[Closed] Today's moral question

Was it a "works" party?

they can actually view facebook at work?

Was it a work fancy dress? Was it a work Facebook account?

If no to both the above I would say no, it has nothing to do with them at all.

And he should point out that members of the royal family can dress as Nazis without repurcussions (other than from rag newspapers).

What marked the terrorist costume as being Islamic?
No, they shouldn't be able to do this. Ask for their evidence.

Anyone who goes to a bonfire party and comes into contact with Catholics should be warned, if one were to be consistent.

This is a minefield. If pictures of him were on Facebook, then they could well be considered in the public view and, if his employer has a policy, or rules in it's contract, saying that he should be sensitive to ethnic minorities etc, then I would say they might be justified.

A verbal warning sounds like he got off lightly. If they pushed for something like misconduct, he could have had written or a sacking.

Chocolate Hob Nobs?

What's the problem?

And why is your name not G?

Is your colleague's friend Prince Harry?

[img] [/img]
(At a previous party).

Personally, I'd say his employers are on shaky ground. He was at a bloody party FFS, not a Klan meeting! PC nonsense yet again if you ask me!

1) It wasn't a works party.
2) He was obviously dressed as an Islamic terrorist.
3) Chocolate Hob Nobs

In the curent PC 'Nanny State' we live, he should've thought about potential repercussions and sensitivities to others. He's lucky to get away with a verbal.

However, anyone who get's their knickers in a twist over a fancy dress party that was not related to the workplace really does need a reality check.

Do we no longer have vicars 'n' tarts parties for fear of ridiculing religion? What's November the 5th if it isn't 'anti-establishment' and religion?

Ban Facebook - it really is such a dangerous place for so many reasons.

Is there anything in your mates contract / terms of employment about brining the service in to disrepute?
If so pretty straight forward – If not that as a public servant (as working for the local authority) then really he should of known better given the amount of diversity training that goes on
Employers are increasingly checking out social networking sites to see what employee get up to, and as this is usually in the public domain then they are able to do this

PS - pass the hob-nobs and send out for some Jaffa cakes!

He's not a mate, I don't know him.

I work with one of his mates who was deleting the images this morning prior to the lad's hearing at work.

Hob Nobs all gone.

Well given I can loose my registration for none professional behaviour outside of work as proof, then you'll find they can warn him on grounds of professional conduct.

Well troll off then, man goes to a party with a leek on his head saying he's a welshman. Nothing is said because you can be as racialist as you want when you take the piss of those that don't go round killing people. Bit like taking mickey out of a Christian, it so brave cos they aint going to fly a plane into your office. Put on some baggy clothes and a beard and everyone kacks themselves. If we use humour as a weapon against Nazi/facists then why not the narrow mined nutters that kill people at the extremes of Islam. Or are you afraid of them? Yes? They win.

Prefer choclate digestives myself.

What is actually WRONG with dressing as a terrorist? So he had a tea-towel on his head, a false beard and a plastic gun. But what has he actually done that is wrong.

For example, had he gone as an IRA terrorist, would there be a similar backlash or is it just another crazy mixed-up PC-mad LA covering their own arses in the fear that he might have somehow offended someone.

EDIT: MT covered some of what I was trying to say too 🙂

not very PC, i wouldnt be impressed if i was at a party with anyone dressed as a terrorist, nazi, catholic priest with a baby taped to thier crotch (saw it once at uni fancy dress)
it wouldnt offend me personally, but i think it would be in bad taste, and not very funny, so it wouldnt make me s**** either.
It comes across as "look at how unpc i can be"

on the flipside, i think they should keep thier beaks out.

So, in this PC-mad-for-it world, what can we go to fancy dress parties as?

Vicars - OUT
Nuns - OUT
Terrorists - OUT
Naughty schoolgirls - OUT
Nazis - OUT

So the next fancy dress party I go to, there will be 50% Supermen and 50% Wonderwomen.

Seconded mt's comments above.

Any chance of a chocolate coated Bath Oliver?

[b][i]diversity training[/i][/b]

I daren't even Google that to find out what it amounts to

Don't Superman and Wonderwoman descriminate against the 'less abled' members of our society?

Put on a flat cap and take a whippet - by all accounts, they don't count. 😉

So the next fancy dress party I go to, there will be 50% Supermen and 50% Wonderwomen.

I think statistically, it's more likely to be a 49/51 split 😀

LOL

So 'AverageAbilitiedPerson'.

