Sunday, February 06, 2022

86

 We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. 

This isn't in the Constitution, so don't bother trying to look it up. There is a Federal Asterisk to this, however: *unless the business is discriminating against a protected class. Ready for the list? Race or color, National origin or citizenship status, Religion or creed, Sex, Age, Disability, pregnancy, or genetic information, Veteran status. Which may lead to the obvious question: Who's left? That's a pretty comprehensive set of parameters. 

And yet, that sign still shows up in plenty of your finer establishments. Like Twitter and Facebook. Yes, even without a brick and mortar façade upon which a proprietor could mount such a reminder, there are plenty of online entities that will let you know when it's time to hit the virtual bricks. Which is how you start to hear a lot of whining about the Constitution and Free Speech. Since these are not government agencies, but rather private businesses that make their own rules about things like "no shoes, no shoes, no moral compass, no service," you get these appeals to freedoms that cannot outweigh that which we most treasure: Free Enterprise. 

Far right columnist and white nationalist Michelle Malkin found this out recently when she and her husband were banned from Airbnb. Spokeshuman for the company stated, “Consistent with our policies, if we become aware of users who are members of or are actively affiliated with hate groups, we remove them from Airbnb.” This means that she and her husband are no longer able to book posh places to plotz while denying the Holocaust. A clue for this particular policy might stem from the fact that the founder of the company, Brian Chesky, is of mixed Polish and Italian descent whose parents were both social workers. And there is their legacy. 

Because, at the end of the day it would seem that hate is not a solid business plan. In the meantime, keep an eye out for "Boots&Beds," an online service I am imagining that will find rooms for those who skew to the far right, where they can billet with like-minded pinheads as they plot their next display of racist chicanery. Instead of ratings given with stars, they will get little swastikas. 

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