on the South Shore and further North Shore areas that I'm less familiar with.
(by "independently owned" I count anything not owned by AMC, Regal, Showcase, or Landmark, and not affiliated with a college, university, or museum)
CCT
And Coolidge Corner Theater is the only one that has a Director of Operations listed on their site.and that is wrong info...read on...EDIT -
but the giveaway should have been the 4:15 Saturday showing, which is only at Somerville Theater.
And they also have a Director of Operations listed on the site.
http://somervilletheatre.com/contact/
Good on you, Ian.
I agree with the person would
I agree with the person would absolutely leave the movie.
Well
Enjoy staying home the rest of your life. You will be missed.
Actually he won't be
But he does need to stay home.
Lots to do at home! Racist
Lots to do at home! Racist comments don't write themselves.
Even if it seems that way
Even if it seems that way sometimes.
You'd be missed
No, really.
On a serious note, I'd say that the racist xenophobic bigots among us have gotten an inflated notion of the weight that they swing, and are due for many deflations just like this one.
Not to mention ...
Numerous terrorist acts of their own.
Really? I was looking forward
Really? I was looking forward to seeing Spotlight this weekend. Did you think it was THAT bad?
Donald Trump
Appreciates your vote
How to sneak chocolate into a theater
Irony
Guy suspicious of supposed religious fanatics watching a movie about a religious institution that caused actual terror in children for years in Boston and around the country.
This stuff...
...just writes itself.
Too bad JC was not the Theater Manager. It would have been great to put that in the response.
^^^^
A+
When did they stop teaching
When did they stop teaching grammar at bigot school?
Hey!
Even bigots have grammas!
That guy gets around
I didn't know the Donald was in Boston last weekend!
Smells fake to me
Although I completely agree with the sentiments expressed by the alleged theater "Director of Operations", this alleged email exchange smells 100% fake. No manager that wants to keep his job would respond like this. And since most theaters are part of large corporations, it would be even less likely that this is real. Furthermore the original "complaint"6 is over the top with its bad grammar and incorrectly spelled words.
Adam, did you actually contact the manager yourself, and verify this as true, or did everything, including the managers permission to use, come from your source?
I did not contact the theater manager
Since I don't know which theater it is.
No, I don't just post everything that strikes me as interesting without checking. The exchange was forwarded to me by somebody I've known for a long time, whom I trust, who wouldn't just make stuff up and who has long been active in local theater issues.
I realize that probably does absolutely nothing to dissuade you, since all I've now done is introduce another person you don't know, but that's why I decided to run this.
As for the grammar and spelling, well, it's e-mail and even with spell check, I can vouch for the fact that many people still send out e-mails with lots of English issues.
Where did they get it then?
This friend of your who you trust so much - apparently the theater's director of operations trusts them too? Enough to pass along private emails? Why? And this friend trusts you - a journalist - enough to forward you these same emails, without worrying that you'll push for any kind of confirmation?
I enjoyed this story a lot, and yes I hope it happened (because I already believe there are bigots like that out there, and I'd like to believe there are even more people of good concience like the DoO).
But now I find myself wondering just how well you vet politicially charged stories like this. "News and information" - not advocacy, right?
If it had been somebody else, yes, I would have done more to vet
But, yes, knowing the person involved, I can see how he would get a copy of the exchange. Again, I can't say more, and I apologize for that and realizes that compromises somebody's faith in this whole thing, but I promised anonymity (and obviously, yes, I thought it worth posting even with that).
Answer not answer
Just because you promised public anonymity to your source doesn't mean that you shouldn't be confirming the info for yourself. You're a journalist! Get the DoO to tell you hirself that it happened.
Right now, you're asking us to believe several links of unconfirmed testimony. If all you are is a dude with a lot of friends and a web site, how is this not just advocacy?
I've gone from being psyched about this story to disquieted about your methods. :(
Oh give it a rest
Adam trusts his source, and for various reasons, chooses not to provide you with more details about his source. If that's not good enough for you, take your disquiet and your disbelief and your marbles and go home.
