Political Memes

I met someone from the same region as that kid. Quick movie fact before continuing my story: the accent Tom Hanks used Forrest Gump is that kid's natural accent. T.Hanks decided it was just too interesting to let go to waste.

The person from that same region was something like a sensitivity officer (I forget his actual title, this was ages ago). Essentially, an employee at the school where I worked tried to make a joke to some kids that was (unintentionally) so offensive that the parents of the students sued. Part of the SOP in a case like this is that the entire campus staff has to attend a sensitivity training. And the person training us talked like Forrest Gump. He was well aware that his region is pretty remote and most people don't realize that this was a real accent, so he spent the first few minutes of his presentation explaining all this to us, and letting us acclimate to the situation. Two things I can say after that presentation:

1. I was really grateful for the presentation. The guy did a great job communicating that not everyone has your context, and they shouldn't have to listen to you explaining your context. If you made them feel like a victim, forcing them to understand why they shouldn't be offended wastes their time and makes them feel bad for being offended. Either hurt their feelings once and apologize, or accept that you were wrong; don't hurt their feelings a second time for your own benefit. If you're not an asshole about it, they might even ask for your context and then you'll both walk away as winners.
2. Tom Hanks did an excellent job with that accent work.

Uhhh, that’s not Tom Hanks… or is that the joke?