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Pastimes : The Boxing Ring Revived -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (4934)	2/26/2003 6:15:55 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7720

Basically, am I, as a small business person, which I am (very small!) entitled to say to someone "if you are an Iraqui, and if you support Saddam, I don't want your business, but if you are an Iraqui and you oppose Saddam, I will be glad to serve you"? It would be interesting to see your community's reaction if you hung out a sign at your office saying that you don't accept French or German clients. Or on your house warning off French or German visitors. I'm willing to bet that if any Frenchman walked into his restaurant and said to him... Would the Frenchman walk in? The sign says he's not welcome, regardless of his opinions. That's just my point. That's why I called it bigoted. If he's going to welcome "some" Frenchmen, then the sign should address the correct criterion, not the nationality of the potential patron. Not serving an individual who is morally repulsive to the management is not the same as not serving an individual who is a member of a group by circumstance of his birth, which happens to be lead by those one considers morally repulsive. I appreciate his position that he doesn't want anything to do with those who are dissing America, or whatever else is important to him. But two wrongs don't make a right. As a practical matter, the proprietor might get more satisfaction out of engaging French and German patrons on their politics. It would be interesting and he might just learn something. He could even put a sign up in the window indicating his views on the subject and encourage tourists to enter or stay away based on it. Or he could an American flag to make his point. But saying that all French aren't welcome is, at best, rude and, IMO, bigoted.

To: The Philosopher who wrote (4934)	2/26/2003 6:21:29 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 7720

and am distressed that my country is so ungrateful that it opposes the country to which it owes so much I put this point in a separate post to avoid blurring the main issue about bigotry. I have reservations about those who seem to think that France is obligated to side with the US regardless of what it is up to simply because the US benefited France immeasurably sixty years ago. It's a factor, to be sure--forgetting or ignoring is not acceptable with such a large debt--but I don't see any obligation to follow blindly forever out of gratitude. There are things that may weigh more heavily than gratitude.