The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

Racist hiring practice?

Somebody posted this question on a message board. I think the answer is clear that this person is a racist, of course they disagree.

so maybe I run a trucking business that hauls tanker trucks of gasoline or hazmat chemicals. Say a young male of middle eastern decent, a quailified driver, applies for a driving job dressed in Muslim garb. In this post 911 world, am I being prudent or am I a racist if I do not hire him?

It should be noted that this person claims to actually run a trucking business and to have actually done this. Ya know, cause of 9/11. This person says it would be 'letting a fox in a hen house.'

I say, she didn't hire him because of his race.

What do you think?

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jared Lardo on November 8, 2009 at 8:00pm

If she completely neglected to mention actually making some kind of effort to establish whether he's going to blow something up with the gas, then she'd be more on the racist side. If she mentioned asking him some questions and getting his responses and such to see if he's on the crazy side, then she's not as much on the racist side. In her position, I'd ask him things about him, what his views are on some things--or hire somebody to do this for me by conversing with him before or after he and I interact--to gauge where he is on the sleeper-cell spectrum. Basically if he says "I've accepted Jesus Christ as my lord and savior" or anything as endlessly American as that, then he's relatively good to go.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Billy Deaton on November 8, 2009 at 9:19pm

For real? You'd sooner higher a Christian than a Muslim just because some terrorists were Muslims? That's nuts, that's profiling, unless I'm reading you wrong I strongly disagree and can't understand your reasoning.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on November 8, 2009 at 9:52pm

I would ask them -

* do they consider it a sin to lie to infidels ? (this in itself makes creates an environment that in purely objective terms, it is imprudent to believe anything a devout muslim says. Also note, this is not really racism - anyone can be a muslim).

* where sharia and local law conflict, which is the deciding law ?

* explain company policy on both religion and dress code in advance and are there issues ?

I would also ask you why are you defaulting to the accusation of racism ? Maybe race has nothing to do with it, and it has everything to do with a religion whose record of violence and insanity is matched only by it's blanket denials of such and relentless blatherings about peace and respect.

Trust is not given. It is earned.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Turtle Poser on November 9, 2009 at 12:34am

I think that anyone applying for a trucking job wearing Muslim garb is pretty darn brave in this day & age.

Based on her suggestions, we shouldn't allow fair-complected young men in their 20s rent U-Haul trucks after the Oklahoma City bombings. Perhaps we shouldn't allow fair-haired men to buy fertilizer. Imagine the outcry among the fair-haired people who run farms throughout the Great Plains.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on November 9, 2009 at 2:03pm

I hate that employers snoop into potential employees' internet activities and such. But in this case I think I would do that, as well as background check. One reason people think it's only a handful of people who have extremist beliefs is b/c only some of them are completely honest about it all the time. Others sugar-coat it to make it seem more reasonable (such as CAIR) and others hide their extremism completely (the 9/11 hijackers, the military shooter, etc). So a person with ulterior motives for wanting the job could just as easily be dressed in regular clothes. Could they hire this person for a different position? I'd think they'd also have a way of monitoring employees in such a hazardous position.

It has nothing to do with race. It has to do with a belief system that is associated with violence. Muslims are a variety of races...commonly Arab, African/black, South Asian, and Eastern European. If the person really was racist then why are they not giving Hindus and Sikhs a problem? These are religions that really are made up of mostly one race.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Billy Deaton on November 11, 2009 at 7:21pm

I'd be OK with a background check, but to deny someone a job because you believe they are a certain religion (based on circumstantial evidence, I might add) is wrong and comes down to racism. He was too brown. He dressed too brown. It's plain to see, guys. Prog Rock Girl is right, that Muslims come in a variety of races — and if this man was pale skinned and dressed in a suit and was still a Muslim, according to my internet opponent, it seems as if he would've gotten the job.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by x Secular X Combatant x on November 10, 2009 at 10:25am

What if it were McVeigh's look alike? The quiet, type w/Jesus rules bumper stickers on his vehicle?

Damn shame after so many decades of IBM, Apple etc... there is no common, international ground for common fkn' sense.

We're just animals with fancy bling types trying to control our freedom to move.
As imported crap goods leave huge carbon footprint trails in the skies.

: P

who really 'cares' about the corporate hen houses anymore?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Louis on November 10, 2009 at 11:01am

Firstly, lawl at post-911 world. What a fucking joke, this post-911 mentality -- because it's exactly like the pre-911 mentality.

More to the point, given only the quoted and bolded text, I would say yes. It is racist. All other things being equal between the Arab and other applicants, if his race was the sole disqualifier then it is absolutely racist.

In any case, if the applicant was indeed an otherwise qualified driver I'm sure he'll find another employer who doesn't have their head stuck up their cunt.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rusty Gunn. on November 11, 2009 at 7:36pm

"I say, she didn't hire him because of his race."

Being Muslim does not make a person a member of a particular "race". There are only three races on the planet: 1.) caucasoid, 2.) Negroid, and 3.) Mongoloid. The refusal to hire was based on eithnicity or religion, both of which are highly frowned upon these days. However, you can bet your ass I'd not turn over to a Muslim a truck carrying dangerous chemicals. Call me whatever you want but I've been on the planet for 66 years and during that time I've gained a keen eye for foolishness.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Billy Deaton on November 11, 2009 at 7:46pm

Being Muslim does not make a person a member of a particular "race". There are only three races on the planet: 1.) caucasoid, 2.) Negroid, and 3.) Mongoloid.

ugh, for real?