Am I the only one who saw the very last “rant” in the C’ville?
“Do you know why you should paint your canoe black? ‘Cause then it won’t tip.” (Bolding courtesy of C’ville) I’d link to it but they don’t put the Rant online.
To be fair, I had to explain this to my Canadian husband, who thought it was a joke he just didn’t get. But please, you put H—— T——– or G—– for a grocery store and let this slide????
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Tagged as: C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville, Rants, Yuck
I was pretty shocked myself. I hope this made it to the page due to some kind of editorial oversight. I could potentially see its inclusion as a commentary on the state of lingering racism in Charlottesville, but if that was the intent - and I doubt it - it should have been accompanied by an explanitory note. Without context, it serves no purpose but to offend.
Thank you for posting this. What a distasteful rant– and not the best judgment call on the part of C-VILLE, though I can not know what kind of discussion took place prior to its inclusion. They may have had the same discussion of free speech. Tough. Very tough. If our aversion is the desired reaction… quite a risk to take!
I’m almost as offended we’re still ranting about tipping. Same rant, different week.
Welcome to the world of waiters who dread tables of females, seniors and other less represented groups.
Agree with it or not, but tables of females are awful as they can never stop yapping long enough to order things together, bringing to knew levels the concept of….”Ohhh, that water looks good, I will take one too!!” followed by the water arriving and another woman saying, “Ohhh that water looks good, I will take one too…”
Seniors take forever to eat cheap stuff and then like the concept of 10%.
Where is the C-Ville Weekly response to this?
I feel like an idiot–I had to google the phrase to get the meaning. My search yielded several joke threads on discussion forums where people shared this one. I’m assuming the C’ville staff, like myself, hadn’t heard it before and thought it was just one of those cryptic nonsense rants.
It’s OK, like I said, my smart-but-still-Canadian husband didn’t get it either, which leads me to believe the Rant transcriber (whichever sorry soul that may be) just thought it another bit of Dada-ist Charlottesville nonsense. Socks w/ sandals, Goths, canoes, whatever.
Also, yeah I have been a waitress, and owned a restaurant and you just have to take the folks who you know won’t tip as kind of a community service project. They’d give you money if they could or knew better or whatever, but your real job is just to make them happy. The percentages always pay off in the end if you’re any good, anyway.
I say this about three times a year, in very different contexts: we should be more like France.
They”re more racist in France than anywhere in the world. You just have to be Algerian to qualify, kinda. Do you really want OUR underprivileged setting fire to their own homes?
it’s funny because it’s true.
& people don’t not tip because they can’t afford it. that’s ridiculous.
No I want to be more like France as in, let’s do away with tipping. I have spent hundreds of hours of my life I’ll never get back thinking things like,
“Were they $25 good or $30 good?”
“How do they not think I was 25% good tonight?! After extra bread? After I laughed at your ‘hollow leg’ and ‘lick your plate’ and ‘f*ing merlot’ jokes?”
and
“I know you’re French, so please don’t fulfill the stereotype and give me a dollar.”
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The C-Ville doesn’t write this stuff; we just pass it along. It’s a reflection of your community. Think about the Freedom Wall discussion. The only things that don’t get printed in the Rant are compliments to the C-ville and explicit/criminal threats.
Tim, do you print everything that comes through to the rant line? You exercise some editorial discretion already by deleting full business names. Your answer is a cop-out.
No, Stormy, your call for greater editorial discretion is a cop-out. I don’t like this kind of speech any more than you do, but let’s be realistic…it’s out there and censoring it just overshadows the problem.
As a liberal, I see it as a great failing of social liberalism that sentiments like this rant are considered too taboo (non-PC) to discuss. Think about every time a celebrity personality makes an off-color remark and Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton respond by asserting that the remark has created a new rift in American race relations. The rift wasn’t created; it has always been there. We often forget, though, because “editorial discretion” often means weeding out unsavory opinions.
Grow the fuck up. Airing prejudice in public forums, so long as it does not incite violence, is really the only way to get a constructive dialog going. Pretending the problem doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. Are we really surprised that racists still exist in 2007?
Nicely done, Cville Weekly, for publishing the rant. At least you folks seem to have a little sense.
No, Stormy, your call for greater editorial discretion is , essentially, weak-minded. I don’t like this kind of speech any more than you do, but let’s be realistic…it’s out there and censoring it just overshadows the problem.
