Don’t Oppress My People With Your Norms Of Punctuality
From Tulane University, the very heart of White Devil Babylon – uptown New Orleans – student Shahamat Uddin – pronouns “he, him, his” – howls in protest:
Punctuality centres whiteness. It is far easier for white men to get to work on time than Black people who are having to change their hair to fit the workplace’s professionalism standards.
It’s a hair thing, yes, and therefore terribly political, a hill to die on. But it’s even more than that. It’s also the devastating suspicion that you might be more likely to get hired if you remove your nose piercing, if only during office hours:
I remember the cultural pride I felt when I got my gold studded nose piercing, admiring my ancestors who donned the same kind of jewellery. I take it out now because I know I need a job, and I have learned from the Brown and Black people before me what I have to sacrifice to get one.
You see, wondering whether that nose piercing will be frowned upon, by employers or their customers, constitutes “systemic white supremacy,” a crushing phenomenon “that is barring us from maximal success.” It’s a “sacrifice,” an outrage, proof of being downtrodden. Because nose jewellery is pivotal to both optimal functioning and mental wellbeing. And questions of whether such piercings are ideal for a given workplace – however unspecified and theoretical those questions may be – amount to further, damning proof that “this country was not made for me.”
I have learned when and where it is to my own disadvantage to be too Brown or too gay or too immigrant.
One more time, Tulane University. Where tuition is a mere $60,000 a year. And where the oppressed huddle for comfort against the Cold Winds of Whiteness.
Western business professionalism is rooted in white supremacy. The practice of professionalism is shaped to advance the careers of white, straight, married men.
You see,
The 40-hour work week was built to allow white men to succeed at work while their wives would care for all of the family’s child and home responsibilities. The reason “coloured people time” exists is because non-Western cultures tend to have more polychronic work environments, and there is a different prioritisation of family and relationships over capitalist productivity and work demands.
Which is obviously what every employer wants to hear. And pay for. Every month.
A “polychronic” culture, since you ask, is one in which chatting and distractions are both commonplace and encouraged, and in which “issues such as promptness,” and reliability and productivity, are not prioritised. As favoured in, say, sub-Saharan Africa, that engine of civilisational blossoming and human betterment.
And if such indignities are insufficient,
Interviewers would much rather listen to the stories of my parents’ immigration struggle coming from Bangladesh than the time I organised all the people of colour in my organisation to fight back against our racist boss.
The details of this alleged racism – mentioned twice, rather proudly – are left somewhat unclear, indeed entirely mysterious, but you can imagine how such recollections would be catnip for employers. Employers who will likewise be impressed by a state of exquisite moral enlightenment in which injustice is measured in nose piercings and the cruelties of being expected to arrive for work on time.
And let’s not forget this one.
I’ll just leave this here.
If I had portrayed black people the same way, they would think that I’m a racist.
Still, you can’t deny the effectiveness of the indoctrination. Such that we have an elite, or would-be elite, educated in great comfort and at tremendous expense, such that few could contemplate partaking of its pleasures, and somehow, miraculously, they’re steeped in victimhood.
The old “forty hour work week”. Funny thing is, it’s always been more of a 60 hour work week for us “po’ white folk”. I wish I was black and had a nose ring, who knows I might even rinse my hair in cattle pee to shade it a little.
“Organised all the POC in my organisation to fight back against my racist boss”. And then mysteriously found himself unemployed?
You see, wondering whether that nose piercing will be frowned upon, by employers or their customers, constitutes “systemic white supremacy,”
This isn’t the 21st century I was expecting.
This isn’t the 21st century I was expecting.
And once again, I find myself obliged to mention race, a topic I don’t find very interesting, because this blog is largely about the pathologies of the left and the left is now apparently hellbent on racializing just about everything. And will seemingly perform any contortion to that end.
It is, as they say, all so tiresome.
…admiring my ancestors who donned the same kind of jewellery.
My ancestors would’ve occasionally sported woad, and very little else apparently. It’s never even vaguely occurred to me that I might do likewise, for one thing I’d frighten the neighbours, and for another it’s a bit cold and windy in Ireland most of the year*.
*I must say that while not wanting to recreate their lifestyle in any way, certainly not the infanticide for religious reasons, I do have a lot of respect for how hard they must have been. Ireland is a cool and damp place at best and downright frigid in the winter months. I can’t imagine living here in a wattle and daub hut with mostly damp woolens to wear.
“The old “forty hour work week”. Funny thing is, it’s always been more of a 60 hour work week for us “po’ white folk”.”
