Craigslist

One thing I found particularly interesting today is the fact that Catholic Charities, recognizing the fact that homosexuals can now marry in Washington D.C., chose to exclude spouses of new employees from benefits packages. While not overtly targeted at homosexuals, it is alleged that the move was crafted to effectively deny homosexual partners from benefits, according to the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/catholic-charities-drops_n_482388.html. This is obviously rooted in their church’s stance on homosexual, but fails to realize that their employees are not all Catholic and may have families despite being homosexual. Well on to another topic, since that one seems pretty cut and dry. Like I wrote before, I think Craigslist is a great place to find out about how prejudice reaches the mainstream. One important thing to note about Craigslist is the fact that it allows users to flag offensive comments for removal. I’ve noticed that there are few new postings on the Fort Collins section, probably because people realize they’re offensive. However, some really obvious prejudice and offensive things got through. This excerpt from a recent posting equates women with only their looks, and judges personality off of looks, and is just plain awful: “I was at Target today and there was a fairly decent-looking guy with a hideous bitch-o-matic of a wife. I don't know how she conned him, but she must've been working some awesome magic, because I could barely look in her direction without feeling nauseous. Maybe these hideous creatures are proof that the world of magical spells and incantations really does exist. Because otherwise, I really don't how you'd explain it.” Another incoherent post makes some really racist assumptions: “yea .I see the racism is long gone .The shackles have just changed with the dependency on you liberals to get them hand outs and things like affordable housing , welfare , health care.” This gem is too long to post: http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/rnr/1597196342.html. Finally, a shining example of prejudice entitled “if I where (sic) president”, http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/rnr/1594421752.html. Though these are obviously offensive, I need to do research on how someone can actually believe them. Maybe over time they hear all the prejudice on Craigslist and other areas of socialization and believe it. Or maybe their main source of “knowledge” sadly is Craiglist.