4 ms·

You know words have specific meanings. Like xenophobia: "fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign" I'm pretty sure

You know words have specific meanings. Like xenophobia: "fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign" I'm pretty sure these companies don't hate the foreigners or fear them. Please find more suitable words to express your opinions.

shmerl 11y ago
> I'm pretty sure these companies don't hate the foreigners or fear them. Forbidding selling merchandise to foreigners who come to your store based on the fact that they are foreigners is xenophobic. But if you have a better term for it, please describe it another way.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  A phobia is an irrational fear of a particular thing. Xenophobia is fear of outsiders. Refusing to sell to them is not fear of them, it's fear of the consequences of not following the law. Which is a rational fear rather than an irrational one. So the charge of xenophobia is wrong on both aspects of the definition that matter. But by all means, reiterate your loaded terminology.
  - shmerl 11y ago
    > Refusing to sell to them is not fear of them, it's fear of the consequences of not following the law. Except there is no such law (unless we are talking about some xenophobic country, Third Reich style). Rather than any laws, they fear that their crazy partners will pull a plug on them. And they are being xenophobic to oblige their insane content overlords. Their exact intentions don't matter however for the end user who is being discriminated. What matters are their actions.
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      > Rather than any laws, they fear that their crazy partners will pull a plug on them. And they are being xenophobic to oblige their insane content overlords. Neither of which is an irrational fear of outsiders. I agree it's a shitty situation, but you're not going to get anywhere by demonizing merchants. We need to change the system they exist in.
      - shmerl 11y ago
        > Neither of which is an irrational fear of outsiders. That's what it ends up being in their actions towards the user. > but you're not going to get anywhere by demonizing merchants. We need to change the system they exist in. I agree that system is wrong. But merchants can't use it as an excuse. They are part of the system and they contribute to the problem.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

shmerl 11y ago

> I'm pretty sure these companies don't hate the foreigners or fear them. Forbidding selling merchandise to foreigners who come to your store based on the fact that they are foreigners is xenophobic. But if you have a better term for it, please describe it another way.

vinceguidry 11y ago
A phobia is an irrational fear of a particular thing. Xenophobia is fear of outsiders. Refusing to sell to them is not fear of them, it's fear of the consequences of not following the law. Which is a rational fear rather than an irrational one. So the charge of xenophobia is wrong on both aspects of the definition that matter. But by all means, reiterate your loaded terminology.
- shmerl 11y ago
  > Refusing to sell to them is not fear of them, it's fear of the consequences of not following the law. Except there is no such law (unless we are talking about some xenophobic country, Third Reich style). Rather than any laws, they fear that their crazy partners will pull a plug on them. And they are being xenophobic to oblige their insane content overlords. Their exact intentions don't matter however for the end user who is being discriminated. What matters are their actions.
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    > Rather than any laws, they fear that their crazy partners will pull a plug on them. And they are being xenophobic to oblige their insane content overlords. Neither of which is an irrational fear of outsiders. I agree it's a shitty situation, but you're not going to get anywhere by demonizing merchants. We need to change the system they exist in.
    - shmerl 11y ago
      > Neither of which is an irrational fear of outsiders. That's what it ends up being in their actions towards the user. > but you're not going to get anywhere by demonizing merchants. We need to change the system they exist in. I agree that system is wrong. But merchants can't use it as an excuse. They are part of the system and they contribute to the problem.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]