Yeah, I was gonna’ say – I’d be willing to bet if he showed-up two hours early instead of on-time and worked a 14-hour workday, he’d get along just fine with his prospective bosses. If he took the nose piercing out.
– Oh and, Cha-CHING! Your continued good health, mein host!
Tulane University. Where tuition is a mere $60,000 a year. And where the oppressed huddle for comfort against the Cold Winds of Whiteness.
Album title.
Oh and, Cha-CHING! Your continued good health, mein host!
Bless you, sir. May the fragrance of your surface cleaners be unobtrusive yet agreeable.
And once again, I find myself obliged to mention race, a topic I don’t find very interesting, because this blog is largely about the pathologies of the left and the left is now apparently hellbent on racializing just about everything. And will seemingly perform any contortion to that end.
Marxist economic theory proved to be an utter failure, so the left has to come up with new reasons to foment civil war and seize absolute power.
Punctuality centres whiteness.
Tell that to the Japanese.
Tell that to the Japanese.
They count as white because they are achievers not losers.
I take his point. We can have the surgeon, the white male SOB, start operating at 8:00 promptly, the scrub nurse/assist show up at twenty after the hour and the anesthesiologist deal with the patient’s blood curdling screams when he shows up to put him/her to sleep at 8:40 or thereabouts, depending on when he rolled out of bed. The OR will never be more “woke”.
But…he’s Bangladeshi…he’s just a very tan Caucasian guy. With straight hair. From that country next to India. Nose ring is Hindu, I think…maybe? Religion, not color. Wypipo with nose rings are also asked to remove them in most instances. He wants special dispensation for race?
And why is he banging on about Black people and their hair? I thought that was sacred and only Black people could address the topic? And this punctuality thing? The Japanese definitely and the Chinese too, to some extent, all value proper work behavior and attire. It’s not a “White” thing. Indians too are known for their industry and willingness to work, although maybe they got that from their white colonialist masters.
This guy and the Japanese Woo Master guy from the previous post – have they not gotten the message that Asians are not POC? That they usually get lumped in with wypipo in the Intersectionality Grievance poker game?
This is all so confusing.
The reason “Coloured People time” exists is because non-Western cultures tend to have more polychronic work environments, and there is a different prioritisation of family and relationships over capitalist productivity and work demands.
Indeed, and, to state the obvious, might count among the reasons why The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is Bangladesh, the West is the West, and why this git is from a 75% yte affluent suburb of Atlanta, and not Chittagong.
Evidently his parents, who in another article he claims run a restaurant, disagreed. It would be interesting to get their take on cooks, waiters, and waitresses who look like freaks and show up whenever the hell they want. I reckon, though, our noble author would just claim they are acting White – sorry, white.
As you say, tiresome. Skim through his other articles, it is all the same old boilerplate. As an aside, Tulane being an alma mater, anyone who is brown – sorry, Brown – or other color and/or has unusual looks in New Orleans and claims to be either unique or routinely discriminated against, is a liar and/or deluded.
You have to wonder what young Mr Uddin’s (presumably punctual and hard-working) parents would make of this pretentious whining. Would they be proud?
Ah, I see Mr Muldoon has beaten me to it.
[ Slides large Campari along bar. ]
“white, straight, married men”
At least he’s learned who the permitted targets are in exchange for his 60k tuition.
Mr. Uddin would be right at home in Letterkenny’s FAKU:
Not that he’d ever admit his shtick is just this basic. Tiresome poseur.
This, remember, is what passes for a subset of elite culture. It’s how one signals status and moral elevation, among people who imagine themselves destined for roles of importance and influence, and responsibility.
It’s laughable, yes, and contemptible, but it’s not some random foolishness. It’s encouraged and rewarded. And eagerly consumed.
My bestest friend in the world works at the Tulane labs for infectious disease. The place is so Kafkaesque with a bloated administration disconnected from reality that often all he can do is laugh at the horror. This includes a great portion of the younger black hires understanding that the color of their skin makes them virtually immune from discipline or firing by their predominantly white in-theory superiors.
This is at a lab complex dealing with diseases that sometimes make Ebola seem merciful, carried by violent primates that are strong enough to rip muscle from bone with their bare hands.
It is far easier for white men to get to work on time than Black people who are having to change their hair to fit the workplace’s professionalism standards.
Funny, I never heard from my female employees they couldn’t get to work on time because the white guy they worked next to had it easier because it took more time to do hair and makeup.
