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Occasionally I'll be in a group of friends-of-friends or new acquaintances, and someone will say something dumb about my political party, college major, or something invisible like that. It's always in a buddy-buddy way, like I'm obviously on their "team" and expected to enthusiastically agree. Every now and then someone will say something derisive about tattoos, and I will mention with a wide smile that I have one. The resulting facial expression and backpedaling is invariably priceless.
My husband and I were with a friend of his, someone he knew long ago but hadn't spoken to in years. He was very chatty and started talking about how retarded this and that were, and how various people were retards. It was just dumb slang that we're usually pretty easygoing about, but this guy said used "retard" and "retarded" a bunch of times. My husband finally said, "Not sure you're aware, but our daughter is retarded." I thought the guy was going to choke on his own tongue.
I would have said "Don't worry about it, I probably said something offensive about stupid people at some point tonight, so we're even" :P Rude people. I love when they try to backpedal. Just ****, fool.
Something related to me, or some one I know, such as insesant dissing homeless people as all of my friends were, or currently such. I might even speak up just for G/P.
So long as they didn't go out of their way to insult me, I wouldn't worry too much about it. People are going to have opinions, and some people will express theirs more freely without regard to who is in their presence and the possibility that someone may be offended. Also, when people make these blanket insults, most times they are referring to the worst case scenarios, but unfortunately lump everyone together and form a stereotype. People are entitled to their wrong opinion.
Have you ever been in a group, talking, and the conversation turns to a subject that pertains to you or your situation and everyone is badmouthing it? How do you react?
This happens nonstop to DH & me. We're "blue state" folks in a "red state" environment and people constantly assume we share their political outlook.
For us, lesson learned is to keep our contributions neutral when the subject turns to politics and social/religious issues. When others don't do so, we try to divert the conversation and if that fails, we make an excuse and leave. Life's too short.
So long as they didn't go out of their way to insult me, I wouldn't worry too much about it. People are going to have opinions, and some people will express theirs more freely without regard to who is in their presence and the possibility that someone may be offended. Also, when people make these blanket insults, most times they are referring to the worst case scenarios, but unfortunately lump everyone together and form a stereotype. People are entitled to their wrong opinion.
I think it's a good idea to speak up so that such a person can "know the enemy." It's educational, not personal.
Cutting such folks a bit of slack is fine, as it gives you more rope to hang them with.
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