Recently a a person from a minority religious group advocated in my country's subreddit about wanting more days off so that they can celebrate their religious festival better. The festival I'm talking about goes on for about 7 days but the official government holiday is just simply 3 days. To top it all of, recently our cabinet increased the days off for my countries primary faith.
The post was met with a surprising amount of vitriot. There was support yes, but the amount of people who justified this injustice was surprising.
A lot of comments were saying “it would be bad for the economy” or that “democracy is supposed to serve the interests of the majority, not minority” .
I'm absolutely baffled, how can normal people think like this? Just because they are from a minority group doesn't mean we their interests matter less, they deserve to celebrate their religious festivals as much as we do, and democracy isn't meant to be about serving the interests of the majority, it's supposed to ensure everybody has a voice. People seriously think that the economy of an entire country woudl be hampered if we simply let a minority celebrate their religious fesitvals?
Keep in mind the minority I'm talking about is not insignificant, they make up about 10% of the population, in a country with over 160M people. It's pathetic.
Our country also allows elective vacation days, but that's arguably just as bad. If you as a person from a minorty group, ask your boss for leave. YOU ARE DIRECTLY PUTTING YOUR JOB AT RISK. Your boss can easily replace you with someone, who will not ask for that leave. This is especially true for “blue-collar jobs”
I'm sorry I just needed a place to vent, It's honestly incredible that such a simple ask can bring about so much vitriol.