Of course, not. It is impossible to behave with any sense of dignity in these kinds of situations, in practice, except by refusing to appear/participate/have any conversation at all, etc. The rhetorical hights are occupied by these people; I do not believe there is any way you can win a dispute with them.
If you say you are not a racist, they will prove you that you are (as the definition of being a racist is entirely under their control). If you declare from the very beginning that you are, they would ask whether you discriminate, and how can you be sure that you don't, and then remind you that discrimination is prohibited both by law and by your employer's rules to which you have subscribed at your hiring. They hold all the cards in this game as it is conventionally played.
They have a strategy; and the only way to counter a strategy is with a strategy of you own. For the time being, I just want this imaginary conversation to sit here in my journal (complementing the "counter-entry visa policy statement"). There is no practical significance in any foreseeable future, of course.
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Date: 2013-03-24 09:59 pm (UTC)If you say you are not a racist, they will prove you that you are (as the definition of being a racist is entirely under their control). If you declare from the very beginning that you are, they would ask whether you discriminate, and how can you be sure that you don't, and then remind you that discrimination is prohibited both by law and by your employer's rules to which you have subscribed at your hiring. They hold all the cards in this game as it is conventionally played.
They have a strategy; and the only way to counter a strategy is with a strategy of you own. For the time being, I just want this imaginary conversation to sit here in my journal (complementing the "counter-entry visa policy statement"). There is no practical significance in any foreseeable future, of course.