And if someone had ever tried such a thing, I would have said “get up earlier.” (I’ve had people who were chronically tardy, but this particular excuse never was offered)
I have learned when and where it is to my own disadvantage to be too Brown or too gay or too immigrant.
Then go somewhere you consider more congenial, you whiny b*tch.
And if someone had ever tried such a thing, I would have said “get up earlier.”
Darleen’s being sensible again. We must chase her from the village.
Tell that to the Japanese.
One of the interesting things we witnessed in Japan was the preciseness of the train schedules AND the formality involved when changing drivers. They all wear crisp uniforms with white gloves, meet outside the train, with a bow and if you are sitting in the car where you can look into the drivers area, they wait for a countdown to precisely leave.
Also, arriving too early is considered as rude as arriving late. “On time” actually means “on time”.
Considering he’s from Bangladesh, he’s not entirely wrong. I remember reading (maybe one of Jared Diamond’s books?) about an Indian man (dot Indian, not feather Indian) who noticed a big difference in his job performance depending on whether he was in the humid tropic subcontinent, or cool, damp London.
It other words, it was a weather thing, not a racial thing.
Incoming. https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/356097/
Incoming.
[ Hands out combs, breath mints and clip-on ties. ]
Bugger, we need tablecloths.
I would have said “get up earlier.”
In my callow youth I affected mid-back length hair and a ZZ Top level beard, which entailed 45 minutes in the shower every morning to properly maintain.
There were times when I had a choice between washing it in the morning or being to work on time. It would simply never have occurred to me to use washing my hair as a tardy excuse; I suffered the indignities of a seasonally inappropriate hat for the day.
I ultimately opted for a half-inch buzz cut because it was too much of a pain. Now I can be in and out of a shower in under seven minutes.
I’m not seeing that this has much of anything to do with the colour of my skin. The colour of my vanity as a lonely teenage pronking buck, yes.
It other words, it was a weather thing, not a racial thing.
Race is not our host’s thing so I’ll avoid that particular rabbit hole, but Jared Diamond puts a lot of effort into avoiding any possible evidence that if you correct for the environmental factors he claims are responsible for all racial disparities, the racial disparities still don’t go away.
Don’t know what everyone here is on about. When the Boogaloo begins he and his ilk will show up late to the battle with unnecessary adornments and no skills. It’s a win-win: we wipe out his side without breaking a sweat and he gets to bitch about white people with his ancestors for eternity.
I must be really, really white.
Back in the day when I was a manager, my meetings started precisely on time. You could be late if you wished, but the meeting will have started without you. I could see no reason why punctual, caring employees should have their time wasted by those who were less so.
I could see no reason why punctual, caring employees should have their time wasted by those who were less so.
However convoluted the excuses, habitual tardiness is selfish and disrespectful, a sign of disdain for other people’s time and commitments.
I will gather my things and leave if a meeting hasn’t started within four minutes of its published start time. When I did this to one of the firm’s owners because he was late to a meeting he scheduled, I was upbraided later for my lack of respect. I politely inquired whether my actions were less considerate than the behavior of somebody who would put six busy (and highly-paid) professionals in a conference room for fifteen minutes with nothing to do, and then show up unprepared to lead the proceedings.
I can’t say that his behavior changed, but I stopped getting invited to those meetings, which was an even better outcome from my perspective.
Back in the day when I was a manager, my meetings started precisely on time. You could be late if you wished, but the meeting will have started without you. I could see no reason why punctual, caring employees should have their time wasted by those who were less so.
One thing that bugged me about the company I spent the best part of my career with was how meetings would not start on time. I eventually learned to not leave my desk until the meeting time or a minute or two after. I found that if I arrived 5 minutes early or such (as my father taught me, “Lombard Time”) I was wasting MY time. Of course after 10+ years of that, I start working for people who actually started meetings on time.
I remember the cultural pride I felt when I got my gold studded nose piercing, admiring my ancestors who donned the same kind of jewellery.
My ancestors painted themselves blue. It is racist and oppressive that dyeing yourself blue is not viewed favorably in today’s workplace.
the left is now apparently hellbent on racializing just about everything
Portland, Oregon is considering a bond issue to improve transportation in the metro area.
You’d think that planning these improvements would be a straightforward process, but, of course, the planners have a different agenda:
Throughout this process, we have grappled with what it means to preserve and expand this human right [transportation] and truly lead with racial equity.
