Discriminating or Discriminated Against?

This comment was left in Patrick's Saturday Six -- Time to Mow the Lawn Edition a couple of entries ago:


Have you ever felt discriminated against?

hmm .. i wonder why we all feel like we have to say "yes" to this, versus, "of course!" ..

the first suggests that discrimination ought not to happen .. the second assumes that it is part of the human condition .. the first suggests that we have been victimized and "someone should pay" .. the second assumes a more participatory role in the whole discrimination process ..

discrimination is not something that is only done TO us .. it is something we all DO .. ha .. not so much fun to read or write though .. :(


Mrs. Linklater found the comment very thought provoking. So she decided to put her thinking cap on and try to sound intelligent.  Linear thought has never been her strong suit so you may come back to this entry and find it has changed over time.  Hopefully for the better.

When she listed the many discriminations against her, Mrs. Linklater didn't ever say "yes" or "of course" when she answered the question. Her examples made that obivous. She simply listed the discrimination she experienced.

However, she could have easily combined them, "Yes, of course!"

"Yes," because the discrmination happened and it was wrong, and "of course," because she is a member of group defined as female and discrimination against females was rampant during her childhood and much of her adulthood. And continues in a more covert way now.

However, she doesn't feel that by answering "yes" to feeling discriminated against that someone should pay.

She does feel that the discrimination was wrong and shouldn't happen to her or anyone.

But wanting retribution is an immature way to handle the anger and frustration that discrimination causes.  She does believe that change should and could take place and there are ways to make it happen. And change did happen, since much of what she experienced has been legislated out of existence.

Mrs. L also doesn't think that by answering "of course" that she is accepting the act of discrmination as part of the human condition, as something we all do.

Saying "of course" to whether she has ever felt discriminated against means that she acknowledges her membership in a group of people who have been singled out for negative treatment based on specious or spurious thinking. People who are considered unacceptable because of some unique and irrelevant trait -- one which is being used as an excuse to eliminate anyone with that trait from participation in a coveted activity.

She agrees that we all discriminate against other people.  But she also thinks that having discriminating taste isn't such a bad thing.  It's when we discrminate against other people because of their membership in a group, rather than on their individual merits, that we do a disservice to humanity.

The is the longest Mrs. Linklater has ever tried to make sense. Could some of you help her here?

What do you think?