Where is the line of acceptable discrimination?

[Esper]

To direct the start of this a little, ask yourself, in each of the following situations, whether you'd decide not to consider, or would feel uncomfortable with, someone of a particular gender, race or ethnicity, class, or religion:

• Speaking with someone
• A service interaction (such as a shop or restaurant)
• Working with someone (in a job or school project)
• Befriending someone
• Going on a blind date
• Dating someone long term
• Being examined by a doctor

(I tried to list this from least to most personal/intimate, but that's just my take on it.)

You can also ask the same question for institutions of authority - government, schools, businesses, etc. (Obviously the scenarios don't match 100% for each instance.)

You don't have to publicly share what you think and feel, but if anyone does I hope we'll not pounce on them or attack them personally for having a different stance than we do. Debate, discuss, argue - yes, do that instead.

tl;dr where is the line of acceptable discrimination?

 

[Somewhere_]

I believe discriminating is okay in the context of choosing between products and business you prefer, such as buying from a local water supplier instead of Nestle because you dont like that Nestle is attempting to monopolize fresh water supplies. Or discriminating between brands because you believe one is higher quality or has a better price for what you receive. This type of discrimination is healthy for oneself and for society- competition is good.

Discriminating between people is also good. Every relationship we have is inherently discriminatory. Every minute I'm spending with one friend or a couple of friends, I am not spending with literally anybody else in the world that I could potentially be friends with. We naturally discriminate between people based on their interests and how their personalities mesh with ours. Its weird putting it that way, but that is what we do. Now if you aren't a friend with someone because they are a different race, you are obviously racist and probably not the best of people.

But I dont believe is okay to discriminate based on gender, race, sexuality, etc. I think we can all agree that this is absolutely wrong. I believe that somebody should be hired based on merit, education, performance, etc. NOT based on prejudice. If racism is not considered wrong (which it should be), than at least it should be opposed on the grounds of inefficiency.

There was a lot in the OP, so I covered as much as I could in a short period of time. xD