Let me explain the difference between good political correctness and bad political correctness.

If you’re in a work environment, and, against all common sense, a political discussion begins, it is good political correctness that keeps one from making offensive comments that will cause tension between you and your co-workers. This sort of thing shouldn’t be legally mandated, mind, but it’s still just smart not to do stupid things that will cause the workplace to be even less pleasant than it already is. (Note: “shouldn’t be legally mandated” does not mean that your employer doesn’t have every right to can you for being stupid and offensive. See: “at-will employment”.)

On the other hand, it is bad political correctness that forces people to treat the man who thinks he deserves a Mother’s Day Tote Bag like he’s got a legitimate complaint. When he first raised the complaint, the response should’ve been simple. He should have been laughed at. There are a few reasons for that.

First of all, it’s a Mother’s Day giveaway. He’s pretty obviously not a mother. The fact that he wanted the tote bag is laughable in and of itself.

Secondly, listen to what the man is saying. “They didn’t give me free stuff, so my rights were violated.” Um… Right. I suppose it’s possible that his position is that both he and the mother of three who had walked into the park five minutes earlier had both paid the same amounts for their tickets, and therefore deserved to get the same treatment. I suppose that if he were sitting behind left field and she were sitting behind right field, and every single home run went to right field, he’d sue over that, too. Unequal treatment is unequal treatment, after all.

Okay. I know some of you are saying, “Don’t be stupid, Robin. He’s suing because he was treated differently purely the on basis of his sex, which is illegal.”

I suppose that’s true, but unless his intention is to get people to understand how stupid those sorts of laws are, he’s being a moron. Sure, legally, he may have a case, but it’s still stupid.

I wish that people in our society would realize this, but even moreso, I wish that our government would realize this. When the government discriminates against you based on your gender, sex, ethnicity, etc., it’s legitimately a violation of your civil rights. When a private company does the same thing, it’s an exercise of private property rights on behalf of the company’s owners. It’s (potentially*) stupid, but it should be perfectly legal.

* I’m not saying this particular example is stupid. Giving a gift to mothers on Mother’s Day is not stupid. Flat out refusing to serve someone because of their race or sexual orientation is arguably immoral and stupid, but simply being immoral doesn’t mean it should be illegal.

( þ Gut Rumbles )