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"?

[jackthehat]

Her Jewish colleague was offended by the ill-judged remarks and made the complaint which was upheld.

[jno]

she didn't say she didn't like certain people. She said she didn't like uncertain people: the entire Jewish race, 99.999999% of whom she has quite possibly never met. That means she makes up her mind without evidence, which isn't a great attribute for a lawyer.

[jim360]

"She made comments in presence of a Jewish cashier at her law practice..."

"...she relayed the incident in the presence of a Jewish cashier at her law practice in Rossendale, Lancashire. After making her comment, the unnamed cashier said: 'Please do not say that' but Mrs Morris added: 'I don’t care, I cannot stand them.'"

That's perhaps why.

[Kevink]

She didn't say she didn't like certain people, she said she didn't like an entire race of people.

I'd have though that (judging from you previous posts) you of all people could recognise racism when you see it.

[anotheoldgit]

jackthehat

/// Her Jewish colleague was offended by the ill-judged remarks and made the complaint which was upheld. ///

Yes I am aware of that but the question I ask is why are certain groups allowed the privileged of taking action when they are offended, whereas others are not?

[Zeuhl]

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

'I cannot stand Jewish people.' /

the answer is already there aog

you need to be 'cleaner' in your language

it is ok to say you don't like 'certain people' as in "I hate Ben Cohen"

To say you "don't like Jews" is about a racial/ethnic group - a racially motivated generalisation.

'Old people' is not a racial/ethnic group

[Sharingan]

Really stupid behaviour for a solicitor. If I said ' I hate black people I can't stand them' clearly that's a ridiculous and racist thing to say just as it is with Jews, Muslims, Gays, old people,young people, women, men. That's why it's called discrimination- because it is hatred of a group because of one particular attribute regardless of all else.

[sunny-dave]

If I'd said "I cannot stand old people" when I worked at the Alzheimer's Society day centre, I'd have expected to lose my job ... it's about context/history/offensiveness of the specific remark.

And jno is right - she wouldn't have had nearly so much flak if she had been very specific about not liking the person jumping the queue - rather than extending the slur to a whole religious group.

[Goodsoulette]

Ageism is covered in the equality act. In many situations it would be ill advised to discriminate against the elderly.

[jim360]

It may not necessarily by a question of certain groups being allowed to take offence and others not. The cashier concerned pursued this as far as she could, as was her right. Other people may have chosen not to do so, but that doesn't mean that, say, an "old person" similarly insulted couldn't pursue a claim of discrimination.

[jomifl]

Is it OK to say that you have disliked most of the jews that you have met or is that only partly racist?

[Sharingan]

I think that's fine. I'm technically Jewish and that wouldn't offend me in the slightest.

[mikey4444]

What a stupid thing to say, especially as she is almost certainly an educated individual, in a responsible job. What would happen if a Jew were to come to her for legal advice.

This daft woman has only herself to blame.

[sunny-dave]

It's a continuum I think jomifl ... saying "I find I have had little in common with Jews/Muslims/OldGits who I have met personally and tend to dislike them" is probably OK - extending it to "I hate all .." is ceratinly wrong.

Where one topples into the other is (I guess) open to debate, but I think that as soon as you extrapolate on the basis of limited evidence you are going to be in trouble.

[daffy654]

Not only was her comment stupid in the extreme, her excuses afterward and her lawyer's assertion that her age means she knows little about the holocaust and persecution of Jews is outrageous.
My 15 year old son knows all about those things.

[sunny-dave]

Yes daffy - I think that, given that she must have had a full primary/secondary/tertiary education, she was either telling fibs or should be ashamed of her ignorance.

[jno]

her lawyer's assertion that her age means she knows little about the holocaust and persecution of Jews is outrageous.

Possibly rather counterproductive too, as it means "My client doesn't know what she's talking about". Not what the woman's clients might want to hear.

[Sqad]

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

No, I don't think that she would AOG.

If she had, i do not think that a "present time old person" would have made a complaint.

But who knows of the response of an old person "in the future?"

[daffy654]

She would also have done a module (at least) during her law degree on racial and religious discrimination.