Spare me, fanboi
You're likely to bolt the first time you infer Adam's politics don't align with yours. This is a news site, not a 16 year old's facebook page.
I've been a UHuber for many years, have actually sent him money directly because I value the site, rather than just let him collect minute fractions of pennies for the linked adverts sent to my browser. I know that UH is a worthwhile news site.
One can question specific instances of process without it being a rejection of his overall enterprise. The fact that Adam responds so quickly and amiably to questions like this shows that he cares about his work and how it's recieved.
"fanboi"? BWAAAAHAHA!
Ok, you win, old-timer. About that, you're more or less right. I still think you're on a bit of a fishing expedition, but you're not altogether wrong at least.
About the "fanboi"? Not so much, but you get extra points for your quaint use of fifteen-year-old slang.
(kidding! kidding!)
Managers Reply
I agree that the customers complaint is complaint uncalled for and dumbfounded, but on the other side I felt the managers reply was completely unprofessional.
Do tell
In this case, what would a "professional" reply look like?
Piss Off
Sincerely, The Management
I hope to never be in the same space as the patron
Ever. Being prejudged sucks.
not always
when women see my lift kit adorned F-450 turbodiesel with dualies i believe its almost guaranteed that they've pre-judged the size of my exhaust, or as i call it 'the muffler' *smug*
Which is...
Which is in inverse proportion to the size of...
well man
ill consider this progress, this might be the first joke of mine you've gotten
You said it, I didn't
Sorry 'bout the small one, and, uh...don't quit that day job.
Just in case anyone missed it...
The cinema manager's sign off Hope That Helps! is a reference to the brilliant Facebook page Hope That Helps!, managed by Atlanta comedian Ben Palmer, who trolls various companies' (and in at least one case, a certain religious fraud's) Facebook pages, posing as a customer service agent posting hilarious responses to petty and whiny customer complaints.
actually
"hope that helps" has been an expression for a long, long time, made even more popular recently as part of the recent vernacular used on the internet. hth.
Sounds too good to be true...
But if it is, the manager dropped the ball on being professional and could have handled it much better.
It does make me feel better and sounds quite righteous. However, responding to an overreaction with an overreaction is not productive. This sort of @#$% leads to more extreme views, not less...
be honest
how upset were you when you weren't able to kick blacks out of the front of the bus anymore
I do not appreciate your comment
But we are on the internet after all. I certainly hope it makes you feel better. :)
yeah
you're truly the real victim here.
Bizarre, offensive non sequitur
And you have fans! The Internet is a wondrous place.
The point is that if you want to educate or enlighten someone, insulting them is not the way to do it. Measured responses are a thing of the past, apparently, so much so that you accuse someone who agrees with you of being a bigot simply because they've suggested a less obnoxious way of speaking to another person. Dark days.
And I imagine (and hope) this is an independent theater, as, regardless of how right the manager is, calling a customer a "xenophobic piece of racist garbage," is an excellent idea if the goal was to get the assistant manager promoted.
he agrees with me
in part.
we clearly disagree on other parts. do you also have a hard time understanding things like primary races in politics, or different religious sects? people that "agree" on a lot of things have gone to great lengths- including war- to hash out some of the things they disagree on.
Let's see your version
Please show us how you would have "handled it much better". Verbatim, what would your response have been?
Well, at least he wished him a "Merry Christmas"
[edit - my earlier text seems to have magically disappeared. This is a repost]
because if he had said "happy holidays" it would have given all the local and national windbags the opportunity to trot out the "war on Christmas" stuff.
As for the other comment, I did in fact miss that "Hope That Helps" thing, and will have to check it out!
Except
the terrorist attack in San Bernardino was done by an Arab man and an Arab woman--not by "white males". So while the manager probably feels good about saying snotty things to the person objecting, there are grounds for that person's concern. And while I'm sure all the commenters feel good about themselves for saying the person objecting is a racist bigot, it would be helpful to have a conversation about what a reasonable policy might be, in light of the San Bernardino attack.
