Quote:
Originally Posted by Xanthe
When folks start bandying words like discrimination around and try to tie it to the civil rights struggle, then it is a legal definition of discrimination that they are trying to finesse. "Discrimination" is a word that has weight and history; the non-legal usage you're implying makes it seem comparable to my 5 year old niece telling her mother that she's being discriminated against because she can't wear her sparkly sneakers to school.  |
The only way I can understand you using this analogy is if you (a) don't understand my argument or (b) don't understand the concept of discrimination.
The idea that the only
discrimination on earth is
illegal discrimination boggles my mind. The only way for this definition to make sense is if you believe that all discrimination laws leapt forth fully formed from the head of Zeus at the beginning of time - and, of course, that no further possible means of discrimination exists beyond what has been legislated against.
There are MANY forms of discrimination that are not illegal at a federal level in the U.S. (And there are, for the record, a lot of places on earth that aren't the U.S. - also worth noting when you want to stick to a "legal history" argument.)
Weight discrimination, for one.
Quote:
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Peggy Howell says she will never forget the day her boss told her she either had to lose weight or lose her job. She weighed 280 pounds at the time and was working as a librarian. Feeling as if she had no choice but to comply, Howell joined Weight Watchers.
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This behavior is illegal in San Francisco but not in, say, New Mexico. According to your argument (that any discussion of "discrimination" must be a legal argument or it's a non-issue and no more discrimination than 5-year-old dress decisions), people in New Mexico can't call this behavior "discrimination" because, legally-in-their-area, it's
not.
Morally, of course, it is. And the people in New Mexico may well be working towards legislating the behavior. But the fact that it's not currently illegal doesn't mean that they can't or won't or shouldn't call it "discrimination" - because that is what it
is.