Which is still discriminatory to those of less than average ability.

What about Batman? Catwoman?

In fact 'AverageAbilitiedPerson' could be a character from That Mitchell and Webb Look couldn't s/he?

willard - Member
What about Batman? Catwoman?

Speciesist.

You'll have the RSPCA on your case for causing stress to other animal species.... Still, the animal psychologists will appreciate the extra work.

going to a fancy dress party as an Islamic terrorist while un-wise and possibly offence to some (me included) I don’t think that the real issues – that is the fact that they were posted on facebook / interweb and as such the public domain

as Drac said I could loose my right to practice & therefore loose my job for brining the profession into disrepute – this clause make no concession as to been in work or not

My attitude to this depends on what you mean by this: [i]The chap in question works for the local authority and comes into contact on a daily basis with members of the Muslim community.[/i]

Is he (a)the Muslim Liason and Please Don't Kill Us Officer leading an outreach and harmonisation task force to seek paths for cultural awareness and respect among our diverse cultures, or is he (b)just a bloke doing a job, some of whose customers happen to be muslims?

If (a), then he's an idiot and should know better than to risk losing his silly job by doing something so daft. If (b), then I rather take the view that mt and others have taken.

I am interested to know how the character was made to be clearly Islamic and not just a terrorist with a penchant for hessian clothes and of a scruffy/unkempt appearance.

Was he carrying a copy of the Koran?

Was he carrying a copy of the Koran?

Yes.

Did he make a home movie before going to the party?

You are joking? Daft t**t. Not for being thoroughly un-PC, but simply because he is most likely to actually have an Islamic Terrorist come around and do something nasty to him for besmirching the Koran.

LOL!

I went to a bad taste fancy dress party as Stephen Hawking complete with wheelchair and a tomy speak and spell for conversational duties

For a troll this has been pretty funny, would loved to have seen the chap dressed as a priest with the baby stapped to his tackle, very topical at present. LOL at that.

Olly - "not very PC" Lord protect from the users of that phrase (thats the Lord of your choice).

You should be allowed to dress as you please. For a free country it's not very free........

Now where's my balaclava?

(terrific troll btw!)

Well in the North East the current fashion is for girls to go out as "cowgirl" showing off their "cheeks" (not the ones on the face) and I kid you not. So that must be bloody offensive to all the cowboys ... she needs spanking on the cheeks.

😆

P/s: Go as John Rambo ...

In light of his job, he was being a bit of a prat and his boss told him not to do anything like that again. Verbal warning sounds about right.

I supose if he said he'd gone as a Taliban fighter that may have appesed(sp?) our PC bretheren, who gives s..t about a British soldier. We truly are a bunch of wimps in this country.

Did want to got to fancy dress party as an MP but now realise that most people find that truly shocking.

Can somebody actually explain where the offence is in this guys actions? As always if his intent was to offend, I can think of plenty of far more offensive things to dress as. If it wasn't then who precisely has been offended and why?

So what about if he didn't do this, but worked for a local authority in a racially sensitive post, and was subsequently found on Facebook to be a member of the BNP? Far more offensive in my book, and probably not something they could do much about. Given that it is a legal political party with MEP's and the like.

Absolute arse the whole thing!

Dressed as a Terrorist carrying a Koran? Im surprised someone at the party didnt say something strongly. I would have. Its a tad insensitive.

I'd say he got off lightly. There will be a provision in his T&Cs to not damage his employer's reputation. Given the nature of his job, clearly he should have known better. Put it this way, would it be acceptable for the Northern Ireland secretary to go to a private party, dressed as an IRA terrorist?

It's a book, would you have said something to a bloke dressed as an IRA man with a copy of the New Testament in one hand and a plastic gun in the other?

ransos said:
...would it be acceptable for the Northern Ireland secretary to go to a private party, dressed as an IRA terrorist?

I don't know about a private party, but if it was a works do he'd fit right in over here!

hora - Member

Dressed as a Terrorist carrying a Koran? Im surprised someone at the party didnt say something strongly. I would have. Its a tad insensitive.

Falls over backwards! 😆

Really can not see what the issue is here! Moralise as much as you like guys, it is you lot who still burn the effigy of a catholic every year!

Parody of evil people is just that; Parody! It is not mocking an entire race.

[i]Moralise as much as you like guys, it is you lot who still burn the effigy of a catholic every year![/i]

Errr! No I don't.

Errr! No I don't.