And the movie theater
And the movie theater massacre in Aurora was done by a white male, not an "Arab man". Stop me if I'm going too fast for you.
Why are you cherry picking?
Wouldn't it make more sense to be concerned about theater attacks by perpetrators similar to those that have taken place in the US? Because we have really recent instances of that - and the attackers were white males.
What the couple in San Bernadino did was horrific, and we should be concerned about their radicalism. But it's pretty clear that percentage-wise, Americans are waaaaaaay more likely to be attacked by Christian white males than anyone else.
Compartmentalizing one's fear onto a convenient 'other' doesn't really make one any safer, even if it feels that way.
Neither of the San Bernardino
Neither of the San Bernardino shooters were Arab. Educate yourself.
True.
Most people in the US don't know the difference between an Arab and a Muslim, let alone the differences between Sunnis, Shi'ites, Syrians, Saudis, Iran, Iraq, etc. etc. That said, I think we can safely assume that she meant Muslim, not Arab. And that said, I would still say that by her logic, I should freak out every time a single white guy walks into my movie theater.
I think we can safely assume
Yes, we know she's an ignorant bigot.
Reading is fundamental
From the manager's reply, emphasis mine:
Ok, go for it. In light of the San Bernardino attack, what do you think a "reasonable policy" would be vis-a-vis women wearing some form of hijab, or what is perceived to be hijab, when in a movie theater?
Um....
Is it the backpack you're worried about? (There is certainly some precedent for that concern, though not in San Bernardino). In that case, a reasonable policy might be searching ALL backpacks in theaters. Some might be willing to put up with that level of inconvenience, I suppose. This is not unprecedented, in sports arenas and other places where terrorism is a concern.
But I suspect it's the women's clothing that has you so worried. There is no "reasonable policy" that will cure you of this fear. Only a discriminatory policy would do so -- and by definition, that would not be reasonable.
Why search backpacks?
I think you meant, "in sports arenas and other places where the concession holders don't like people bringing in their own food and drink to avoid paying $5.00 for a bottle of drinking water."
Huh?
Why should policy be made "in light of the San Bernardino attack," as opposed to, "in light of an overall look at all of the risks that present themselves?"
Wow
This managers response doesn't quite make sense to me considering the situation we're in with ISIS right now. Let me reiterate, the United States is on the verge of a war with ISIS (who is made up of Muslims)....not white males.
I'm sorry you don't like
I'm sorry you don't like facts and numbers but what the theater manager said is absolutely right.
Sigh.
And you realize that the primary victims of ISIS have been--da-dum--other Muslims? It's like saying "ooh--there's a weed on my lawn and the weed is green so I'd better kill everything green in my yard" and then taking out the weed and the grass. Get it?
Honestly...the depth of cluelessness here is just astounding.
Daily reminder that not all
Daily reminder that not all Muslims empathize with that abhorrent group
In fact, most hate them as much as the rest of us
Most terrorist attacks in the
Most terrorist attacks in the US are by white right-wing Christians and/or sovereign citizens. Depending on exactly where you set the level of calling property-damage attacks to be terrorism you can hit better than one terrorist attack a day against Planned Parenthood alone.
While over the past couple of decades Islamic terrorism does have a slight edge in the body count, (due to a single, rather large, attack), the current conditions in the US are similar to those that give Christian groups the historic majority of terror killings.
Not isolated
A coworker of mine had a similar situation with a customer who expressed dissatisfaction about the presence of a burka-wearing customer (who I was actually helping). But that coworker shut the Trump-esque customer down.
Oh, and there was this, which I was forwarded yesterday:
http://www.startribune.com/my-run-in-with-hate-speech-at-a-minnesota-vik...
An actual burka?
Because I've never seen anyone wearing a burqa in the United States. Or, for that matter, in the UAE. The burqa is very rarely worn.
http://www.channel4.com/news/from-hijab-to-burqa-a-guide-to-muslim-headwear
Oh, OK
It was a niqab.
Ooh. Good word for Scrabble.
