Today brought the momentous result that the citizens of the Republic of Ireland had voted to change their constitution to accept equal marriage. This from a country that only repealed laws making homosexual acts illegal two decades ago.
What an amazing day, where people have shown their compassion, understanding and support for the principles of equality.
Sadly there are still many countries in the world where marriage rights are not equal, and indeed where members of the LGBT community are persecuted.
What change society is able to embrace. It's frankly astounding. This is the first time the population of any country have specifically voted for such a law change in a referendum.
The other sad thing is that the motivation and energy behind the objections come from religious groups. Such a shame that some people are so busy highlighting the bits of their favoured religious texts that indicate what people should or shouldn't be able to do in the name of love, but ignore all the bits that say about getting on with other people, living a life of love and understanding. Not judging other people. You know all that sort of stuff that you really throw out the window the moment you start pointing at anyone and undermining the validity of their love.
It's all about love guys and girls. Everything, it's all about love. When we have it we are driven by it, saved by it. When we don't have it, we are driven to find it. I don't just mean the love of another person, I mean the love of the complex but amazing world we live in. Loving the depth of human feeling and the ability to share, grow, care and hope. Loving the rain. Loving the sun.
There's plenty to love about the world that surrounds us, plenty to love about the people that we meet. If you're not able to find the joy in everything, you won't be able to find it in anything.
Well done Ireland. Well done.
Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Are Women Better (Drivers) Than Men ?
Shock of horrors, and utter absence of common sense has occurred at the hands of those dastardly European equality laws.
Apparently it will be illegal from the end of the year for insurance companies to charge different rates for customers Dependant on their sex. On the face of it, 'great news'. Everyone's the same, aren't they ? Well the statistics show that men are more likely to have accidents than women (despite all those derisive jokes that men make about women drivers, they are actually better at it). For example, the average cost of an accident to an 18 year old driver is about twice as much for a male as it is for a female (£4,400 & £2,700 respectively).
That's because young men, as a rule, behave on the road in a similar way to how they behave elsewhere. Like d@*ks.
Feminism seems to have scored a massive own goal with this one.
There's a line from a book that I once read, (and there are no prizes for guessing which book).... There's nothing more unfair than the equal treatment of unequals.
We are all equal, but we are all different. Surely when it comes to insurance you are not discriminating against people if you are passing on to them the associated increased cost of insuring them ?
If it's going to be illegal to charge women less for their insurance, because they are on the whole more careful drivers, does this mean that insurance premiums for men will come down ? Or does it mean that all the insurance companies will do is increase women's insurance to the same level as men's ? I know, I know it's vastly cynical of me.
This does seem to be a complete failure of common sense. The only comforting thought that I have is that I don't drive so none of this effects me whatsoever.
Apparently it will be illegal from the end of the year for insurance companies to charge different rates for customers Dependant on their sex. On the face of it, 'great news'. Everyone's the same, aren't they ? Well the statistics show that men are more likely to have accidents than women (despite all those derisive jokes that men make about women drivers, they are actually better at it). For example, the average cost of an accident to an 18 year old driver is about twice as much for a male as it is for a female (£4,400 & £2,700 respectively).
That's because young men, as a rule, behave on the road in a similar way to how they behave elsewhere. Like d@*ks.
Feminism seems to have scored a massive own goal with this one.
There's a line from a book that I once read, (and there are no prizes for guessing which book).... There's nothing more unfair than the equal treatment of unequals.
We are all equal, but we are all different. Surely when it comes to insurance you are not discriminating against people if you are passing on to them the associated increased cost of insuring them ?
If it's going to be illegal to charge women less for their insurance, because they are on the whole more careful drivers, does this mean that insurance premiums for men will come down ? Or does it mean that all the insurance companies will do is increase women's insurance to the same level as men's ? I know, I know it's vastly cynical of me.
This does seem to be a complete failure of common sense. The only comforting thought that I have is that I don't drive so none of this effects me whatsoever.
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