So you've tried to get this level of religious persecution stopped then? You mean to say you haven't ever celebrated the 5th November?! Not even one bloody sparkler!? (tongue firmly back in cheek!)

The mere fact that he was carrying an effigy of the Qur’an would cause immense offence to the Muslim community as it is see as the word of god in a very literal sense – it is enough of an insult for a non Muslim to handle it - let alone appear to mock it

Sorry, pardon my weak recollection of history, but isn't bonfire night a festival celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot, not a festival promoting hatred towards Catholics?

last fancy dress party i went to one friend dressed up as a terrorist (complete with RPG launcher made from milk cartons and loo roll inners) and another went as a Zulu (with spear) it was great. No one cried or was hurt.

[i]So you've tried to get this level of religious persecution stopped then? You mean to say you haven't ever celebrated the 5th November?! Not even one bloody sparkler!? (tongue firmly back in cheek!) [/i]

Not what you said is it. But anyway Guy Fawkes was killed for trying to blow up the houses of parliament not because he was Catholic although that was his reason for him trying to blow up the houses of parliament.

As breakneck has pointed out carrying the Qur'an can cause offence to the muslim community, I've never heard of a Catholic causing an outcry because they thought some setting off a mini rocket is offensive.

it is enough of an insult for a non Muslim to handle it - let alone appear to mock it

Nope, not seeing that one in British Law either.

It's hard to get away from the perception that they are a silly and sensitive lot, isn't it?

I am not sure how true it really is. My guess is that a huge proportion iof muslims in this country or elsewhere, left to themselves, don't care that much.

I am heading into the attic to burn dozens of pictures from my student days.

BigDummy - Member

It's hard to get away from the perception that they are a silly and sensitive lot, isn't it?

I am not sure how true it really is. My guess is that a huge proportion iof muslims in this country or elsewhere, left to themselves, don't care that much.

Common sense at last....

breakneckspeed - Member
The mere fact that he was carrying an effigy of the Qur’an would cause immense offence to the Muslim community as it is see as the word of god in a very literal sense – it is enough of an insult for a non Muslim to handle it - let alone appear to mock it

That being the case do they do taster sessions anywhere when you can find out more in case you might like to become one? I'm pretty sure I don't, because from what I hear the benefits package is not that great, but I can't really make my mind up without having a squint at the rule book first.

I'm pretty sure I don't, because from what I hear the benefits package is not that great, but I can't really make my mind up without having a squint at the rule book first.

PMSL!

Still I hear people get a might offended when you carry an RPG 7 here but that's not in any religious text I've ever come across. Dam! There's me being offensive again.....

My guess is that a huge proportion iof muslims in this country or elsewhere, left to themselves, don't care that much.

My guess is that a huge proportion of Muslims are sick of being equated with terrorists. What costume you choose to go to a fancy dress party is your own affair, but if I blacked up and went with a slice of watermelon, or did the Catholic priest idea someone suggested above, I wouldn't expect my employers, or many other people for that matter, to find it hilarious.

For clarity, my remarks were directed principally to the "effigy of the koran" issue.

I agree that that it must be quite boring to belong to a group of people who are relentlessly subjected to purely negative stereotyping. Although my hunch is that it's a large improvement over being subjected to (purely negative) lynching.

If we are playing Split the PC Hair (which is an excellent parlour game)then query whether one person dressing up a muslim terrorist is in any sense stating that all muslims are terrorists. I'm fairly doubtful that it necessarily has that implication. If it has the implication is in fact "all terrorists are muslims" then it is hard to see why muslims who are not terrorists could find that offensive. It is not strictly true, admittedly.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not an apologist for Islam, indeed as an atheist I find the social control applied by all forms of Abrahamic religions abhorrent – Islam by far the worst offender and the one that is apparently least compatible with modern industrial (and democratic) society.
However, I do have understanding of the cultural requirement of a wide range of ethnic and faith groups (its hard not to working in Bradford) and certainly know what causes offence.
To me the Qur’an is only a book as is the Bible, the Torah and Harry Potter but to a Muslim the Qur’an is quite literally the word of god in a way that the 10 commandments were handed to Abraham in flaming tablets of stone (essentially the same story)

I have no idea what an islamic terrorist looks like. If someone can point out the key identifying features that would be very useful, thanks.

You might also want to forward them on to the police as I believe they would find identifying terrorists on sight to be an extremely useful skill.

The same applies to pirates or porn-stars, but I reckon we could manage to design a fancy dress outfit nonetheless. 😉