Discrimination is okay when you have money, right?

All About the Benjamins...image by hyena reality via freedigitalphotos.net

Another brouhaha made it into the news when, once again, a sect of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men refused to sit next to women on a flight.  This was not the first time it happened, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. 

The basic story is this: the men didn’t want to take their assigned seats because – gasp – they would be forced to sit next  to women, and their religion tells them that ‘physical contact between men and women is forbidden unless they are first-degree relatives or married to one another.’

I was discussing the issue with a guy, and his response was, “But they offered to pay to swap seats with the women.” 

I tried to point out that it didn’t matter if they offered money – discrimination was discrimination, and while it is nice that they had the money to pay for it, that didn’t make it any less wrong.

He didn’t get it at first, and I pointed out that might because it wasn’t his “group” being treated that way.  So I came up with some other examples…

What if someone decided that they couldn’t sit next to you because you were black?

Because you were disabled?

Because you were American?

Because you were Christian?

Because you were Muslim?

How many of those things would be wrong, even if they offered you money to make it better?

Dividing a plane based on gender seems to be the equivalent of dividing a bus based on color. 

The guy I was talking to got my point after I drew the parallels, but I wish I didn’t have to.  I wish that people would make the parallels on their own, would be able to feel empathy with those who are being discriminated against. 

So just a quick reminder – discrimination is wrong.  It doesn’t matter if you try to couch it in religion or money.