As a liberal, I see it as a great failing of social liberalism that sentiments like this rant are considered too taboo (non-PC) to discuss. Think about every time a celebrity personality makes an off-color remark and Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton respond by asserting that the remark has created a new rift in American race relations. The rift wasn’t created; it has always been there. We often forget, though, because “editorial discretion” often means weeding out unsavory opinions.
Grow the fuck up. Airing prejudice in public forums, so long as it does not incite violence, is really the only way to get a constructive dialog going. Pretending the problem doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. Are we really surprised that racists still exist in 2007?
Nicely done, Cville Weekly, for publishing the rant. At least you folks seem to have a little sense.
BR,
Nice try, but not quite. Tim says they “just pass it along.” They don’t. They edit some, but not all, of what gets printed. So it’s not just passed along. I don’t care if they print it all. I don’t care if they edit everything. They can’t say they pass it along and then edit some of it. That’s trying to have it both ways. Nowhere did I write that I want more editorial discretion. Like I wrote, I don’t care. Don’t put words in my mouth.
I take Tim on good faith, actually. The publication doesn’t need to publish flattering remarks, and explicit threats are not protected speech. There is no inconsistency between editing those comments and letting a broad variety pass through.
And note that Tim never suggested that “just passed along” meant “passed along unthinkingly.” If anyone’s putting words into someone else’s mouth, it’s you doing it to Tim.
So what’s the solution, Stormy?
I think I may want some popcorn for this….this may turn out good….
p.s. I know the orginal caller for the particular rant, but I can’t divulge such sensitive information
**Thor’s got sour patch kids**
My solution? Tim writes: “We don’t publish commercial or personal names, but we let people figure them out, if they can. We don’t edit for content, and we let people express themselves. We don’t print rants complimenting us and we don’t print explicit/criminal threats.”
Thank you BusRider. I think some are looking too much into “pass it along.” It was just an offhanded remark. That is by no means our official position on what we do and its not written anywhere. I merely meant to demonstrate that we are just the messenger in this case. Part of what The Rant does is to provide a forum for people in Charlottesville to speak their minds, and for everyone to see what it is that’s on people minds. Sometimes, it’s non-sensical BS. Sometimes it’s a debate on socks with sandals. And sometimes it may be a more thoughtful comment on our local politicians. Needless to say, it is not about what we think. It’s about fostering a discussion. Judging by the comment here so far, we have certainly accomplished that.
Now was I taken aback when I read that rant? Yes, but not so much because it was printed; it was more that someone would take such an attitude and express it so publicly (if anonymously). I’m proud we didn’t chicken out and published that instead of passing on it.
As for the removal of names…well I honestly can’t speak to that. I have zero involvement with editorial, and I don’t know the exact reasons for that. Whatever the reason, it rarely makes a difference and you can almost always tell who the intended target is.
Tim,
Thanks for coming back. I understand what you were trying to say with your first comment, but for whatever reason, it rubbed me the wrong way. Apparently somebody pissed in the lunch I got at B____ R____ C_____ S_____ today.
well, i hate to do this, i really do, but you know what, this stereotype is true. at least in my expereince. i have worked in the restaurant industry for 13 years– everything from kitchen to hostess to bartender to server, and, i’m sorry, but for the most part, black people don’t tip well. neither do tables full of women (unless you are a cute guy), octogenarians, foreigners and undergrads.
i hate to feed into this sterotype, but ITS TRUE. certainly there are exceptions t every rule, but for the most part….
okay, so, go ahead now, tell me i am racist or whatever. then wait tables in this town and tell me i am wrong….
Oh, FFS. If you people transcribed messages off the answering machine wholesale, I’d buy your “just the messenger” thing. But I personally have had rants (cogent and I thought, funny) published and then again some not, and I know other people who have called several times and never seen their rants printed. It’s a frequent Rant that previous rants weren’t printed. So clearly, someone is choosing which rants to publish, THEREFORE the choice to publish this one seems mean-spirited and just downright inflammatory.
You were “taken aback” that someone would say something so shitty on an anonymous call-in line? What are you, twelve? How is throwing fuel on an already blazing fire “fostering a discussion”? The only discussion you foster is about your own irresponsibility.
Taking a stand AGAINST publishing this kind of thing is courageous; you should be ashamed, not proud.
Honestly!!!
I used to transcribe the rants when I worked at the C-ville as an intern. They actually pull out of a lot of rants that come in — not just threats or inflammatory ones. Like if the editor likes the person or the business, they disappear. Sometimes when they don’t have enough rants to fill the whole page, so the staff makes them up.
Editorial discretion is a joke at the C-ville. It’s all advertiser pandering, trust me.
