Just a quick thought...

When I was on the way home from playing football earlier today (thought I'd pop that in because I played pretty well today) I realised that we are not covering racism/discrimination on the course. Racism is very offensive and it can be very hurtful as people are singled out because of their race. Discrimination is slightly different, although it does involve race, discrimination also involves things like age, sex etc.

Michael Richards, best known for his role as Cosmo Kramer in Seinfeld, was criticised for using the 'n-word' whilst addressing two African American members of the audience at a comedy club that were 'interrupting him'. In modern day society this word is extremely offensive. During times of slavery the 'n-word' was used frequently but not challenged, now it is. “Once the word comes out of your mouth and you don’t happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining,” comedian Paul Rodriguez, who was at the Laugh Factory during Richards’ performance, told CNN. “Freedom of speech has its limitations and I think Michael Richards found those limitations.” One important part of this quote is that 'freedom of speech has its limits' but what are these limits? It is difficult to work it out.

Discrimination is very common in the workplace. For example, somebody may not get a job due to their age, whether they are 'too young or too old'. An example of this involved Julie Bower, an investment banker. 'In 2002 she took her company Schroder Securities to court claiming that her male counterparts were given much bigger bonuses. She won her case and received £1.5 million which caused a sensation at the time'. This represents the severity of discrimination in modern day society. So is it on the decline?

Article used - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15816126/

Other links - http://www.aboutequalopportunities.co.uk/high-profile-discrimination-cases.html