A niqab or burqa might be legitimate cause for concern
as it's uncomfortably close to what a bank robber might wear.
christ man
not nearly as uncomfortable as writing that post should have made you feel.
what a crappy thing to say
I'm actually OK with that.
Many banks have a policy, clearly posted at the front door, that visitors must remove motorcycle crash helmets and other face-obscuring headgear before entering the branch.
I don't have a problem with such a policy if it is applied uniformly, without regard for what the face-obscuring headgear is or why it's worn.
Face obscuring versus hair covering
Niqab is a hair covering, and covering one's hair is not limited to Islam - see also Hasidic Jewish women, Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, etc.
Niqab
Maybe there's more than one definition of niqab? When I made my comment, I was referring to this which was linked to in an earlier comment. That shows a a niqab as "veil that covers face, showing only eyes". Most banks would not allow a customer to wear this.
Hijab is just a hair covering, and besides the groups you mention, non-Hasidic Orthodox Jewish women often wear something similar to a hijab. (My sister-in-law, for instance.)
Often wrong but never wobbly
n/t
I've Seen Them On The Ⓣ On Rare Occasions
It makes me take pause, and wonder how life appears to the person inside.
Burqas
In the past 6 months, I have seen multiple women in burqas around Malden and on the T. One morning last fall I realized it must be Eid al-Fitr , based on the many forms of muslim dress that I saw on my way to work.
Burkas in Cambridge
There are a few in Cambridge. I've seen at least one woman, the dresses in a black one, that takes her children to the park over where Western ave crosses the Charles, Wheeler park?
Really, really rare.
Useful guide to Muslim headwear. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/24118241
I wonder ...
How long is it until muslim women from conservative cultures who live in the US modify their coverage?
Some of the Somali women in my area have dropped the face veils that they formerly wore (might be due to employment), and it seems that my sons' classmates tend to drop the niqab all together when they start their junior year.
Fenway handled it better
In the playoffs against the Yankees in '04 I was at a game (the game 3 blowout) with some friends which included Yankees fans from NYC who were wearing their team's gear and they happen to be of South Asian descent.
There was a bunch of banter back and forth as fans represented their team and then some trash started making racist comments. I found a security guard to tell him and he assembled some of his co-workers and they ejected the guilty folks right away. Apparently Fenway has a zero tolerance policy for that kind of thing.
Making up ...
...for lost time.
Perhaps you are not old enough to remember
Red Sox employees used to tolerate the most vile racist garbage, many times being directed at Red Sox players, never mind opposing players. I personally heard racist comments being directed at George Scott and Reggie Smith. Fenway didn't often sell out in those days, so loud comments were certainly heard by ushers and security .The most recent racist comment I heard was directed at Jorge Posada of the Yankees. just a few years ago, and although the fan got a stern look from security, they did not kick him out.
"they did not kick him out"
to be fair,
"of the yankees"
I am old enough to have seen Boomer
So I do remember the racist bile that used to be spewed and am glad that things have gotten better.
I sometimes kid that I learned to swear at the old Boston Garden because back then it didn't matter that there was a seven year old kid right there, if the B's were doing poorly or the opposing team did something wrong/bad the f-bombs and curses were flying.
Seven year old me would try them out on the playground at recess the next day without really knowing what they meant but damned if I didn't know that those words were strong.
Bleacher Life
Then there were the times that blow-up sex dolls were bounced around the crowd in the bleachers at Fenway - one woman described it as akin to seeing an advertisement for rape. When one went on the field and was pitchforked, that was over the line enough for the Globe to start crusading to clean up the bleachers.
Muslim Women in Theatre
This man's reaction shows us how the terrorists/mass murderers will win…they will have us all so scared/frightened of anyone who we deem "different" that we turn on each other at any time and in any place, with no provocation or viable reason… that way, we won't see the real threats among us…we will be too busy showing our bravado and prejudice and being cruel to each other…people with these kinds of thought processes and who are willing and able to act on them have been emboldened and given a place on our political stage ever since George Bush…now we have Donald Trump…what's next?? another Hitler???That is the direction we are heading in, unfortunately…yes, if you see suspicious activity, or have a legitimate reason to feel threatened, by all means report it…but, please, don't be "calling wolf"on innocent people…how would this man feel if someone did/said these things to/about him…never forget that could and will happen unless we get a hold of ourselves and realize the "real enemy": hatred, prejudice, and fear...
