Discrimination Against Short People!: Philosophy Forums

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Discrimination Against Short People!

Baron Max
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Posted 10/23/03 - 03:55 PM:	#1
I just heard a comment on NBC news proving that short people (men only, I think?) are discriminated against, in all dealings in US of A society. Their pay is lower, their promotions are limited, their areas of responsibility is limited, ... And I suppose that most women don't like 'em much for husbands and little kids probably think they're just new, funny-lookin' playmates! I think we should all gather and protest this horrid action by our society! We should all write our congressman and our news media and get this inequity eliminated immediately. The government is at fault, by damn, and maybe even President Bush is behind it! We should enact new laws protecting the rights of all of those short, funny-lookin' little bastards! I'll meet ya'll downtown on the corner of Main and Elm at 9am on Saturday ...bring yer' placards, too! Baron Max Ya' know, I'll just bet that fat, ugly people are discriminated against, too! Hell, maybe even slim, sexy blonde women with big tits and nice asses, too, huh? Geez, be sure to bring some blank placards, okay?

PeeGee
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Posted 10/29/03 - 12:42 AM:	#2
Short men have it harder because of some rediculous (but err...somewhat justified?) psychological association with tall being successful. If that is true, I would argue that short men are thus viewed as unsuccessful, and thus both society, and perhaps the person himself will work to preserve that prejudice. It's like this argument I read somewhere (possibly here) where it is argued that prejudices have a way of maintaining themselves by causing those who believe it to continually propogate it into reality.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Distortion
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Posted 10/29/03 - 12:48 AM:	#3
Oh how nice it is to be tall... But seriously, Baron - if you could elaborate as to why you don't feel that short people, in general, should have equal opportunity for employment/advancement? I doubt there are that many jobs these days that really require the extra couple inches to a foot to do that much better at. Seriously. Unless you think that shorter people are less intelligent? Hell Baron, I'm not disagreeing with you. I can agree with you that even were it a just cause, pawning it off to the government is one of those reactions that people just deserved to be smacked for. But, I would like to know, exactly, why you feel that short people, hell, people that are equally capable but nonetheless handicapped by unrelated factors beyond their control should not have equal opportunity for advancement.. or whatever? Those are two fairly critical assumptions to make, but with short people in general they're safe ones.
Make your own rules.

Baron Max
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Posted 10/29/03 - 05:04 AM:	#4
Distortion wrote: But seriously, Baron - if you could elaborate as to why you don't feel that short people, in general, should have equal opportunity for employment/advancement? Well, I don't know what, exactly, ye're trying to say here, but to my view, "equal opportunity for employment/advancement" is a bunch of bullshit and, worse, it can't even be truly proven - one way or the other! For example, if ten people are interviewed for a job, and all of them are little short fuckers ...is that "equal opportunity"? And if the employer hires the one tall person that he thinks is best for the job, is that "equal opportunity" or is it "discriminating" against short little fuckers? Prove it!! I guess what I'm getting at is ....how does anyone show/prove that they were REALLY discriminated against? Equal opportunity is also a bit difficult to show/prove, ain't it? Opportunity? Is that given the chance to interview? If so, didn't they have an "equal" opportunity ......even tho' they weren't hired? No, it's all just lawyer bullshit! Baron Max

PeeGee
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Posted 10/31/03 - 04:53 AM:	#5
Failure to be able prove discrimination is sometimes offset by what we know as affirmative action. Such a terrible, racist(disciminatory) concept By "lawyer bullshit" do you mean concepts argued in the court of law? Why is it bullshit? It may not be thoroughly logical, but it's not meant to be. I like your idea that discrimination cannot be proven (unless admission is used as evidence successfully). Does anybody have any information concerning this?
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

got_nothing
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Posted 11/01/03 - 07:28 PM:	#6
PeeGee wrote: Failure to be able prove discrimination is sometimes offset by what we know as affirmative action. Such a terrible, racist(disciminatory) concept By "lawyer bullshit" do you mean concepts argued in the court of law? Why is it bullshit? It may not be thoroughly logical, but it's not meant to be. I like your idea that discrimination cannot be proven (unless admission is used as evidence successfully). Does anybody have any information concerning this? hmm..... I do agree with what you'd said too... I think the society are not in "equal oppotunity" on authority in these days... I did heard some of the stories from my friends about discriminate short and fat people as well..... But what I think we cannot judge a person whether he/she looks short will affect the person's wisdom either...

