Bigoted rednecks are rightfully shunned in most places. Yet here in the great state of Florida, they are often given legislative power.
Laila Abdelaziz is the director of CAIR, Florida. She went to the state capitol building in Tallahassee in an attempt to talk sense to a few lawmakers into voting down an illegal bill that will "grant" Rick Scott unconstitutional powers to use military force against fleeing refugees. (Yes, that's really a thing here.)
I frankly don't know which is more pointless: the bill itself, which will be thrown out after its first real court challenge; or Laila's noble effort to attempt to reason with the GOP's fear-mongering bigots in Tallahassee.
The bill sailed through, of course, with Florida republicans thinking it was dandy. Defeated, Laila left to go to the elevator inside the Florida House of Representatives building. In the elevator, she ran into Tom Goodson. He is the right-wing representative for District 50, (and I use that term “representative" loosely, since he only represents “certain kinds" of people). Tom glared at her and remarked:
“Oh, is it safe to ride the elevator with you?"
Get it? ‘Cuz she might blow them up. Hilarious. That is funny, funny stuff.
Laila was horrified. Even worse, she said "everyone laughed".
Sadly, no one told Rep. Goodson off. Not even the Democrats who were in proximity. According to Laila, they even laughed along.
Thankfully, when word of this got out, normal, decent people outside the state capitol building let @TGoodsonFLHD50 have it with both barrels. Rep. Tom Goodson, rather than actually apologizing, took to his Facebook to blame the victim:
Yesterday, in an attempt at levity regarding a very serious topic, I made what I thought was a harmless comment to a group of people that included Laila Abdelaziz. Unfortunately, Laila took it the wrong way. Laila is well-known as a passionate and active lobbyist working for the Council for Islamic-American Relations. While others in the group who know me recognized my humor for what it was, I regret that my comment caused hurt to Laila.
With that being said, the national “politically correct” police are now trying to make more out of this than what it is or was.
Rather than spend all day harassing a legislator for a joking comment gone awry, they might consider spending more time bashing the terrorists who are responsible for the tension and emotional strain being placed on the good citizens of this country.
Stupid Laila. How could she not find humor in being mocked?
And stupid "politically correct" police. Damn, it’s getting so bigots can't make fun of someone's religion anymore without being “harassed".
But, anyway, it’s all Laila's fault that Tom insulted her because ... ISIS?
PS—Note to Tom: Next time you do a non-apology for a joke involving an offensive stereotype, try not to end it using the same stereotype.
The ability to NOT tell a racist or anti-religious joke isn't about political correctness, it's just about being a decent person. It’s something everyone should strive for, especially if you are in a position where you’re expected to conduct yourself with class.
Unfortunately, in this modern era of politics, (especially with the new Trump trend of open hostility towards minorities), class is in short supply. This is also a sign of how much we've come to expect this type of behavior: the story didn’t make the local news. Heck, for that matter, neither did the actual vote on the bill allowing Rick Scott to conduct a military assault on federally-relocated Syrian refugees.
By the way, don't bother trying to respond to Tom's Facebook post, unless you agree with him. You'll notice all of the comments are favorable, and you might especially enjoy reading all of his right-wing supporters lamenting how anyone could possibly think bigotry is at play here. Of course, to get to those comments, you’ll have to sift through all of the personal attacks on Muslims.
If I could have been allowed to comment, I would have said this: Tom, you know full well that your "joke" wasn't an attempt at "levity." It was a direct assault on this young woman, masked as humor, that stems from your obvious underlying contempt for her religion. In any other venue, you would be shamed, (or fired), but not praised, for your offensive behavior.
In my “real” job, which is in a district not far from Tom’s, I witnessed a meeting with my supervisor, a contractor, and our client—who happens to be Jewish. On that particular day, the client wore a kippah. The contractor made some off-hand remark/ “joke" about not being able to leave his wallet with the Jewish client when he went to the bathroom. No one laughed. In fact, on that day, he became our ex-contractor.
Don’t feel too sorry for him, though. Last I heard, he was preparing a run for office.
If that’s true, and assuming he wins, he should feel right at home.