I never thought I'd defend W...
but the one thing he did right in the days and years post-9/11 was to condemn acts of hate against American Muslims and speak of Islam as a religion of peace.
President Bush
Would be too far left to get elected in 2015.
hahah fuck my life
Y'all missed the most
Y'all missed the most important part: "my date and I". Someone is dating this enlightened fellow.
george zimmerman
has had a number of girlfriends since he so stalwartly defended his neighborhood's honor against the impinging threat of a minority child
cult leaders draw a lot of following from people attracted to them
its not as hard as murderers, bigots, and weirdos to get laid as somebody might think. thank christ.
Child?
Really?
that was his legal status
at the time of his murder, yes
besides "resident of the neighborhood" what else do you want me to call him?
and curious, if 17 year olds arent children to you, do you find it acceptable to have sexual relations with them? i'm just interested in knowing what areas it is convenient for you to draw a line for what an adult is or isnt.
when you aren't old enough to buy a pack of cigarettes, vote, get a beer, join the army, rent a car, and when you're still in your first year of eligibility to see an R rated movie, please tell me how much of an adult you think that person is.
or, if it was a 17 year old white girl, would you have even said anything? just curious.
i would drop my mic but there is enough rubbish here as it is.
typo
He probably meant "hand."
Many levels of dating, too
"Date" could mean "person I connected with on OK Cupid who met me at the movie theater and now won't return my calls".
i think the miserable divorcees
are all on match.com
Why are people surprised that
Why are people surprised that a miserable bigot like this has a date? All the Republican presidential candidates are married.
Agreed! There are many
Agreed! There are many bigoted females who need love too.
The best part is that he claims to be a man of action, but all he did was talk to a movie theater manager and send a snotty email . . . four days later baby! If he really thought there was a problem, he could have put on his big boy pants and called the police, but fortunately there was some sensible part of his pea-sized heart that told him to go relax, enjoy the movie, and buy his lady some Junior Mints. He was probably just stewing because the theater manager embarrassed him in front of his date. I get that.
Poor Lindsay Graham
He's a candidate still you know!
Not a viable one, but still a candidate.
I wish we knew which theatre
I wish we knew which theatre this was at because I'd love to give them my patronage and so would my friends.
Apply the rules equally to all, but do it
I wouldn't mind having all backpacks checked at movie theaters. They already get checked at concert venues and elsewhere; it wouldn't take much to add movie theaters to the list.
Perhaps they were checked
We don't know one way or the other.
you can check a bag all you want
but all that has to be done is somebody without any contraband (including candy, beverages, which is probably what most theaters care about) gets through and then opens the exit door from the inside to let an accomplice in.
literal security theater, all of this shit.
Well, the Paris attackers
Well, the Paris attackers shot up some cafes and earlier in the year, a supermarket.
Obviously the solution is to have checkpoints outside every Starbucks and Shaw's.
Wouldn't it be so much easier to have a checkpoint outside every house, instead of being searched at every venue?
(No subject)
If you see something, say something?
San Bernandino would have been avoided if the neighbor spoke up about suspicious behavior next door but moonbats like yourselves are more worried about offending people than you are about preventing the next terrorist attack. If you're telling me you wouldn't be suspicious of a woman in a burka with a backpack in a movie theatre you are either living in la la land (strong possibility) or a liar.
SB and Paris were not accidents, its not like this was some one in a million freak incident. Radical Islam is a poisonous ideology that's stated goal is to kill us. The threat is real and its here. The FBI has already admitted that ISIS is trying to disguise soldiers as Syrian Immigrants into America thanks to you ideologues crying to let them in.
