From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Newsgroups: rec.scouting,alt.discrimination,chi.general,alt.atheism,alt.politics.homosexuality
Subject: Re: BofA and UW can now support discrimination against blacks and Jews
Date: 31 Aug 92 19:43:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: i88.1992Aug31.194313.28823
Distribution: usa
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL

In article <1992Aug28.190419.3195@wam.umd.edu> aap@wam.umd.edu (Alberto Adolfo Pinkas) writes:
>In article <!xdnhs+@lynx.unm.edu> anthropo@carina.unm.edu (Dominick V. Zurlo) writes:
>We should look at why it is OK to discriminate against GLB and nit against
>Jews. And that difference will show you why the argument is not the same.
>Segregation is based on the view society has about some particular group.
>Changing that view will change society and will result in the end of 
>segregation or not. 
>Judaism, as a culture is not seen in the same way as Homosexuality, as a 
>culture. That is why the reaction of society about them cannot be compared.

Of course, it's so simple!  If a subculture is viewed in the same way
as Judaism, then it's not okay to discriminate against that subculture.
But if a subculture is viewed differently from Judaism, then it's okay
to discriminate.  So I guess that's why it's been okay for so long
for our society to discriminate against blacks, eh?  (But by the same
argument, it wasn't okay for us to discriminate against Sammy Davis, Jr.,
because he was Jewish.  How confusing!)

(Disclaimer for the sarcasm impaired:  It's not okay to discriminate against
 black people, Jews, or anyone else, on the basis that they are "different".)

>>Discrimination on any
>>basis is wrong, and nature or choice is not an excuse. Plain and simple. 
>>Humanity for all, equality included.  
>
>This is nice but impossible in practice. If we have conciusness of that,
>we will be able to do a better job.

I'm sorry, but I have a hard time accepting that argument.  Maybe I'm
just an optimist, but I believe that equality is possible.  Perhaps not
in our lifetimes, but someday.  But if you can accept that discrimination
is okay, at least until someday comes, then someday will never be today.

> Also, to end discrimination it is not
>enough to go around saying "it is wrong, and that is it". We need to find
>the reasons why there is discrimination, and then find how to change theM.

Changing the reasons is a group effort, however, and if _you_ don't
go around saying "it is wrong", then _your_neighbor_ may innocently have
no clue at all, and blissfully continue on saying "it is right", just the
way his parents taught him.  If someone is discriminating against a
person or persons without giving any conscious thought to the reasons
why, then changing or eliminating the reasons will _not_ eliminate the
behaviour.  The irony is that someone can know that the reasons
for a behaviour are wrong, but never connect that wrong with the behaviour.
Saying "it is wrong" to your neighbor may not be comfortable, but then,
if life were meant to always be comfortable, we'd all have been born
wearing oversized sweaters, eating hot fudge sundaes in front of a
warm fire.
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
        There are many things a person should experience in a lifetime.
       Among them are an infant's first cry, and an infant's first laugh.
Newsgroups: rec.scouting,alt.discrimination,alt.politics.homosexuality