What does it mean to us to lead with racial equity in this transportation measure? This was one of the few explicit, stated, virtually unanimous values of the task force that seemed unequivocal at the outset of our process. It must endure as such.
The Portland metro area is more than three-quarters non-Hispanic white, and is all of three percent black.
No matter. All transportation improvements have to be viewed through a racial lens, to ensure that people with inappropriate skin color do not unduly benefit from these improvements.
What’re the odds that Shahamat Uddin doesn’t prioritise his pay packet differently?
The Twin Cities spent a billion dollars to build a toy train between the two downtowns, and its primary purposes are to provide a warm place to sleep for homeless people who can’t or won’t follow the rules in our homeless shelters, and to provide a quick getaway for the drug dealers who sell from the train platforms between the University and Frogtown. This is not a problem, however, since these two groups are disproportionately people of color.
As an added bonus, fixed tracks make it much easier for groups like Black Lives Matter to shut down transit, since the trains can’t route around blockades the way that buses can.
Not sure if this information is the sort of thing Portland wants to advertise, but it should at least help them sleep easier at night.
The light rail in Baltimore has a station at the Hunt Valley Towne [sic] Centre [double sic] with lots of fashionable stores. It also created new employment for those engaged in five-finger discounts, hitting the stores and riding the rails to their downtown neighborhoods.
Mr. Uddin is not only currently matriculating at the very expensive Tulane, but also previously attended American University, where he was a student ambassador, and has studied abroad in Morocco on a Gilman Scholarship – and hence, is obviously the very definition of under-privileged and down-trodden.
If it can be believed, this howl of protest really is all about the nose piercing, because Mr. Uddit has neither long hair nor an unkempt appearance.
Once again, underscoring just how persecuted he is.
The colour of my vanity as a lonely teenage pronking buck, yes.
…winner of ‘best description ever’ award.
As someone who is a regular in the metal scene, which contains many with similar hair and beards, I am amazed that so much effort to maintain! I will certainly look at them differently now…
How on earth did he manage to write and have this published in a timely manner, one wonders. He can’t be using “white” technology now could he? Surely he must have etched it out on a slate and had it transported over the Alps by elephant.
. . . student Shahamat Uddin . . .
. . . . A name is a name is a name, but I wonder if he’s he’s ever heard of the Shriners?
And Coy, don’t answer the phone Uddn’uddn!!!!
Like our young scholar here I too wished to celebrate my culture (Irish) and took to showing up for work drunk. But the bigot bossman oppressed me and once again I was shown the door. How long oh Lord, how long will we suffer like this? Let my people go!
Evidently his parents, who in another article he claims run a restaurant, disagreed. It would be interesting to get their take on cooks, waiters, and waitresses who look like freaks and show up whenever the hell they want. I reckon, though, our noble author would just claim they are acting White – sorry, white.
That.
Race is not our host’s thing so I’ll avoid that particular rabbit hole,
I don’t mean to imply that the topic is taboo here. It’s more that the leftist fixation with race and supposed racial victimhood, and with identitarian theatre generally – as if being black or gay or whatever were the most important and interesting thing about a person – is monotonous. I just wish they’d vary their pretensions and neuroses now and then.
I did a quick scan of some online guides to doing business in Bangladesh. They all recommend being punctual, although concede that the Bangladeshis you meet may not be so. They also note that business dress is required – don’t rock up in shirtsleeves because it’s hot. I suspect a man attending a business meeting with a stud in his nose would be given short shrift.
where the oppressed huddle for comfort against the Cold Winds of Whiteness.
Actual LOL.
Actual LOL.
Given the woke-lings’ reliance on self-flattering hyperbole, it’s quite possible that the phrase, or something very much like it, has already been used in earnest.
They do like to dramatise things. Especially themselves.
The Winds of Whiteness
— a novel by Herman Woke.
“How long oh Lord, how long will we suffer like this? Let my people go!”
– Well, your boss DID let one of your people go… { – sorry – couldn’t resist; I’ll show myself out.}
The Winds of Whiteness
— a novel by Herman Woke
I thought it was a song by Paul Sermon
I don’t mean to imply that the topic is taboo here.
I thought so. And I wasn’t making a race-based observation in re London vs. Pakistan. It’s more that living near the equator takes a lot out of you during the day. Even a Bangladesh native can tell that he was much more productive in cooler weather.
It’s more that living near the equator takes a lot out of you during the day.
Sounds like a cop out. Hot and sticky Singapore has a culture of hard work and punctuality.
Sounds like a cop out. Hot and sticky Singapore has a culture of hard work and punctuality.