RandomPrecision
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Posted 11/02/03 - 12:01 AM:	#7
Oi! What's with 'equal opportunity'? I am a tall, white, middle-class, right-handed male. To be 'equal', I am ineligible to have jobs, children, oxygen, food, property, hair, education, and several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict. But seriously, how can we be equal when laws and provisions for employers specify conditions based on race, gender, or height? If a white man and a black man compete for a job, and the black man had an accident as a three-year-old that left him with .0043 of his brain, and an everlasting coma, he could still win the job over Albert Einstein for a quantum physics lab, assuming that they use principle of 'equal opportunity'. My only shot at being statistically unpopular, and therefore eligible for minority support and 'equal' opportunity and 'affirmative' 'action' is that I'm ambidextrous enough to fake being left-handed. Theoretically, 10% of people in all professions should be left-handed. Argue bitterly as you will, but it is my everlasting opinion that equal opportunity is an idea that cannot be called a stupid, stupid thing, for that will insult the nature of stupid, stupid things.

Paul
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Posted 11/02/03 - 12:41 AM:	#8
Supposedly the average American man is 5'9", so I'm about an inch shorter than average. I can't say I've ever noticed any problem to it. Being tall would be much more annoying since everything is architecturally designed for average height people. A dwarf can always sit on a stool or pile up books to sit on... a tall person can't exactly get rid of part of their body. Same for fat people... fat people are restricted, whereas too skinny people like me aren't that restricted physically (we just have to be sure not to get in a fight with anyone ). RandomPrecision, it is not exactly impossible for you to get a job and make your way in life... things are not stacked against you and you certainly get no more pity from me than the left handers do. Equal numbers of appointments is a very different thing, but if you don't believe in equal opportunity you're probably either an idiot or a bigot. (Note, I believe in equal opportunity for idiots and bigots -- they can be rejected individually for their inability to handle jobs that involve working with people from groups they don't like, or rejected individually for their incompetence at a particular task.) Opportunity does not equal succesful seizing of opportunity. If a brain damaged six legged center-armed dwarf wants the opportunity to become a nuclear physicist, fine -- give them the opportunity to be rejected for their personal failure, instead of presumed group failure. It's simple stupidity to rule out a class of people based on a lot of them not being qualified... it's economic suicide as well, as other companies find the few very highly qualified people of the groups you've ignored. The concept of equal opportunity has nothing to do with particular (sometimes misguided and badly planned) laws which have in some places been enacted to try to force employers to accept the idea or counteract the effects of employers who never will.

ernest claem
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Posted 11/02/03 - 03:27 AM:	#9
what about Napoleon? A man who mesmerized a nation...who coincidentally was only said to be 5'1...was hitler taller than the average? Brain over brawn? Does it all come down to survival or survival in this society of ours? Intellect can be just as beneficial as immense strength...and vice-versa.

Baron Max
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Posted 11/02/03 - 06:05 AM:	#10
ernest claem wrote: what about Napoleon? He who has the biggest fuckin' gun, wins the power. It's been that way since the first human stood upright on the African plains ....and it ain't likely to change any time soon. And that, my dear Ernest, is reality. ernest claem wrote: Intellect can be just as beneficial as immense strength... Can you give me an example of that? As I see it, brute force has always ruled in this world of ours ...in one form or another. Even, for example, using that "intellect" in order to produce bigger, better weapons! ...or perhaps that's what you meant???? Oooos, I forgot .....I'm suppose to agree with everything that's posted, ain't I? Geez, sorry ...bad habits are just a bitch to break. Baron Max

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