It doesn’t take much for people to be offended nowadays. Evidently, political correctness has gone berserk, and everyone, whether they’re on college campuses or on the insipid cesspool of social media, now have to ask themselves: “am I offended by this?”
One of the latest cases of PC poppycock originates in the city of Toronto. Ostensibly, Vestra Inet, a web design company, posted a job ad on LinkedIn for a content writer and search engine optimization specialist. However, it’s the last line that irked many and prompted the outraged individuals to air their grievances on social media:
“Please note that the Position requires filling in the responsibilities of a receptionist, so female candidates are preferred,” the listing said.
The Internet solutions firm has not responded to requests for comment by the media. The job ad has since been taken down.
Soon after the job ad made headlines, the accusations of sexism and returning to the days of the 1950s filled up Twitter and newspaper comments sections.
A Double Standard
What’s interesting about this instance is the double standard involved. Apparently, the general public is not enraged by the fact that the company does not want to hire men, but because the easily offended crowd thinks the company views a receptionist job as only for women.
Why aren’t the people fuming that this company is supposedly discriminating against men?
Here are a couple of tweets:
“GUYS we did it! We traveled back in time to 1950! Oh… wait, no, that’s just a sexist job desc,” wrote one Twitter user.
GUYS we did it! We traveled back in time to 1950! Oh… wait, no, that’s just a sexist job desc. @Vestra_Inet pic.twitter.com/SBXQzvprMv
— Lauren Souch (@misslau) November 23, 2015
“Some SERIOUS BS right here, from company #VestraInet @vestranet https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/83980062 … Absolutely APPALLING!!” wrote another Twitter user.
Some SERIOUS BS right here, from company #VestraInet@vestranethttps://t.co/zFZ8NNAvNp Absolutely APPALLING!! pic.twitter.com/kdXqYDeQzh
— marie poulin (@mariepoulin) November 23, 2015
“WTF?!? Apparently @vestra_inet is stuck in 1955. Maybe someone should tell them about the Human Rights Act,” wrote one other Twitter user.
WTF?!? Apparently @vestra_inet is stuck in 1955. Maybe someone should tell them about the Human Rights Act. https://t.co/lYRaAipYs3
— ArielTroster (@ArielTroster) November 23, 2015
Although this job ad would technically contravene employment laws in the province of Ontario, the real story is that this is a private company, which means they should be able to hire whoever they please. It’s as simple as that.
At a time when well-paying employment opportunities are scarce in the city of Toronto, shouldn’t we be happy that a private firm is hiring somebody? Nope. Perhaps people just want to complain for a living.
One must ask the question, though: would the Twitterverse still be bothered if a company wanted to only hire female lawyers, executives or doctors? What if this company only asked for women technical specialists? There likely wouldn’t be a news story or even a whisper on Twitter. In fact, Vestra Inet would be championed as a “progressive” company that should be given grants by the government because it’s hiring female executives and managers.
A similar thing happened in September when a Brampton landlord posted a rental ad on Kijiji that said “no black men please.” Once again, people were only incensed by the “black” part of the ad but not the “men” part. It suggests the aforementioned double standard.
Let’s look at reality: women are more inclined to perform administrative, receptionist tasks, and they’re better at it than their male counterparts. It’s just like men who are more likely to be in the occupations of roofing or fishing (SEE: Will feminists demand gender equality in logging and roofing?). It’s a fact of life.
But reality is not in the vernacular of a lot of these individuals who scream and shout on Twitter and manufacture such outrage. Their blindness to the sexist matter in the ad is a great illustration of their flawed indignation.
You can’t please these people any more. If you don’t hire women, you’re accused of being a sexist. If you’re hire women, you’re accused of being a sexist. What if this company was actually PC and wanted to have gender equality in its workforce? What if it had 75 percent men and 25 percent women and thus wanted to start taking on more women?
Nope. You can’t use logic. That may offend someone.
Leave a Comment