By Abdulillah

For the most part, people are aware of the worst forms of discrimination, those based on race, religion, ethnicity, etc... It is the sneaky discriminator that we cannot readily recognize. These forms are typically elitist, hidden behind the masks of intellectualism, and economic and communal behavior, where they are harder to discern than those manifested from say racism, religious or ethnic discrimination.

Examples of some intellectual discrimination is when a group of people gather together to form , organizations, societies, and schools, etcÖ that allow only their types in. These organizations may not have any agenda to knowingly discriminate, but they do so by only allowing those who are like themselves to be part of such an organization. They further attempt to thwart any individual person from the performance of what they believe to be their sole prerogative or agenda. An example of these maybe a professional society of engineers or doctors, etc... These types of societies discriminate (some people would argue rightly so) for the purpose of keeping those nefarious types of practicing their profession out of safety for the public, or the tainting of that profession by non-educated or ill-equipped professionals.

However; as in all exclusive gatherings of this sort, if formed in secrecy or unregulated by the public they can over-time morph into clubs of distinct types, bordering on the deeper seated discriminatory behavior well known to us all. As such; it is my opinion they should not be allowed to form such societies without them being open to anyone in the society that can prove his/hers credentials, and that any charter or bylaws created must be reviewed by the public and licenses be issued for such practice.

Other gatherings/clubs formed publically or in secrecy, such as those for people who want and like to mingle in their own cliques of likes and dislikes, but do not pose a direct public safety hazard, are the ones to watch. Few of these clubs or gatherings have nefarious reasons for existence that underlie the discriminatory behavior of elitism.
These gatherings are typically extenuated by economic prosperity or communal belonging.

Economic gatherings could be motorcycle/car/flying/golf/cricket/soccer organizations, etc.., where-as communal maybe those of one community, families or tribes. Please do not misunderstand me; I do not imply that all gatherings of this sort are bad; in fact many actually do good things for the society and police themselves in their charters, club conduct and personal behavior. Nonetheless; they are however discriminatory as they do not allow anyone who cannot meet the criteria they establish to join, or take part in some or all of their activities, unless that person lives, has, or accepts what-ever criteria they have set. Some are exclusively made to keep some types of people out.

You may be asking yourself, well that maybe fine and dandy, but why this subject and why now? I can tell you lately I have been reading way too many articles and listening to much commentary that to me, is, or borders on elitisms. I am not sure where it is coming from, but I can assure you all we need to root this behavior out of our society as soon as possible or when-ever we encounter it publically or privately. This behavior is one of the forms of excessive pride and arrogance, and I hope we are all acquainted with where that will lead us as individuals and a people. May God Bless Jordan and its People.