Witch Willows Wanderings"Postal" Postal Workers
November 14th 2006 16:40
Postal Workers Permitted to Discriminate?
Thank goodness this is not in the United States, yet. Apparently in Canada there has been discussion on whether postal workers should be allowed to refuse delivery of certain pieces of mail based on content and their personal religious views. Do you remember hearing in the US how they were trying to allow pharmacists to determine what medications they would dispense based on their religious outlook? Well, kind of the same thing, only it’s your mail at risk.
I decided to blog on this because before long I am sure it will be something being considered in the US as well. So here’s the run down: The thought of censoring what mail gets delivered was started because of hate mail. Certain kinds of hate mail are not supposed to be delivered, however the newest thing is not delivering mail about AIDS and homosexuality. Apparently in Vancouver, mail carriers marched off the job and refused to deliver a booklet that blames gays and lesbians for AIDS. The pamphlet was produced by the Fundamental Baptist Mission in Ontario and not only stated that gays and lesbians caused AIDS, but how “unnatural” and “ungodly” homosexuality is.
Based on the utter bias and ignorance of the pamphlets, I would have to side with the mail carriers on this one. I am not completely sure of the rights of free speech and free writing in Canada, but in the US you would have the right to publish such material…just hand it out instead of mailing it. Is it offensive if it is only distributed by hand instead of by mail? Certainly. But then you at least have the choice of accepting the pamphlet and no other person is actually forced to give it to you.
I think this could be a very fine line though. If they allow this censorship to happen, then they would need to make sure there are guidelines in place in order to stop the refusal of delivering other things based solely on disagreeing with the content. Should you be able to send pictures of aborted babies in the mail for all to see just because you don’t like abortion? No…it’s very offensive material to a lot of people. Should you be able to refuse to deliver a catalog because it sells Islamic, Pagan, or Christian material? No. since this kind of mail would not be graphic nor considered highly offensive.
So, yes, I think they should sensor mail delivery to a certain point. I for one would not want my son to check the mail and read something about AIDS being the outcome of homosexuals or see a picture of an aborted baby. Would I mind if he saw a pamphlet about attending a mosque or church down the street? Absolutely not. So let’s sensor the highly offensive items in the mail, but let’s set guidelines. On the other hand, others would argue that what one person finds offensive another may not. This is true, but let’s use some common sense. What’s common sense? It’s the thing we use to use to determine things, but somehow it got thrown out the window when the world got hijacked by wacko liberals and nut job conservatives. Let’s try to find that happy medium again, shall we?
Blessed Be
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