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Originally Posted by lurkette
I don't really think diversity training is going to change the attitudes of a hard-core bigot - in fact, they'll probably just see it as more evidence of "thought police" threat to their views.
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I'm not into racial hatred, but even my "defenses" would immediately go up if I was encouraged or ordered to be trained in the often politically-loaded subject of diversity. Instead of turning it into a political issue (diversity), maybe companies should focus on reinforcing proper work-place behavior.
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Originally Posted by lurkette
However, life is hard enough without having the workplace be even more unpleasant than usual. It can't hurt to clue otherwise clueless people in that some things they think of as harmless might be seen as offensive to other people. The "nigger" comment from cynthetiq's workplace is illustrative - the person he directed the comment to might not have been offended, but someone else sure was. Maybe he shouldn't have been fired on the spot, but was it necessary to use such an offensive term where other people could hear it? It just can't hurt to have the workplace be as civil and polite as possible, IMHO. And some people don't have the awareness to filter their actions based on how other people might perceive things.
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I agree. But to me, this sounds like an issue of lack of professionalism rather than a lack of awareness about diversity. Even if the guy who made the "nigger" comment had left out the "n"-word, it still would be totally inappropriate behavior in most workplaces and probably offensive to at least a few people.