Scrupuli
blunt essays with sharp points
Is it OK to discriminate against obese people?
by ScrvpvlvsApr 10, 2012 6:48 AM–CBS MoneyWatch commentary by Suzanne Lucas
Discrimination is a hard nut to crack. It is the result of two natural, healthy thinking processes.
Prejudgment is a natural, healthy human trait: “The human mind must think with the aid of categories … Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process.” (Allport) And that's the first part of discrimination: prejudgment of an individual based on a category.
Partiality to our own family is also a natural, healthy human trait. It is built in to us to consider members of “our” tribe to be most deserving. And that's the second part of discrimination: once we identify a person as a member of a different tribe (whether by blood, or religion, or any physical characteristic), they automatically become less deserving than “our” people.
I don't attach shame to either of these thinking processes. They are part of what it means to be human. There is no shame in being human.
It's when we continue to discriminate, even though we know better, that it becomes shameful. Once we use our capacity for reason, and discover that our intuition is wrong (people outside our family are really not any less deserving than “our” people), then we ought to stop acting on our faulty intuition and start acting as if everyone and everything deserves our love.
This to me is the truth that bears up the worldwide religious teaching of universal love:
- Love your enemy, give everyone, not just members of your tribe, mercy and help, and you will be rewarded. (Jesus)
- Allah will not give mercy to anyone except those who give mercy to others. (Muhammad)
- The cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is not part of our practice. It is all of our practice. (Buddha)
- There are plenty of witnesses of the unsurpassable kindness of the man to everybody, his gratitude towards his parents, and his kindness to his brothers, his gentleness to his servants, and his universal philanthropy towards all men. (Diogenes Laertius, Life of Epicurus)
- Practice compassion, conquering callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings. See god everywhere. (Sivaya Subramuniyaswami)
Labels: Allah, bias, Buddha, compassion, Diogenes Laertius, discrimination, Epicurus, family, human nature, intuition, Jesus, love, mercy, Muhammad, obesity, prejudice, reason, religion, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, universalism
Share:
Tweet
3 Comments:
by 
wild man
June 04, 2012 11:48 PM–Particularly with obesity, I find myself walking the line between pity and judgment all the time.
by wild man
June 04, 2012 11:50 PM–Particularly with obesity and other seemingly "self-inflicted" body issues...I find myself walking the line between judgment and pity all the time. Usually I find that there's always more to the story than just "you made yourself that way." And since I've been there myself, I usually give people the benefit of the doubt.
by Carlo_R.
September 26, 2012 3:36 PM–This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
about.me
Follow
vs.
Recent Articles
George Washington’s axe or Cuisinart’s coffeemaker?
Why is the White House Organic Farm Project offeri...
How to associate a Windows 7 file with a Windows X...
Aaron Swartz broke into a library
Congress is full of sex maniacs
I have been attacking the problems at Project Eule...
Do it yourself repair of a Panasonic KX-FL511 fax ...
Google Chrome On Track To Overtake Firefox
Archives
November 1999June 2000
July 2000
September 2001
October 2001
February 2002
March 2002
June 2003
February 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
February 2005
March 2005
November 2005
July 2007
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
April 2009
September 2009
December 2009
February 2010
March 2010
May 2010
June 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
April 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
December 2011
February 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
November 2012
January 2013
February 2013
April 2013
February 2014
May 2014
October 2014
June 2017
February 2019
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sometimes they fool you by walking upright.
What part of “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” don’t you understand?
Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life. —Terry Pratchett
Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig. —Robert Heinlein
Do not ask why the past was better than the present, for this is not a question prompted by wisdom. —Ecclesiastes 7:10
Power lines abruptly stopped causing cancer in 1997 after the U.S. National Cancer Institute conducted a better study. —Robert Parks
Встретимся под столом! (Vstretimsja pod stolom: To meeting you under the table!)
The more you cry, the less you’ll pee.
Relish the love of a good woman.
It’ll never get better if you keep picking at it. —advice from Judge “Maximum” Bob Gibbs