Absolutely Discriminating

(WARNING..THIS POST MAY BE EASILY MISCONSTRUED UNLESS READ WITH AN OPEN MIND)
Today’s proponents of Political Correctness are pushing the concept of being unconditionally and absolutely non-discriminatory in our every-day social dealings.
Must we treat everyone we meet equally? Is this even possible? Should I treat the guy in the next car who has just cut me off in traffic and gave me the finger, with the same care and respect as my best friend? Of course not. The absolutists in the PC crowd are pushing this "equal no matter what" agenda as if it's a given. This agenda is manifest as social pressure to conform to their interpretation of new custom.
To quote John Stuart Mill, "One who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice".
From early childhood on we learned that we form bonds and relationships with family, friends and associates just by interacting with them. We start not to treat them equally and we develop a discriminating sense of who we are more comfortable to be in the company of. “I like John, we get along great and he’s my best friend. Bill’s OK but I’d rather hang around with John.” Is this sense of discrimination OK or because of its sense of exclusivity, is it in fact a form of prejudice?
Was this a natural process with positive potential or was it in fact pathology leading to eventual racism? Is being comfortable around like-minded friends and relatives now a form of racism through exclusion? I think not.
Not many years ago, the term “discriminating taste” carried a positive connotation. Now, anything with the word discriminate carries instant rebuke from the PC crowd. It is as if the very nature of our “freedom to choose” is being hi-jacked. If we choose and make the “wrong” (in their view) choice, even if it is right for us, we are immediately branded by the absolutists as weak minded and maybe even racist and to suffer everlasting guilt for it.
My suggestion: Don’t fall into their trap. There is a difference between being discriminating and being prejudiced. We should never confuse the two.
Go ahead and continue to discriminate, not because of skin color, ethnicity or religious factors, but because of the person's worthiness. To be discriminating in our choices is part of our nature just the same as the qualities of fairness, generosity and respect for our fellow man.

A dream of heaven?

Christie's just sold JMW Turner's rendering of a Venice canal scene circa 1841. It is called "Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio". I have seen some paintings by renowned artists in my day but this one is in a league truly of its own. Words could never be enough to describe the feeling of complete serenity this work conveys. It's like a most vivid dream in Technicolor. Truly a masterpiece. This is one time that (IMHO) the amount of $35.8 Million US seems like a fair price. I can't stop staring at this painting. If only I had another $35.85 mil US lying around, I would have this hanging on my living room wall and forego the latest episode of "Deal or No Deal".