I recently saw a Whoopi Goldberg special in which she ended her show with the following old joke:
A beautiful black baby is flittin around the heavens, just as happy as can be. She sees God and flits cherubically over to Him and asks with wide eyes “God, is I a angel?”
And God said “No, n*gg* you a bat!”
Then she challenged the laughing audience to think about why they laughed, and stated that that would be the last time she used the N-word in her act.
I too read that canoe rant and didn’t get the joke because it’s based on a stereotype that I hadn’t heard before. The only stereotype I’d ever heard about tipping is that rich people don’t tip well.
Many people think that they can get away with a racist or otherwise hurtful joke because it’s funny. But it’s all about context. The general test of politeness seems to be that if you’re insulting a group more socially powerful than your own, you’re ok. Or, if you’re part of the group you’re insulting, you’re ok. Immigrant Yakhov Smirnoff making fun of American culture. Ok. Out lesbian Kate Clinton making fun of lesbians bringing over a moving truck on the 3rd date. Ok.
But what about the gray areas?
Lisa Lampanelli rehashing old racist jokes? Is it ok? She has sex with black and latino guys…does that make her “in” enough? White comics on Comic View using the “n” word? Is it ok? They’ve obviously been given the seal of approval because they’re allowed to be on Comic View at all. Kathy Griffin making gay jokes? Is it ok?
Though this thread’s a bit dated, as there’s been an odd resurgence in the Rant responding to the rant in question, I thought I’d throw in my two cents.
I hate to say it, but when I read the joke, I laughed. I laughed a lot, actually. Not because it’s funny to laugh at minorities (though to be fair, as a minority, I laugh at them all the time), and not because it’s funny to perpetuate stereotypes.
I laughed because I’ve worked in restaurants and was working in one the moment a fellow restaurant worker brought me the rant. I laughed because really, all that comment was, was one of the many comments tired, poor, and jaded restaurant kids throw around at the bar, over their well-earned shift drinks. I hate to say it, but we probably say worse things.
None of it’s meant however, at least I hope it isn’t, as socio-political commentary. It’s not meant to support or exacerbate racial tensions in this town. Comments like that are silly jokes we say to vent our frustrations over earnestly trying to make others happy on their night out, and having our efforts rewarded with nothing. When you work for $2.13 an hour, getting stiffed kinda sucks. I’m not making us out to be martyrs–we’re not. I’m explaining why we crack stupid jokes like the one printed and may not mean anything by it.
Kudos to the Cville for (A) supporting the Rant as an open forum, in whatever capacity it can remain open; and (B) for at least acknowledging a commonly held gripe from a very very large section of Charlottesville… the people who work for tips.
Interesting new development in the racist rant saga. Check out what today’s Rant contains: “Hi, I’m calling about the canoe joke. I’m the one that said it the first time in the rant, and I’m an African-American server, so everybody needs to just calm down and take a chill pill. It was just a joke, and if I can deal with it so can you.”
He/she could be lying?
For non-tippers:
Don’t wanna tip? Eat at McDonald’s!
@19- i saw your post and already thought i knew.
(the caller)
however…(i skimmed through the rest)
i haven’t lived through all of this site- i mean, haven’t been here.
but tipping.
let’s see:
people from other countries- not so much, ’specially if they are from europe where thier dollar is stronger and there is public health care and the folks who wait tables get paid at least minimum wage.(anywhere from $1. to 10 %)
even people from california- their servers get paid the minimum wage(which i $9./hr there)- they tip around 18% at best
and since i moved here from a place that did not even talk about racism- wherere i was 1 of 60 on a *gasp* public transport bus!!!?!!? who had neither brown hair or braon eyes…
and then found myself wondering where all the people were-(ethnicity, duh!) while being told by my then (sweet, “townie”, brilliant, kind,boyfriend)…”see, in charlottesville, we aren’t racist- we like black people”.
and i was struck speechless- which i seldom am.
my only thought was that if you are talking about it, you already are.
sorry for not paying attention to the meanderings of the thread, but it’s a very strange black and white town. and i have never lived anywhere quite like it init’s racial dynamic.
i read at the discovery museum that in 1924 VA passed a law that said no one who was whtie could marry anyone who was not white.
(i thought-whoa!) i then felt a lot of”why this place is a lot weirder than me,” as ,well, me. since i figure there are grandparents brought up by that thinking forced upon them now still bringing that to the table, as it were.
/sorry, but it was recently brought to my attention, then there was this topic so i jumped up on my soapbox…