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"?

[Zeuhl]

joe

sara might have been referring to respect for the the untold number of jews who wouldn't dream of whingeing in order to queue jump and shouldn't be implicated by the actions of one person

That is rational thinking and truthful describing of people and situations - nothing to do with PC or 'do-gooding'

You still haven't describer for what purpose you imagine it would be rational to define a 'wrong doer' by their race or religion

Even if you were responding to (an equally stupid) generalisation: 'jewish people don't whinge or queue jump'

with 'I saw a whingeing queue jumper and he was jewish' it still doesn't mean anything other than it was one -perhaps atypical- example

It all demonstrates that generalising from one person's behaviour to a whole group is nonsense

[joeluke]

( apologies to all ugly, ginger, bearded people who wear glasses )

[sara3]

joeluke, I'm sure you're entertaining yourself with your silly comments, but you wouldn't do that, would you?

"I can't stand queue-jumpers, and this one was wearing glasses".

would you?

[jackthehat]

If the queue-jumper *had* had "ginger hair, he had a beard, he wore glasses, he was ugly" do you think Mrs Morris would have made that an excuse to *hate* all people with similar distinguishing features?

[Bazile]

Goodness - is that the time - i'd better go now , before the concierge - who is a ' ........ ' locks me in the building overnight

[Zeuhl]

/Why not, it's just an additional fact
Like "he had ginger hair, he had a beard, he wore glasses, he was ugly" etc etc/

Err yes ....

joe - i think you'd best stop digging now

// 'I cannot stand ginger haired people who whinge so that they can queue jump' //

is not a notion you should be using as an illustration of your intelligence or rationality

[leahbee]

Whew. I have tried to follow this thread but you lost me half way through. You could argue about this subject forever and still not change one persons mind. One thing I would like to know though is , how do you answer someone who accuses you of being racist? Please
don't get too technical I am just a simple soul.

[jomifl]

You just have to keep these racist thoughts to yourself as most people do, including Jews.

[Zeuhl]

^

something like:

what have i said or done that suggests to you I believe that some races have an intrinsic inferiority compared with others which justifies discriminatory, abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of that race on that basis

[leahbee]

Thank out very much Zeuhl but I doubt that most of the ignorant people I come across
would understand that.

[New Judge]

As far as I can see, Zeuhl, disliking somebody, or a group of people, does not suggest "...that some races have an intrinsic inferiority compared with others which justifies discriminatory, abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of that race on that basis". You just don't like them, that's all.

Despite my somewhat fatuous "crocodile" analogy earlier, I still maintain that some people develop a dislike of some groups, or races simply based on those that they have encountered. If they had encountered none or perhaps a very few I would describe that dislike as irrational (but nonetheless one they are entitled to hold). But once they'd met enough to form an opinion about the group as a whole their dislike of the group is perfectly reasonable. People cannot be expected to hold no opinion of a particular group just because they have not met all of them.

Telling people who they should and should not like is the beginning of a very slippery slope. I personally think this particular lady is a bit foolish to make such a broad and rash assumption (especially as some of the nicest people I know are Jewish). But it should be her privilege to like or dislike whoever she likes and she should not be fearful of telling other people.

[jno]

isn't that what Zeuhl said, NJ? He gave a definition of racism; if you don't fit it, you're not a racist.

[Snafu03]

some cultures harbour undesirable traits that are more prevalent due to their upbringing in accordance with their cultural group. The behaviour is learnt.

I am English. I've often heard it said that we can be arrogant. This is a bad trait that I do see evidence of.

But I'm not going to get offended over it.

[mikey4444]

NJ...complete drivel, and you are intelligent enough to realise it.

[jomifl]

The thing that puzzles me is that the woman in the waiting room didn't incite racial hatred, she just said that she 'could not stand jews' to one person. Why it came to court I can't imagine, supposing she had said 'I can't stand jehova's witnesses'. Since from a discussion on another current thread it is difficult to tell what is meant by the word 'jew' (nationality or religion or even perceived 'race') I would have thought it would have been thrown out of court as it was impossible to determine what the remark meant.

[mikey4444]

jomifl...it meant that she was ignorant and racist, as well as stupid...how is that so difficult to understand ?

[naomi24]

What a waste of time and money. Fundamentally, it’s an irrational thing to say – but I assume she has reached that conclusion from her personal experience – and if that’s how she feels, she should be entitled to say it.

[mikey4444]

More drivel !

You can't make racist remarks in Britain any more, so everybody should just get used to it. This wasn't some ignorant, uneducated football fan, yelling alcohol-assisted abuse from the terraces. She is a person working in a responsible profession. The court found her guilty...end of story.

[Sharingan]

She said something racially insulting in front of someone of that race who politely asked her not to continue. she ignored them and did so and has paid the price, being found guilty by the court concerned. It's unacceptable. Why do people not understand something so simple?

[naomi24]

//Why do people not understand something so simple?//

Why do people not understand that the cause of political correctness is systematically eroding their right to freedom of speech? Legislation against the spoken word controls the 'undesirable' by sweeping the thought under the carpet - but it doesn't change the thought.

//You can't make racist remarks in Britain any more, so everybody should just get used to it.//

Exactly! ‘1984’ here we come!