Ageism is different from other forms of discrimination in a lot of ways (and indeed various forms of discrimination are fundamentally different from each other).
Racism is descrimination based on race; there is discrimination based on sex, discrimination based on sexual orientation or religion, etc.
Now, obviously not all forms of discrimination are bad. Many of them are quite rational. We only allow women in the woman’s washroom, which is a clear case of discrimination based on sex. Does that mean that all discrimination based on sex is okay?
Obviously not. Some is irrational, not intended for the benefit of the persons involved (as arguably having a women-only washroom is) but rather to pander to some irrational dislike or prejuduce directed towards members of the disfavoured group, or based on negative stereotypes.
To take your example, we restrict children from entering some places and engaging in some activities basically for their benefit; it is a more or less rational discrimination.
On the contrary, were someone to bar children from a grocery store because ‘they scream continually and give all adults headaches’, that’s a different story, no? That’s more akin to some ultra-religious person wishing to bar women from a public event, because he gets distracted by their devilish ways. It isn’t for the person’s benefit, but for that of the bigot.
If that’s the case she’s probably not shirking, working less, passing on time consuming projects and lining up to take the prime vacation weeks.
I guess my point was that if your organization really is rewarding lazier and/or unproductive individuals (with kids or not with kids) and it isn’t a public sector corporation, then it probably isn’t long for this world. The more likely explanation is that the parents aren’t as bad as you think they are in your head and they play the political game better than you do, in which case it’s time to brush up on your social skills. And the reality is working more, either because you don’t have kids, or at the cost of your family life, gives MOST people the opportunity to climb higher in an organization in some way (they get better assignments to beef up their resume or they get promotions, whatever).
I will admit that I have rolled my eyes at some of the people in this thread who have previously posted that not only is it the god given obligation of the childless to work more, and during every single vacation, but that they shouldn’t even see the benefit of that additional work by being promoted faster. It was like breeder socialism.
Yes by definition, but discrimination with a small d, not Discrimination with a big D as in the gravest of all liberal sins.
Agreed.
Well yes, the racism analogy is hokey, but it’s still ageism. And I’m not talking about you or even starwarsfreek really, but curlcoat who actively hates kids and thinks they shouldn’t be born. Your agism is simply a social preference not a hateful prejudice.
I agree with you 100% on your post. But there are some places where it’s a bad idea to allow children not to protect them, but for the benefit of the adults there. An opera, for instance. It’s unfair to the audience and the performers to have a fussy kid there. It’s disruptive. (To be fair, I have seen kids at thing like that behaving perfectly well. Good for them.)
I don’t expect to have a perfect child-free dining experience at Chuck E Cheese, but if I take my girlfriend out to Maison Robert for dinner, I think I have a right to eat without the distraction of childish drama. If the maitre’d doesn’t make a little effort to keep some decorum in the dining room, I’m not likely to bring more dollars to the place. If the place actually bans children from eating there, then they’ll get plenty of my business.
Well, to be sure, but in that case it is still rational discrimination … though the more discrimination is for the benefit of someone else, the greater the scruitiny over how rational it is there should be.
It’s a small firm. shrugs She’s being groomed by the CEO to take on a lot of the work that he does. As it is there are some things he does that she is the only other person in the place where there is some overlap.
Oh, bullshit. I said that people who hate children–people who say things like (and I’m quoting Starwarsfreak here) “I hate children” have a character flaw. If you tend to get a headache from being around children, well, that’s understandable, just like someone who gets depressed being around the terminally ill is understandable. I wouldn’t consider either a character flaw, and if you’d bothered to read my post, you would have seen that this isn’t the first time I’ve made this distinction between “I don’t much enjoy being around children” and “I hate children.” Don’t look so hard for persecution, tdn.
You said it was in this thread. But let’s suppose it’s another. Would you please do a quick search and provide a cite of people, who have posted in this thread, saying in any thread words to the effect of “it the god given obligation of the childless to work more, and during every single vacation, but that they shouldn’t even see the benefit of that additional work by being promoted faster.”?
Oh yes, kids have super powers and are able to determine the douche nozzleness of people that haven’t even met! Why, on our street alone, these kids have determined that every house has a douche nozzle in it except the ones they live in! Apparently, the guy next door is worse than I am, since he got an actual hole in his garage door from the soccer balls, and the guy across the street and one down must win the D. N. prize since they broke a window in his truck with a baseball.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. How do you put a hole in a garage door with an INFLATABLE BALL? Fire it out of a howitzer? What was his garage door made of? Processed cheese?
How much shit are you determined to invent here? At least keep your stories plausible.
Ah. Because I don’t think your children should be allowed to run roughshod over the rest of the world, I am a dried-up broken souled bitter freak? Riiiiiight.
Well, it isn’t “unpleasant” children that I am talking about, which of course if you bothered to read you would know (you are a teacher??). I would be interested to know what sort of consequence you are going to force upon me should I decide that I don’t feel like putting up with the latest screamer. Too bad I didn’t know about this earlier today, as I listened to the 2? year old girl yell MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM (you get the idea) as her mother not five feet away completely ignored her. Yes, it was in a McDonalds, but really.
Ah. So you teach your children that they are not allowed to speak up about anything that is bothering them? That they should never hold a differing opinion? That all wrongs against them must be ignored? So glad I don’t live in - Alabama is it?
