So many laws, so little enforcement.
US House of Representatives Votes 420-3 To Ban Genetic Discrimination
In the 1960s, the United States created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to “bring suit on behalf of alleged victims of discrimination against private employers” and enacted the Fair Housing Act, which “prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and handicap.”
Studies show that minority job applicants with competitive resumes get a lot fewer callbacks than their white counterparts. In New Orleans and elsewhere in the nation, people with black and ethnic names also suffer mass rental discrimination.
How does banning something discourage and avoid it?
Do you think it has more to do with political posturing than with doing what is right?
Good thing that Maitri is such a normal name, bet you never have any problems.
Have a nice weekend Maitri, or should I call you Mary so you can get some better housing. :-)
LLAP,
Spocko
Blair, I think the various Civil Rights acts started out with the right intent, but soon became decoration pulled out for the stray lawsuit. It’s good that we have the laws but my point here is that there’s a social (in this case, American social) value and then having respect for the value (value for the value, as it were). All politics is about posturing, as you well know. When I told my mom I wished to run for office, she launched into an hour-long lecture about the vampiric process that is politics and how it would rip out what remaining soul I have left. If you’re not corrupted in a few years, you end up being the black sheep and they make you leave. Politics leaves you a soulless, drained or assassinated individual.
Everyday, Spocko, everyday I get a comment like, “Your name is so weird I can’t pronounce it.” My baristas who tell me that my name is so unique that they can’t forget it get a hefty tip. So, ha.
What I’m curious about is how common it is in other parts of the world. I haven’t traveled all that much, so I don’t know, but is Maitri like Mary in some locations?
Which of course reminds me of that scenes from the movie Office Space and their inability to pronounce a character’s name. If you haven’t’ watched it, check it out, you might like it.
“Sameer Nageenanajar. Na-gee-na-na-jar. How hard is that to say?” I own the DVD.
Maitri is a very common Thai male name (of all things) and a very uncommon but easily pronounced Indian one.
Indians and people of a lot of other non-western cultures don’t learn to read via phonics, so it’s easier for us to pronounce words we haven’t come across. Also, a lot of non-western/Romance words are pronounced as per script, there’s no guessing.