STEPHEN FRY

I agree... the irony of all that equality legislation is that it discriminates against unrecognised groups. So it starts off with women, then you get blacks; whoops - forgot about religious tolerance - plug that gap straight away... next comes the disabled, dang - we left out old fogies - quick more regulations, Hey! Surely in this day and age a person should not be victimised on grounds of sexual orientation? Okay, a civil partnership Act. Now we see discrimination against teenagers, but wait! If we kick that one out we'll be discriminating against shopkeepers trying to prevent thefts from crafty little criminal gangs. While all this has been going on the worst kind of discrimination has continued unabated. That's right - ugly discrimination. So if someone doesn't like the look of you, maybe you're a bit of squirt or got a big hooter or something like that - you lose the job... but that ones alright. Now in my opinion the problem has been dealt with in the wrong way - instead of trying to plug one gap after another with Microsoft type patches what was needed all along was a simple formula that dealt with all eventualities, viz: that the treatment or selection of persons in public life should be handled objectively without regard to stereotypical images or prejudice against particular groups or individuals. That way ugly and appearance challenged persons generally would have been brought into the loop. Obviously as regards who comes on to your private property as a guest - that should be left entirely to you.

km

This might cheer you up:

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/columnists/Gervase-.....6461747.jp

And as for age discrimination - it is rotten I agree, but for you it will end as you get older. Try getting a job at 50+. This gets worse...

And yes, there is awful discrimination based on looks, as the above article also shows. How do we become more accepting of differences? It's a hard one.

As a 17 year old girl, and someone so often discriminated against purely because of my age I have to say I agree wholeheartedly.

Fact is I was never much of a child, and I make a very poor teenager. According to those closest to me, I have all the sensibilites of an 80 year old. I should probably be offended by this, but meh. Anywho, to be concieved as a drunken young lout who does nothing and gets everything is INCREDIBLY annoying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, discrimination against teens sucks. Something must be done! *Marches around with protest signs*

michael said:
Nitro: "manners and respect level between strangers"... while i'm one to shy away from any kind of "manners in this society are decaying!!" sort of talk, i do think you are right that r-e-s-p-e-c-t is a big part of what any group feels when someone is stereotyping.

no, you can't legislate against it, but you can speak up about it. which is why i wouldn't call the shop to ask to have a teen let in, i just wouldn't shop there. hell, teens have expendable cash. in the U.S. they're the group most marketed to. important purse strings.

As for my own bizarre age issues: i'm 33 and look like i'm 14. No kidding. I've been carded at the horseraces. I go places with my partner and they say "oh, is that your little helper?" High school jocks mistake me for a young effeminate male while i'm riding my bike home, and yell "fuck you fag.got!!" and i wanna say, "Hi, i'm 33 years old. I work out and have practiced brazilian martial arts. should i call the cops or kick your asses?"

*SHRUG* i dunno. i def. DON'T think the respect for strangers issue is a tech thing... folks have been yelling fuck you fag.got for as long as i can remember...and the young have always been feared by many in the older generations.

michael said:
As for my own bizarre age issues: i'm 33 and look like i'm 14. No kidding. I've been carded at the horseraces. I go places with my partner and they say "oh, is that your little helper?" High school jocks mistake me for a young effeminate male while i'm riding my bike home, and yell "fuck you fag.got!!" and i wanna say, "Hi, i'm 33 years old. I work out and have practiced brazilian martial arts. should i call the cops or kick your asses?"

I'm 26 and I'm either mistaken for 12 or a girl. I prefer 12 - I can easily proof that wrong with my ID when it matters. I can buy my own cigarettes and alcohol (somehow), but I've all but given up on discussing "serious" and "adult" matters with people I don't know well - economy, politics, and so on. When you look young, or actually are, there's absolutely no way in hell anyone will honestly give your opinions a thought. Or at least it's very, very rare... The oddest thing about this is that my opinion seemed to be considered more when I actually WAS young than now that I only LOOK young, or maybe my expectations simply were lower then. But I've also seen that in other people. (Theory: A child discussing adult matters = perceived as child genius = bonus in conversation...)

missjessmac said:
"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have
no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all
restraint. They talk as if they alone knew everything and what passes
for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for girls, they are
forward, immodest and unwomanly in speech, behaviour and dress."

Got to love that quote.

I may have unconsciously come off as minimizing the issue of age discrimination or discrimination against appearance. I don't mean to do that. I think this is an issue that is the sort of discussion that could go on for hours really.

I do believe, generally, that most people would tend to believe that discrimination based on how a person is born ( looks, skin color, gender, sexual orientation, etc ) is unfair and 'wrong'. Even blaming the natural aging process of people is stupid really.

The old blame the young, the young blame the old, and on it goes. And as we can see, The Blame Game goes nowhere and accomplishes very little that is positive in the longterm.

There are exceptions I think: the military does not recruit the middle aged and elderly because, physically, they cannot excel and be reprogrammed as quickly as someone who is 20 can be. The perception that one has eons of Life ahead of them is the very thing that makes them good cannon fodder ( pardon my bluntness, but I'm a war vet myself and facts are facts ). Is there an exceptional middle-aged person? Yes, but generally they are on the physical decline and past their peak. Any efforts towards physical fitness are extremely hard worn and hard held.

Still, Youth is not the answer to everything. The gains of longer years are Experience ( and if you're lucky, even a little Wisdom ). Are there exceptions in youth to this? Yes. The Congo child who is forced to fight and rape and avoid starvation at the age of 12 is a much different 12 year old than those of the modern Western cultures.

So, I am not here suggesting ( Michael ), some antiquated complaint of 'manners in society' as you or anyone else may think. I think it follows that if you have R-E-S-P-E-C-T you will also likely have good manners. And 'manners' is nothing more complex than treating others as you'd wish to be treated.

The ageism issue is real IMHO. If the media is something that people look to for information and entertainment, you can see that many, many groups are NOT represented. The handicapped, various ethnic groups ( chinese, korean, russian ( unless they're criminals ), etc etc as well as the elderly. There are not many shows about elderly people, at least not in the states, that demonstrate them as anything but bumbling, confused, or bitter and few have shows that they star in. So, is there as much disgust for the old as there is for the young?