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(If anyone wants to critique my solution attempt, I would be interested in any perceived problems with it. I have a practical interest in finding solutions to
by Nevermark 4y ago
(If anyone wants to critique my solution attempt, I would be interested in any perceived problems with it.
I have a practical interest in finding solutions to difficult moral problems.)
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Clearly people shouldn't be discriminated against for the protected class they are in.
And yet people shouldn't be required to harness their own free speech for views that they find morally objectionable.
I don't see how any workable solution can dispense with either of those principles.
But I don't see any contradiction either. No discrimination based on customer class. But allowable service limits, on providing unique creative contributions to promoting ideas the supplier finds morally objectionable.
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The distinction is between mechanical services, creative non-speech related services (always must be provided equally) vs. creative service directly involved in speech choices.
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A cake maker should provide cakes to anyone. Put any combination of figures for sale on a cake, as a customer requests. Put any writing a customer wants on a cake. And even produce cakes in designs inherently celebrating any ideas, supporting the free speech of the customer.
None of those tasks involve the cake supplier making creative choices about any ideas. The customer made those choices.
But a cake maker can decline to come up with their own wording for phrases supporting ideas they don't agree with. And decline to make choices regarding unique visual designs, specifically promoting an idea they find morally objectionable.
So a gay couple should be able to get a unique cake made (from a maker of custom cakes), with rainbow colors (they chose), in a shape of a non-binary symbol (that they chose), with two male figures on top (at their direction). And the cake maker can be expected to apply their general creative calligraphy and cake shaping skills to make the cake presentable, without having to make any decisions about the ideas it represents that they may or may not have personal moral objections too.
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The only other aspect I can think of is, suppliers should generally be able to decline projects for moral reasons, as long as the moral objection isn't based on protected class of customer.
For instance, a request for a cake in the shape of genetalia can be rejected for being too obscene, given they would decline such a cake for anyone of any class.
- Georgelemental 4y agoIf a customer walks in requesting a cake with a swatzika and other Nazi insignia, should the bakery be allowed to refuse?
- roflyear 4y agoPolitical speech has never been protected.
- Georgelemental 4y agoArguably, marriage and the family are political. "The personal is political" as the feminists say
- roflyear 4y agoUsing that argument, everything is political ....
- Nevermark 4y agoGood question, thanks! I think divisive political or social messages would fall under the providers right to decline based on personal morals, that don't involve making distinctions dependent on a protected customer class. But it would be a problem if the cake maker was ok making very divisive cakes favorable to white supremacists, but then refused to make similarly divisive cakes associated with other races or religions. As that inconsistency would indicate the supplier was making distinctions based on protected classes (i.e. religion, race).
- Georgelemental 4y agoWhat do you mean by "divisive"? How do you define that in a court of law?
- Nevermark 4y agoThe supplier can define divisive, or objectionable in general, in any way they want as long as it doesn't result in protected classes of people being treated differently. A cake maker is fully within their rights to refuse to make blue cake, if they don't like blue, for example.