Subjected to 'racial abuse' while kilted - sorry if length and/or content offends

[Troy]

I offer this comment as a member, not a moderator.



If I had responded to the comment “William Wallace was a skirt-wearing f*****!” it would have been to say "William Wallace didn't wear a kilt, READ A BOOK!"

Respectfully

Jamie

Again, Jamie, you are correct. A similar retort came to me about five minutes after the event - ahh, that old 20/20 hindsight thing again.

Cheers,

Troy

[Panache]

Again, Jamie, you are correct. A similar retort came to me about five minutes after the event - ahh, that old 20/20 hindsight thing again.

Cheers,

Troy

The retort "READ A BOOK" I got from a TV cartoon of the Comic book "The Tick". I have found that it applies to a wide and varied number of idiots in all manner of situations.

Cheers

Jamie

[Troy]

I have to confess an unfavorable prejudice towards some middle eastern cultures. I do have good friends from the region, but had to work past my preconceptions to get there.

While responding to such a statement would be out of character for me I could understand why some would feel impelled to. Such blatent ignorance and hatred would tend to invoke a strong emotional response from me. Making it all the more likely that I would simply take my leave.

My unsolicited .02 USD, if we are secure enough to wear kilts, we can handle the occasional idiot exposing his latent tendencies. Just a thought.

I agree with you totally - what somebody does or doesn't think about me doesn't worry me in the least. If somebody wants to make a smart-alec remark about me wearing a kilt I'm not going to get upset about it, but unfortunately I have a bit of mongrel streak in me if someone wants to get nasty.

As far as the whole Middle Eastern thing goes - I take people as I find them. Unfortunately a lot of these young guys here in Sydney who are of Lebanese descent have a bit of a chip on their shoulder and buy into the whole gangsta rap scene and think of themselves as hard men. To be fair though, I wonder how many of these lads have grown up seeing their mother get abused or spat on by some ignorant Anglo-Celt for wearing a headscarf. Still, copping grief over your own ethnicity is no excuse for wanting to attack other people because of theirs.

Cheers,

Troy

[Troy]

The retort "READ A BOOK" I got from a TV cartoon of the Comic book "The Tick". I have found that it applies to a wide and varied number of idiots in all manner of situations.

Cheers

Jamie

It's a good one - versatile, snappy, and very hard to misinterpret.

I have to admit that my "when you get home you can tell your mother that today you saw a real man" line (which I happen to think was quite funny) is not entirely original: the story goes that during the Great War a young British officer came across a battle-hardened Australian private who refused to salute. When challenged, the Aussie stood up and patted the officer on the shoulder and said, "Son, when you get home you can tell your mother that today you met a real soldier".

Cheers,

Troy

[Bryan]

I must say, Troy, you are a bigger man than I. If you insult my momma, I'm kicking your a**!

[taxdragon]

While in Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend I had my own experience with a group of middle easterners. A group of about 10 young Egyptians stopped me outside a casino and very politely asked me about my kilt. They were very nice and we had a great conversation. They would not let me leave until each had their picture taken with me. It was a fun experience...

[Troy]

I must say, Troy, you are a bigger man than I. If you insult my momma, I'm kicking your a**!

And if you insult my momma, she'll kick your a***!

[Archangel]

I think you handled the situation well. A few years ago I had a confrontation with a Middle Eastern fellow who, while passing me on my way to my car asked, "What the H*** is THAT?" pointing to my black workman's Utilikilt. I got out a card and handed it to him saying something like, "Here's the card of the company that makes them, you can read all about it on their website." He slapped the card out of my hand and threatened violence against me if I tried something like that again. I just shrugged and walked away.

Roll forward two weeks later. I run into the same guy at the Student Union. He's all apologetic and we get into a discussion about traditional male garments from his culture and others. He said that after he got home the night of his tirade against me he realized that his own traditional clothing might be viewed as women's clothing by someone who didn't know better.

I like this story better than the other ones.

The mouthpiece in the initial story had a group of friends trying to silence him. Avoid your own racism by recognizing that 80% were trying to keep the peace. Hmm, that sounded harsh, wasn't intended that strong.

Here's a point: sometimes we have a shortbread tin history of Scotland in our mind. We picture noble kilties against the English, and "ladies from hell" against the Germans. We don't know that kilties cleared Palestine, and that the Black Watch (unkilted, mind) were in Iraq as Scots, not Brits, for propaganda purposes. It doesn't make the kid right but you've all got the same focus point: the kilt.

[jordanjm]

Once when kilted on an outing I found myself being photographed by Japanese tourists.+

[Archangel]

And if you insult my momma, she'll kick your a***!

the last person to insult my mum had three Mounties have a "chat" with him on their own time.
Safer than having mum take matters into her own hands Scottish style (in the dark, from behind, with greater numbers), really.

Oh, she like kilts, too.