Poll of the Day > Happy Diwali everyone

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/10/19/gibraltar-bank-offends-two-cultures-with-one-photograph/

ooooops!

Happy Diwali!

According to the article, it seems that some people misunderstood the term, "Indian." That is why some of us use the term "Native Americans" instead of "Indians" or "natives." To me, "Indians" refer to people from India.

A demonstration of the importance of sincerity via consequence of its absence.

Who wants to be told they're recognized or appreciated or celebrated by people who don't know the first thing about them and are likely only doing it because someone told them they have to?

To be fair, I'd count myself among those who are so ignorant, but I at least recognize that it would be more respectful to simply keep my nose out of it prior to actually learning a thing or two about what I'm celebrating. Besides, we don't even need to know or understand one another's culture/history to coexist amicably and productively; regardless of where we all came from, we're all still people, but for those who do want to go that extra mile, don't fake it.

Shadowbird_RH posted...

Besides, we don't even need to know or understand one another's culture/history to coexist amicably and productively; regardless of where we all came from, we're all still people, but for those who do want to go that extra mile, don't fake it.

I've said for years this is a fundamental flaw in modern society, especially as driven by social media culture.

What we should pursue is the idea of tolerance, but what everyone pushes for now is acceptance or even approval. But those are two different things. And ironically, trying to push everyone towards the one tends to undermine and weaken the other.

I don't care what holiday you choose to celebrate on your own time. But the more you demand that I also observe it or accept it as meaningful, the more I'm going to resent both the holiday and you for attempting to force it on me.

Having everyone else validate your worldview is not a civil right. Recognizing that others can have their own beliefs and traditions doesn't mean we should all feel obligated to adopt those beliefs and traditions for ourselves, or otherwise observe them.

If anything, I tend to feel like we should have fewer holidays. Most of them are kind of meaningless or insignificant at this point anyway.

The individuals screwing up is entertaining, but I guess kind of understandable. The company choosing to still take the group photo and publish it despite the obvious disconnect, though, is pretty spectacularly dumb.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I don't care what holiday you choose to celebrate on your own time. But the more you demand that I also observe it or accept it as meaningful, the more I'm going to resent both the holiday and you for attempting to force it on me.

Recognizing that somebody else is celebrating a holiday and wishing them the appropriate emotional response to it is hardly "having it forced on you."

adjl posted...

The individuals screwing up is entertaining, but I guess kind of understandable. The company choosing to still take the group photo and publish it despite the obvious disconnect, though, is pretty spectacularly dumb.

I don't think anyone will convince me that the people in that photo weren't trying to be purposely offensive. Nobody born after the year 1600 genuinely confuses the cultures of India and indigenous Americans.

faramir77 posted...

I don't think anyone will convince me that the people in that photo weren't trying to be purposely offensive. Nobody born after the year 1600 genuinely confuses the cultures of India and indigenous Americans.

Yeah, that seems more likely. Especially in Europe, where the indigenous American sort of Indians are pretty rare, while Indians from India are quite common.