How Can It Be Wrong To Openly Say You Do Not Like Certain People?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321362/I-stand-Jewish-people-Lawyer-loses-career-office-rant-queue-jumping-man-medical-centre.html

/// Trouble began after she attended the Bardoc medical centre in Bury with her baby. The hearing was told a man dressed in Orthodox Jewish attire 'caused a scene' at the surgery and as a result was seen first by a doctor. ///

/// Back at the law firm Mrs Morris relayed the incident to a receptionist she shared her office with and said: 'I cannot stand Jewish people.' ///

Would she had been so treated if she had said "I cannot stand old people"?

[cassa333]

////Three months after the incident in December 2009, the cashier left the law firm - then brought a racial and religious claim against Mrs Morris and the practice and won an undisclosed sum in damages///

Not offended enough to leave there and then but waited a while then thought she could cash in perhaps!!?

[jno]

people can't always leave employment without notice, cassa

[Sharingan]

Not suggesting that being fiscally aware is a Jewish trait are you Cassa333? ;-)

[Sqad]

Shari...;-)

[Sharingan]

~Sqad ;-) xx

[sara3]

I had the same thing at work from a colleague. "I hate Jews. I hate all of them". I said "you can't say things like that!" she said, "I know.. I have to be careful who I say it to........... "

so not *that* careful!

[jackthehat]

The DM uses the words 'the incident' to describe both the confrontation at the doctors and the exchange at the Solicitors' office.

It is not clear which 'incident' Mrs S left 3 months afterwards...

[sunny-dave]

Well exactly sara - you never know who is listening in a Fish Shop ;+)

[andy-hughes]

Simply - it is not wrong to say you don't like certain people.

But making an anti-Semitic remark is not saying you don't like certain people - it's being offensive and racist.

I queued in the bank yesterday, and an old lady next in the queue and in front of me turned to me and said "I don't want to go to that one ..." meaning the next vacent cashier who was an Asian man. She stood back for me to go to him, but i refused to move forward. the floor walker supervisor approached and asked why the old lady was not moving. She repeated her observation, and the supervisor enquired why she didn;t wish to be served by the Asian cashier. "No reason .." replied the old lady and reluctantly approached the Asian cashier who served her.

Had she said anything else there would have been a scene - caused by me. Something along the lines of "I don't want to occupy the same space as ignorant racists, but that's life isn't it?" said in a voice loud enough for the entire banking hall to hear.

The only way predjudice is to be elimiated is if it is confronted on every occasion when it rears its poisonous head.

Simply dismissing it as saying this woman did not like certain people is fudging the issue, and making it appear that her remark was simply a general observation. It was not, it was specific, poisonous, and illegal, and she has been treated accordingly.

[New Judge]

If you have disliked most (or all) of the Jews you have ever met there is a strong likelihood that you will dislike any others that you meet. Even if you have only met a very small proportion of the total Jewish population that is your personal experience. It’s called using your experience to help you in the future. Based on your experience, to say “I don’t like Jews” is perfectly reasonable.

Crocodiles tend to be dangerous to humans, especially if they are hungry. Experience (not necessarily first hand, but collective) tells you that there is a strong likelihood you may face danger if you encounter one. You may not. He may not be hungry or may simply not fancy attacking you. But you don’t give him the opportunity. You may say “I don’t like crocodiles” even though you may have encountered a very small number, if any.

As I said in another question earlier this week, all sorts of people dislike all sorts of other people and that dislike is not usually based on having met the entire population. I find it strange that to voice a dislike of a certain group of people is interpreted as “discrimination”. To give Jews added protection because they are a “race” whereas old people are not somewhat destroys that argument. It suggests that discrimination is only valid if legislation specifically prevents it. So it’s OK to dislike all old people (having not met them all) but not OK to dislike all Jews (having not met them all).

People should be free to dislike whomsoever they please, be they individuals or groups, without having to justify that dislike to anybody. As far as I am aware disliking somebody is not (yet) an offence and so long as they do not commit, or incite others to commit offences they should not be castigated. Just because you may not agree with what somebody says is no reason to make a fuss about them saying it.

[jake-the-peg]

That's true NJ

But in certain positions it's fair to infer that a like or dislike implies a descrimination

For example if you went for an interview and the interviewer looked at you and said I don't like white people and you were not subsequently hired and a black candidate was it would be reasonable to infer that that prejudice had resulted in discrimination

Wouldn't you think?

[Sharingan]

New Judge. I have met a total of 7 people who I catagorically know to be Nigerian. Five of them were without doubt some of the most unpleasant people I have ever met. One was a lovely, super chap who was wonderful company and one I could take or leave. On that basis I still do not think it right to assume if you told me I was going to meet a Nigerian person that I would not like them ( because I disliked the previous five I had met) and say ' I don't like Nigerians, I can't stand any of them'. that is a racist remark in my opinion and needs to be challenged in the stringest possible terms.

[Ellipsis]

> How Can It Be Wrong To Openly Say You Do Not Like Certain People?

Because it openly demonstrates your bigotedness (rather than keeping it under wraps).

[Sharingan]

*strongest* DUH

[sp1814]

NJ

I don't think your analogy works.

Every single time a human being is in the company of a hungry crocodile, he or she is in danger of attack.

The way prejudice works is that stupid people will make that same assessment of everyone of a certain race or religion based on previous experience (or worse, what they glean from the media or Internet).

Human beings are way more nuanced and complicated than crocodiles. You can predict with a high degree of certainty what will happen to you if left in a room with a hungry crocodile.

You cannot predict with any certainty what will happen to you when dealing with a Jewish person.

[sp1814]

NJ

No-one is attacking this woman's right to like or dislike anyone.

She, for some reason, decided to voice that dislike.

It's not something that most normal people would do. Can you imagine leaning across to a colleague at work and loudly stating..."I can't stand blacks/gays/white people/handicapped people/Asians/Muslims whatever.

It's just weird.

Maybe she was drunk...or high?

[andy-hughes]

I agree wth sp newjudge - your analogy is poor, which is extremely surprising since you routinely offer the most erudite and cogent arguments on this section.

It is not at all comparable to match the behaviour of a crocodile, a simple reptile with no discernable intelligence, working entirely on inherited instinct and survival traits, with a dislike of any section of humanity, with all its various flaws and foibles which are entirely individual, and only in the broadest terms can be grouped a social and predictable behaviour.

[dave50]

Saying you don't like Jews is not a racist or ethnic insult, it is just one person's opinion based on whatever past experience they may have seen or had.
However if they had said all Jews are stupid or thick then that would have been a slur because they are insulting that group with a derogatory remark. Merely saying 'I don't like Jews' is not the same.

[Zeuhl]

The issue with 'I don't like Jews' is that it is stupid and does not bear scrutiny

It begs the response; 'what, all of them?' 'any of them?' and 'how do you know?'

If (as shari clearly articulated) the answer is 'well i've met 7 of them and 5 were awful'

then the irrationality, stupidity and uselessness of the generalisation is exposed.

[Sqad]

\\ it emerged Mrs Morris who now works two days a week at another law firm has been fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £5,250 in costs following a hearing in London.\\

Yes, clearly this was an expensive "slip of the tongue" as clearly she can "stand" some Jews.

I cannot stand scousers...........but not ALL scousers.

I cannot stand homosexuals.........but not all homosexuals.

Surely we have all at some time said things in a way that was offensive to some people and not meant it.....said in the heat of the moment..

To me.........not a big deal.........even if i was Jewish.