Subject: Look where we're headed.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/
Fw: Look where we're headed.
10/30/2010 07:39:00 AM
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michigan
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8 comments:
What a terrible decision. If this woman wants a Christian roommate, where's the harm in that?
We're supposed to be about freedom of choice;
I'd be interested in the ACLU's take on this.
Unbelievable -- I just sided with a RW forward.
What a terrible decision. If this woman wants a white roommate, where's the harm in that?
What a terrible decision. If this woman wants a heterosexual roommate, where's the harm in that?
What a terrible decision. If this woman wants a (fill in the blank) roommate, where's the harm in that?
Overboard? Yes. Should she be prosecuted? No, I don't think that's really a worthwhile solution. Could she just have placed the ad and then screened for a "christian" roommate anyway? Of course.
But a ton of serious problems in this country can be traced directly to discriminatory practices in housing, employment and other important economic fields. There's a reason we have laws against discrimination, feeble as they may be. If this person had put an ad saying "No blacks/jews/muslims/irish, etc need apply" we would rightfully be up in arms.
As for the forward, typical alarmist christianist bullshit. So basic application of longstanding fair housing laws = they are gonna round up Christians and put them in death camps. Its a slippery slope, after all.
I'm with Anon on this. I don't think she should be prosecuted or anything like that, but it is illegal to seek out a particular race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and so on when it comes to housing. That's all there is to it.
Sorry gang, I disagree.
If she was a landlord, I'd be the first in line to cry foul. That is discrimination and that is unacceptable.
She's a tenant. This is a big difference. She can room with whomever she wants. And advertising it will preclude wasting everyone's time as she screens applicants. I know that I'd appreciate that info up front, as my time is valuable -- so just cut to the chase, already.
If someone put out an ad seeking an authoritarian, avid FOX newswatcher, I say go for it. That will save two other potential roommates who'd be driven out of their minds.
Although this is something of a gray area, I have to say I agree with Gruaud on this. She's a tenant seeking a ROOMMATE, not a landlord seeking a TENANT.
There is defacto discrimination in roommate-seeking all the time. People seek roommates who share their backgrounds, beleifs, and cultural practices - whether it's a gay couple seeking an "open-minded, gay-friendly" person to room with them, a pot user who wants someone who "doesn't mind a little pot use" to room with, a recovering alcoholic who wants a teetotler roommate, a vegan who wants a roomate who promises not to bring dead animal flesh into the home, a Jewish person seeking a roommate willing to observe Kosher kitchen and Sabbath rules with them, or a Christian seeking antother Christian. I've seen ALL of those kinds of ads. I've never actually seen someone say "white roommate wanted" or "black roommate wanted" - probably because it comes across in such bad taste - but you know damn well that people screen roommates for race all the time.
It's one thing to put laws into place banning OWNERS from discriminating against TENTANTS. There is no excuse for discrimination in renting a dwelling that the owner will not be living in.
It's another thing to force people to ROOM with anyone who wants to share the space. You really cannot FORCE a non-Kosher vegetarian roommate to accept an observant Jewish meat-eating roommate and put up with both their Kosher practices and their meat, or FORCE a recovering alcholic gay man to room with a hard-drinking homophobe, or FORCE a sloppy bigotted white person to share their apartment with a neat-and-clean black person.
Roommates are not landlords; they're roommates, and personal preferences - however loathesome we may find SOME of those preferences - need to be respected.
If you think that forcing a non-Christian roommate on a Christian is a good idea, you might want to think about where that slippery slope leads to. It's one thing for the government to say that you cannot discriminate against tentants, and for you to have to rent one of your units to a homophobic right-wing bigot with no respect for your vegetarian diet or your Wiccan religious practices - but do you really think the government should force you to accept that person as a ROOMMATE?
That's sort of odd, but I guess it happened (since it's on the Fox "Nooz" website, I have healthy skepticism about the veracity of what they're saying, and I don't feel like spending time researching it, frankly). If so, I do have to agree with gruaud & last Anon.
I question the veracity of this and/or the actual *accuracy* of what happened, both in terms of the ad and the resulting lawsuit. It seems *fishy* to me, is all I'm saying.
That said, I see roommate ads all the time that specify likes/dislikes, such as: no drugs or smoking, or no pets, or seeking female roommate, etc.
I don't have an issue with someone seeking a roommate with similar religious values. Why not? And why would someone who's perhaps not religious want to foist themselves on someone who holds different values.
I agree: the laws are for landlords, and that's a different situation. Roommates should be able to be picky and find someone compatible with them on many levels.
Just saying, though... this seems sort of fishy to me, and I wonder if there's more to the story??
National media haven't picked up the story yet, so we're limited to a few reports from local news and the typical alarmist blogs from WND, et al.
It looks like the facts of the case are accurate, at least. This article suggests the legal debate will be similar to the one in our comments -- whether a law preventing discrimination in housing applies to ads for roommates. If the court rules against her, I wouldn't be surprised to see the law revised in the near future.
If this is true, then, as Valeyard suggests, there will be more to the story and perhaps a court case or legislation.
Hey: stuff happens, and sometimes it's unfair. But in general, this kind of stuff usually ends getting sorted out.
The problem as I see it is the usual rightwing freak out intensity of: ohmigawd the world's coming to an end and all christians are under nuclear attack by the atheists run for your lives fear fear fear scary dusky people ripping you off.
That's the main problem I have with this... because it's on Fox and sent forth as a rightwing forward in the typically provacative manner that provides no real context or offers real solutions.
Life isn't always fair, but it's not just christians who suffer from unfair things. Get over yourselves.
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