Denying Service to the blind with guide dogs

Submitted by Alan N (United States), Feb 20, 2008 at 21:40

I'm sorry, but as much as I detest the superstitious ignorance of Muslim cab drivers that refuse to allow a dog to enter their vehicle (many more potential disease germs of danger to humans on a... well, on a human -- and yet they survive and prosper), I believe that in a free country, it should be the right of any business owner to refuse service to anyone including me.

A rational person could find reason to deny a trouble-maker entrance to his establishment, an irrational one may use the dress, color of skin, accent, or any other irrelevant characteristic, but, in a free society, that is a good way to lose ones income and, often, business. I am completely in favor of boycotting discriminatory businesses. That is also a right, as long as it's peaceful. I would refuse to ride with a cabbie who refuses a ride to blind person with a guide dog, the best-trained dogs around. And, if cabs weren't a protected monopoly in many cities, such drivers would even more quickly find themselves broke and looking for other work.

I don't think you should make this the wedge issue, because it isn't. Shari'a courts in a free country like the U.K. or the U.S. should be outlawed, unless they are providing no more than a voluntary, non-binding arbitration service like one can find through retired judges, ombudsmen, etc. The assault and intimidation of women by Muslim men should be treated like any other such offense against a free person. Any of the heinous acts against women sanctioned in Islamic Fundamentalist societies should be outlawed in civilized societies. But freedom of association, whether of an individual or a business should not be abrogated because it offends. Discrimination is repugnant, but, so long as no violence is threatened, the government has no legitimate role.

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