It doesn't matter that 99% of Muslims are good people, all it takes is one, and a woman in a burka with a backpack in a crowded place fits the description of a suicide bomber. Profiling is unfortunate but its absolutely necessary in a time like this.
Sorry if this hurts your delicate sensibilities
And all it takes ...
Is one white gun nut with heavy firepower. Remember Aurora?
i dont think calling him a gun nut
really does anything for anybody. was he an explosives nut too because he rigged his apartment to blow?
nah, he was just a regular old mentally ill guy. mentioning the gun thing detracts from the overall lack of mental health imo, and shifts a lot of potential discussion from the status of mental healthcare in this country towards gun control, which maybe if we were good at one, we wouldn't have to worry about the other as much.
admittedly he did have a number of firearms, ofc, and that is an issue. but i would say he is just as much of a walnut or peanut as a gunnut
also the second you make something a gun issue instead of addressing the root cause, you immediately have a significant portion of people that will cover their ears and go la la la la
Mentally ill?
I would contend that the San Bernadino murders were also mentally ill. Why is it that when white Christians commit mass murder, it's called mental illness and when brown Muslims commit mass murder its called religious extremism?
And of course guns ARE the issue and the fact that automatic weapons are so easily accessible enables the mentally ill religious extremists, regardless of what you call them.
when the fuck
did i even refer to san bernadino in that post that was specifically about one incident? i don't disagree with you at all.
do you disagree with me about the stuff that painting all of these issues as simple gun control issues, does, in fact, over simplify the issue? because mentally ill people can and will still do things to harm themselves and others. i believe i was amply clear in my posts that i acknowledge that guns are an issue, while also harping on the fact that addressing the root cause of the issue needs to be done way, way more often and effectively in this country.
for example: the multiple suicide attempts that the aurora shooter made, sans guns. guns don't make people mentally ill, they're a tool that is too easy to acquire by the mentally ill.
A person with a lot of guns
A person with a lot of guns is a gun nut. Sorry gun owners, but this guy is on your side of the issue. Take some responsibility for the bloodshed your fellow gun owners are causing. It sure as hell aren't non gun owners killing movie theaters full of people. Normal people collect baseball cards or stamps, nuts collect dangerous weapons.
i feel as though
you've very adequately managed to prove my point entirely
*BernaRdino
*BernaRdino
*behnahdino
*behnahdino
my sensibilities are fine
you are literally too much of a moron to be capable of upsetting just about anybody i would imagine hahahahaha
seriously, i can't even begin to guess at how many people laugh at your ignorance on the regular, although in the interest of accurate reporting, i can only verify at this point that the number has started at 1.
(its me. im the 1.)
As a white woman
I'm far more likely to get murdered by a white man while getting a pap smear or hanging out in a mall, so take your bullshit and shove it up your ass.
thats your fault
for having a vagina and valuing your own safety over the second amendment rights of the mentally ill. hth.
Really? Where the heck do
Really? Where the heck do you go for those things that would put your life in danger.
I've got news for you, you've more of a chance getting hit by a bus or car than being shot at getting a pap smear ( I'm really curious about that one) or at the mall.
You know there is a happy medium, seldom found, between being an outright bigot and breaking your arm while patting yourself on the back.
i guess your local planned parenthood
isn't in colorado springs? speaking of breaking your arm while patting your back, let me go grab you a cast.
Your chance of being killed
Your chance of being killed at a Planned Parenthood is less than walking out your front door.
Aren't we talking about needless fear? This poster is afraid of PP yet the chances are next to nothing that anything would happen. It's hyperbole. Same with being fearful of women in hijabs in a movie theater, the chances are next to nothing that you would be in danger.
That is all.
No cast needed, I've no reason to pat myself on the back and I'd be the first to say so.
wait
You think I'm more likely to be killed by leaving my house than I am by going to Planned Parenthood?
I believe the anonymous lady was indeed employing hyperbole, but to illustrate the fact that - in this country - there have been far more attacks on Planned Parenthood by white men than there have been attacks on movie theatres by Muslim women trying to see the biggest Oscar contenders.
