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Originally Posted by Bleeding Red
Sooo......If I as a business owner choose to make people of colour pre-pay and allow white people to not pre-pay, Then I haven't done anything wrong, per se.
Ageism is a legitamite form of descrimination. Usually it is the other way around - older people are not hired for jobs because they may be harder to train, expect more money, be less willing to take their cues from younger people, etc...Either way, it is wrong.
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I'm not arguing that it's discrimination - it most certainly is! But discrimination isn't always wrong (although it's often unfair). As you said, the Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, age (but this does not apply to people <18 or >65). But the fact is that we discriminate EVERY DAY, and often based on these characteristics. And the courts have ruled that this is allowable, as long as there is a bonafide reason for it. Among some common examples: insurance rates, rental cars, seniors discounts, employment programs targeted at youth, etc. I'm sure even you have discriminated based on age before (ever been hit on by a cougar?).
Despite the fact that age is restricted grounds for discrimination, it is only wrong (in the eyes of our courts), when it is systematic and unjustifyable. And that's the difference between "wrong" and "unfair". In the case of the original poster, it doesn't appear to be either systematic or unjustified. Young people stole gas, so the owner wants all people he doesn't know to pre-pay. That's his choice, and he has the right to discriminate that way. Just because his reasoning was the "young people stole gas" doesn't automatically mean that he's discriminating against young people!