Civil Rights activism jumps the shark

Apparently, thirtysomething male Bronies are NOT a protected class in the workplace.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-mylittlepony-discrimination-righ...

Is this still America? : )

If you unpack that article, the question it asks is probably worth a real discussion: why is it okay for you be fired for any reason other than not doing your job? And why is it okay for you to not be hired because of any reason other than your competence or lack thereof?

Leaving aside convictions of felonies, etc., there are plenty of reasons that people are not hired because of things that arguably have nothing to do with their competence in the workplace-- how they look being a big one.

It suggests that as a society we place a great amount of importance on arguably superficial things.

#2: Because there is no guaranteed "right to a job"

(yet).

The question has both a legal and a moral aspect to it.

Not really. No one is morally or legally obligated to hire anyone.

I didn't suggest we were "obligated" to hire anyone. But when we are hiring, we are perhaps morally called not to reject people for unworthy reasons.

Again, nope. Any reason at all beyond: age, disability, equal pay, genetic info, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, retaliation, gender, and sexual harassment. That’s plenty. To further dilute the discriminatory claims to include arrested adolescence (or poor hygiene, dress, fetish, etc.) would counter any good the protected status offers.

or ugliness vs. prettiness? :) Which, despite the silly headline, was one question the article was asking.

It's something I've been aware of because I have a cousin who suffers from Bell's Palsy. It does not impede her in any way except that she does not look conventionally pretty. But this in itself turned out to be a liability getting a job in many places. So I find our society's obsession with image as an indicator of worth or value soemwhat problematic. Although granted I don't think its the kind of thing you'd fix with legislation.

#8: yes, I'd agree that the real misfortune for your cousin is to be born into a society with an obsession with image as an indicator of worth or value, a misfortune we all share to varying degrees (worse, I am sure for your cousin than for the waitresses at Hooters, but then again, maybe not?)

Activist Bronies and now Pajama Boy. 2013 has been a banner year for the beta-man-child:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/opinion-rich-lowry-obamacare-affo...