Yes, that poster is using the
Yes, that poster is using the same hyperbole as the movie theater bigot.
Is some hyperbole OK and other not?
What the word "hyperbole" means
"Hyperbole" means extreme exaggeration. If I talk about getting killed while getting a pap smear, that's hyperbole, because while women have indeed been killed by terrorists who have attacked reproductive health clinics, on multiple occasions, it isn't a very common occurrence. If I talk about getting killed by a Muslim woman bringing a bomb into a movie theater, that's not hyperbole, because there's no instance to exaggerate. Do you see the difference?
tl;dr: no, Patricia, it's not the "same hyperbole".
Yes, I get what you're saying
Yes, I get what you're saying.
What I am saying is both posters and the movie theater bigot have fears they really shouldn't have, and I guess I should've said just that.
since you ask
Some is effectively conveyed in a way that bolsters the writer's thesis statement. Some is muddled and poorly expressed. I realize that these are just comments on the internet, and not works of literature, but perhaps those less adept with rhetorical devices should avoid them.
Maybe it's in Brookline?
Violence at Planned Parenthood isn't something that only happens far away, in those scary red states.
"BROOKLINE, Mass. — Two women were killed and five other people were wounded in nearly identical shooting attacks at two abortion clinics here Friday morning by a man clad entirely in black and wielding a .22-caliber hunting rifle."
Yes, that story was in
Yes, that story was in December 1994. This is 2015 (21 yrs ago), so it's safe to assume it's not a regular thing and I (and friends who've visited the clinic since) feel safe visiting the clinic.
Hyperbole isn't needed.
You're right. Good thing
You're right. Good thing nobody has tried to hurt anybody at a Planned Parenthood since then.
The 11 killed over a period
The 11 killed over a period of time, according to your link, pales in comparison to other crimes.
What's the rate of a weekend in Chicago now a days?
Both are senseless.
I would not be afraid to go to a PP clinic, would you?
My wife used to get her
My wife used to get her annual OB/GYN checkup and birth control from the PP on Comm Ave back before we had health insurance. I always went with her to shield her from the rabid crazies who were would throw stuff at her and scream the most disgusting stuff at her. Knowing that they're instigated by the same Army of God and Operation Rescue rhetoric that convinces people to murder doctors, pushing through them always gave me pause.
Once inside, yes, I did feel safe, because of the locked door, metal detector, and security guards. Which were in place specifically to ward off the acts of violence you feel comfortable dismissing. Maybe you feel fine ignoring the dozens and dozens of violent attacks on women's health clinics that didn't end in death, but they don't do much to give me the warm fuzzies.
You have read the Koran and know what it says, right?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3349272/Pranksters-film-people...
Fish? Is that you?
Since there's nothing I can say that could possibly reason you out of a position you didn't reason yourself into, let me instead ask: what's it like to live your life in mortal fear of things that are effectively guaranteed to never happen to you? Those .00001% probabilities are barely blips on the radar to most of us, but you apparently live your life trying to avoid death-by-low-probability-event. What does that look like, day-to-day? To keep yourself safe from motor vehicle accidents and falling down the stairs, you would have to lock yourself into an airtight room, refusing to eat or drink anything that you didn't sterilize yourself. Even then, you're still hosed, because ten thousand times as many people died from asphyxiating on food last year as died in terrorist attacks. So you'd have to administer nutrition intravenously. But wait, sepsis and blood poisoning killed twenty thousand times as many people as acts of terrorism last year, so that's out as well. You'll just have to resign yourself to joining the ranks of folks who died of malnutrition last year--which, again, is several hundred times as many people as died in terrorist attacks.
More people were shot by their own dogs last year than died in terrorist attacks. More people were killed by vending machines falling on them. Let's not even start down the road of things that are actual risks, like skiing accidents or falling off the roof while putting up Christmas lights (300 and 25 times as many deaths, respectively) There are a million different windmills you could tilt at to prevent unnecessary deaths. I wonder why it is that you happened to choose the one that entitles you to harass folks who aren't white.
