Natural isn't free.

I was involved in a discussion a little while ago, in it I was discussing how expensive some things are even though they are natural. Yes, it happens when no one is looking. No, that doesn't mean it is "free". The statement "There is nothing that is free" is true, even if you can get things free of charge. Everything requires an expenditure of time and resources. This applies most obviously to physical stuff, after all it's made of stuff which cannot be used for other things for as long as it continues to exist. Still, I would argue that this is most true for those things that are not physical, those things that exist because we say so. These things require constant work to make them exist, everything from companies to nations to social clubs. I would argue especially social clubs.

Back to my original topic, I believe that discrimination is fucking expensive. Not merely expensive, fucking expensive. It requires that every time you choose to interact with folks you check, and a distinct response for each outcome. Yeah, it's a natural thing because we cannot have one general response for everything. Having the same response for police that you do for infants is a horrible idea. So, yeah, but when we start making up arbitrary things to check for... like Jewishness or race.. then that's just heaping more work on everyone. And for what? Not only do you have to build twice the necessary number of water fountains, but you also have to check to make sure that the right people are using the right ones. Not only is it a pain in the ass, but every time you waste time making sure that they aren't using your arbitrary water fountain you aren't doing something more important. I have to say ogling hot chicks is far more important than making someone move to the back of a bus or ensuring that the right people are pinning the right stars on their clothing. At least there is a tiny chance of something valuable coming from the ogling.

Not only do you prevent the discriminated group from contributing, which is a huge cost, but then you are also expecting everyone else to also waste their time and effort to make sure that they don't contribute. No,  I understand it's important to maintain cohesion in the group. Monopoly of power is of vital importance for many polities. Culture and society is always threatening to tear itself apart, and while dsicrimination is an effective way to marginalize apparently destructive element, I can't help but think that there are better ways to handle it than to let us dick ourselves over.

But yeah, that's just me waxing poetic about a part of discrimination that I don't think I've ever heard anyone else talk about. Why? Quite frankly, I wish I knew.