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by aeturnum 2428 days ago
I do not think the dichotomy you outlined accurately describes how things work

I mean, this is why we have developed the idea of a "protected class."

Because you're correct that, at the end of the day, judgement is judgement and sentiment is sentiment and everyone is the hero of their own story.

But to place the limits of proper action at sentiment is solipsism.

So there is a set of protected classes which we, as a society, have decided are inappropriate reasons to discriminate against people. The quick reasons it is wrong to discriminate: sex, race, age, religion[1]. There are many reasons we allow people to discriminate: lack of money, being violent to employees, being unacceptably rude, setting off explosives, etc. These are all discriminatory practices that often involve moral judgement.

We are always in the process of trying to decide if we should have a new protected class and how that class should be defined. I also suspect we will, at some point, talk about removing protected classes.

Businesses should (and in fact always do) make moral judgements about their clients. The people at Github who chose to work with ICE decided it was morally right for them to do so. You can tell because they did it. They might say they were sad about it and had "moral qualms" but at some point it does seem like it comes down to yes or no.

So do you think we should have a government agency class? Or perhaps a law enforcement class? I personally do not.

[1] Some exceptions here, of course, a mosque does not have to hire a catholic priest who applies to be an imam.

1 comments

>> race

Unless you're Asian/Asian-American, of course. Then it is fine to negatively discriminate against you.

https://www.stanforddaily.com/2019/10/03/judge-rules-in-favo...

I haven't read enough on the Harvard admission scandal to have an opinion.

That said, there are lots of services that consider protected class in ways that aren't currently considered discriminatory. Ladies nights, for instance, are not illegal. Giving discounts to senior citizens is not considered discriminating against others.

All that said - those corner cases are always being considered and questioned. There are instances where I think the official decision is right and ones where I think it's wrong, but I'm no more perfect than anyone else.

>> Ladies nights

>> Senior citizens

These discriminate against advantaged parts of the protected classes, which is generally seen as reasonable. Men and young people, respectively.

Including Asians/Asian-Americans in the "advantaged group" is... something of a stretch.

That's not at all what that decision says. Finding that it did not happen is not the same as finding that it is legal for it to happen.
No, it happens.

>> She rejected the argument that “tips,” or admissions advantages, received by some black and Hispanic students were unfair. While some racial groups did receive tips...

They get them, and Asian/Asian-Americans are excluded from this, placing them in the "advantaged group" as I stated above (usually reserved for white people).

That they ruled this was "not unfair" doesn't make it "not discrimination." They admit as such that it happens to the detriment to Asian/Asian-Americans.