This is the best.
This is the best.
Bravo!
Bravo!
people did call 911 BEFORE the Colorado Springs shooting
the operator assured them that people were allowed to open carry guns. The calls were made before the shooting started. Good thing the gunman was white so the authorities didn't have to act on it.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29064963/open-carry-becomes-focus-afte...
It doesn't matter
So, it doesn't matter to you if someone else's civil rights are abridged? You're ok with pissing all over the Constitution as long as it's no skin off your rosy red ass?
Glad we got that out in the open, I mistook you for a far-sighted civic-minded altruist for a minute there.
Sorry if this hurts your delusional racism
Take a few minutes to tally up all the innocent people who have been killed or wounded by pissed off, white, right wing radicals in this country in the past 20 years. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list of every successful and attempted attack since the bombing in Oklahoma City. It will take a while to read through; it's a very long list. If you really think you have more to fear from a woman in a movie theater than from white men pretty much anywhere, you're out of your mind.
who said anything about a burka?
Not the movie theatre customer, nor the manager who replied to him.
Did he stay for the film at
Did he stay for the film at his theater or not?
This really rings fake to me
This really rings fake to me - the over-the-top grammatical errors in the complaint, the manager's completely unprofessional reaction, and the swiftness with which this surfaced on the internet - I saw it on imgur yesterday afternoon. Did you consult directly with the theater in question, or did you post this on your "source's" word that this was a real thing that actually happened, and not just something made up to make people get their justice boner for the day going?
The imgur thing ...
Is a copy of my acquaintance's original copy of the exchange.
what imgur thing?
I don't see it anywhere on the page or in your comments, Adam...
There's an image floating around
Which I didn't think to grab and post because it's just a JPEG or PNG of the text exchange I did post. If I run across it, I'll add it in a reply.
Imgur version
Is here.
Thanks
n/t
i for one
don't care if it is real or not because that doesn't impact my ability to make snarky and terrible comments about it on the internet
plus, like, you know its happened anyway whether it was at that theater or not
"justice boner" Perfect!
"justice boner"
Perfect!
link to imgur please.
n/t
over-the-top grammatical errors?
I'm just gonna copy-paste some of the actual things my TCOT uncle and his friends have written on the internet, as a way to illustrate that sometimes people with tiny worldviews have a fifth-grade education to match their understanding of reality:
"My question to the Congress is if 174,000 isn't enough to live on? How do you expect me live on my SSI check for 1,084 and not get a coast of living raise next year. I'll tell how learn to go without learn to live with your means and make a budget. More than I can say for you Congress men and women. It is shameful how spend the tax payers money. And on your self, I think you should be minimum wage and collect SSI for retirement. And earn raises by job performance because right now you are doing a lousy job. Our forefathers turning over in their graves seeing how this Country is run."
"I know cupole of my friends have and I have myself. ...."
"There is a law against spitting in public places but hardly ever in forced. There should be a law against spitting on anybody. This law is to extreme it would insight
More hatred then Good. Let me ask you a question. What would JESUS do ?"
"THAT WACT THEY DID TO MY HUSBEND WENT HE COME HOME FROM VIETMAN"
"He's not my president... He is Muslims president"
" thebM16 they gave our men in Veitnam was a peace of crap, the M14 was a1000% better"
well
the m16 was kind of a wreck at first compared to the m14 as far as i understand it
no doubt
A real peace of crap.
Doesn't pass the smell test
You don't need the Masters in Criminal Justice to tell that this story is complete nonsense and never happened. Although the concerned citizen would have been justified in pointing out the oddity of bringing backpacks to a movie, (See Something/Say Something) the elimination of names and identifying characteristics and the "manager's response" dripping with liberal platitudes is just too obvious. Too incredible to be believed as a wise Superior Court judge once admonished a "witness."
yeah
i mean, not discriminating based on a protected class, thats some serious liberal platitudes. since you apparently believe this story is as real as the tooth fairy i am curious why you wasted your time with it.
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