Disparities are stubborn things.
It’s more that living near the equator takes a lot out of you during the day.
And living near the poles, what with their long winter nights, gives you depression and turns you into an alcoholic. Somehow this doesn’t affect Santa. Some of his helpers however…
I thought so.
Not entirely unrelated, an interview with Charles Murray.
…as if being black or gay or whatever were the most important and interesting thing about a person…
This always gets my goat. (Apologies if I’m repeating a previous rant.) I have queer friends who are lovely and interesting people. They travel, they play musical instruments, they have cute kids and lovely homes where we get together for dinners.
There are other people I know who are Queer, and that’s it — full stop. They have no interesting stories, no interesting hobbies, no amusing holiday snapshots. They’re just queer. And brother, if your orientation is the only “interesting” thing about you, I’m sorry to have to tell you that you’re simply a crashing bore (or boor; take your pick!).
It’s one of those things that I have to remind myself of regularly: the people we make fun of here are not exemplars of their identity group. (I don’t even like thinking in terms of identity groups.) They’re usually individuals who are damaged in some fashion, and deeply unhappy, and because they belong to some particular demographic they’ve decided to blame their issues and their unhappiness on The World’s terrible bigotry toward whatever trait they’ve decided is central to their sense of self.
It might be tragic, if only these people weren’t so annoying and destructive.
Hot and sticky Singapore has a culture of hard work and punctuality.
Ah – but did they develop this culture from Chinese immigration or from their British Colonial Masters? /sarc
In both Sri Lanka and Malyasia there are certain ethnic groups (cultures?) that are industrious and punctual and who do well economically compared to other ethnic groups in those countries who aren’t as industrious and who tend to be poorer economically. This has caused some strife – in Sri Lanka, violent civil war – and yet if I am not mistaken, all groups involved are some variation of light to very dark “Brown”.
This idea that only white people or westerners can be hard working and punctual is an insult to the Chinese and Japanese and other Asian cultures that have historically prided themselves on these values. And quite forcefully sometimes!
if your orientation is the only “interesting” thing about you, I’m sorry to have to tell you that you’re simply a crashing bore
As I said regarding the professionally oppressed Anthony Oliveira,
It does seem rather neotenous, like an off-the-peg identity clung to by people who suspect, not without cause, that they might otherwise be uninteresting. As if being gay or whatever were some kind of accomplishment, a feat, something to applaud or be fascinated by, over and over again. But I somehow doubt that pretentious identitarian victimhood is something that will age well.
Hey, I hate 40-hour workweeks too — but that’s probably because I probably have some degree of chronic fatigue syndrome, and I think it affects my work performance. That, and I’d rather spend time working on mathematics, and every hour I spend making money to support my family is an hour less that I can research weird mathematics and computer science ideas.
Clearly, this is the work of the Anti-Math and Anti-Fatigue Patriarchy!
This idea that only white people or westerners can be hard working and punctual is an insult to the Chinese and Japanese and other Asian cultures that have historically prided themselves on these values.
It is a reflection of Liberal America’s spectacular ignorance about the rest of the world.
I probably have some degree of chronic fatigue syndrome, and I think it affects my work performance. That, and I’d rather spend time working on mathematics
Doing stuff you don’t want to do is tiring…
I probably have some degree of chronic fatigue syndrome…
I have some degree of chronic near retirement age syndrome. 🙂
Doing stuff you don’t want to do is tiring…
But we moderns are pretty damn lucky: most of us have jobs doing stuff we don’t want to do or don’t want to do for 40-60 hours per week, but we’re vastly better off than our ancestors who had to work so much harder often at jobs that might wear out our bodies by middle age and might even kill us.
…we’re vastly better off than our ancestors…
I recall being told, repeatedly, by anthropologists that our hunter-gatherer forebears lived an idyllic existence. The word ‘idyllic’ had evidently undergone a semantic shift at some point, as many of the ethnographies of hunter-gatherers I read described peoples who entered middle-age at 25 and whose women became crones at 40, often widowed by their mates suffering accidents or murder.
Funny things, words.
The word ‘idyllic’ had evidently undergone a semantic shift at some point, as many of the ethnographies of hunter-gatherers I read described peoples who entered middle-age at 25 and whose women became crones at 40, often widowed by their mates suffering accidents or murder.
Ah, but consider that they didn’t waste so much time bathing or brushing their teeth or going to the dentist. And they didn’t have corporate advertising to tell them how bad they smelled. So, you know, paradise.