I watched another episode of What Would You Do? this past Friday night, only this time people really disappointed me. The “set-up” was straightforward and the discrimination was clear, yet through an entire day of filming, only one person stood up for the two girls who were being discriminated against. And to make matters worse, three people sided with the person who was doing the discriminating.
The scene took place in a little restaurant where two young women who are hearing impaired walked up to the counter and expressed interest in applying for a job at the restaurant. The manager, played by an actor, told them that they could fill out applications but he wouldn’t be hiring them simply because they couldn’t hear. He was loud and rude about it and everyone in the restaurant could hear him. It didn’t matter that they could read lips.
One gentleman stood up for the women and told the man that he was discriminating against them. He informed the manager that he wouldn’t be bringing his business to this establishment again because of the way he was treating the young women. When he was told it was all for a TV show, the young women thanked him, clearly moved that someone had come to their defense.
As for the rest of the people witnessing the events in the restaurant, three of them who arrived separately but all happened to work in the field of human resources, supported the manager. One woman went as far as to say that the disabled have more rights than anyone else in this country. One offered the manager advice, telling him that it was fine to discriminate, as long as you don’t tell them they can’t work there because they’re deaf. Basically – keep your discrimination quiet.
So is that how the world revolves? Is it true that most people discriminate under our breath and when backs are turned? I hope this was just a fluke. I hope the majority of people would stand up for young women, and that those people, by chance, just weren’t in the restaurant that day.