I was quite intrigued by the topic of discrimination after reading this post. I think discrimination is a huge problem within societies that cannot be fixed by censoring people speaking against other races. We all discriminate or stereotype at some point in our lives because of others' skin colors, personalities, hobbies, habits, etc. Eddy is right that viewpoints have been shaped by our surroundings and our families. However, we make the choice to continue our "ignorance" even though we are given the choice to become more accepting. As children, they cannot differentiate the difference between Whites and Blacks, so they use the terms good and bad to describe them. However, now that we know more about other cultures as we live in a multicultural state (or country), we should not generalize a group of people because of their skin colors. However, sad to say, we still discriminate.
I remember when I was an adolescent, my grandmother would generalize blacks. Whenever my uncle drives through Oakland, he rolls up the windows and locks the doors. Now that I have a car and the opportunity to choose my very own destinations, I would avoid driving through Oakland as much as possible. Even if I have to drive through Oakland, I would find myself doing the exact same thing that my uncle has been doing. Because of my family, I stereotype. But I could have taken the time to understand Blacks and not isolate myself from them. However, I made a different choice; I follow the path that most people have taken, I have taken the path of discrimination. Why? Because I want to be "normal" and have the same mentality that most people have. I know I should not do this, but I am doing it anyway because I want to be socially accepted. And I believe most people discriminate because of this ideology of social acceptance.
Many people censor others from talking against minorities. Those who do say degrading things against a certain race would be publicly criticized, like the Don Imus incident. However, censoring individuals speaking against a race does not eliminate discrimination, rather, it only makes it more invisible. What America needs is to make this issue more transparent; people need to speak their dislikes aloud, not hide them. If people actually know the reasons behind racism, maybe we can do more about this issue. Perhaps we can make this country a better place by sharing our ideas, sharing our hate. Hopefully, we can turn that hatred into love just by speaking out loud.
Discrimination is a choice. Most of us have made the choice to discriminate and I believe we should make another choice - speak aloud and solve this issue rather than hiding it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I am confused: if "discrimination is a huge problem within societies that cannot be fixed"—why do you end by insisting that we *should* try to "make another choice"? Can it be ‘fixed’, or not? It logically cannot be both fixable and unfixable—do you see what I mean? On the one hand, you seem to say that there is no choice; on the other hand, you seem to be encouraging your reader to choose not to discriminate. Likewise, on the one hand you seem to be critically aware of how your uncle and grandmother "generalize" about people (not "over generalize"—I don't know what this means, because to 'generalize' is to already look 'over' one's individuality at a group of which they seem to be part—so “over generalize” is a tautology, while on the other hand you seem to say that therefore you cannot act otherwise than how you were taught. How do we get out of this bind?
Perhaps your post implicitly points the way: we write (i.e., *think*) ourselves out of this conceptual mess. Rather than say that we have "made" (as in once and for all) the choice to 'discriminate', we might shift the focus to the present and say that that we can *make* choices *in the present* to be aware of discrimination and move away from it. And this seems to be where you are leading your reader at the end of your post. I appreciate your taking the time to write more about this controversial, complex, and charged subject.
One more note: Your first sentence should read "I was quite intrigued..."
This is a really interesting take. That we "hide" the problem.
I wonder however if we spoke out about 'our discriminatory opinions' openly, what would that lead to? It seems you think it might be constructive, but haven't we been there?
Nazis, KKK, etc have all felt justified and constructive and were accepted. Didn't that spread into more hate? Shouldn't it e our responsibility to stop the spark before it becomes a wildfire?
Obviously your driving through Oakland and locking your dorrs is nowhere near a hate crime or anything to that level. Many parts of Oakland are really unsafe and have active gangs. being from LA, I would not drive through South Central and if I needed to would be very careful. That, to me, isn't an issue of discrimination, but one of safety in an area where the conventions of law aren't accepted like they are in more financially stable areas.
Just my take. I think we all have biases too and discriminate to some degree. If you've never been to the Museum of Tolerance in LA, its a huge eye opener and a very important experience I think people should go through.
Upon reading your post again after our conversation in class today, I was struck by these sentences: "Perhaps we can make this country a better place by sharing our ideas, sharing our hate. Hopefully, we can turn that hatred into love just by speaking out loud."
I understand that you are trying to push our social discourse in a 'positive' direction (toward 'sharing' and 'love'), but I am not quite sure how exactly this will happen according to your prospective schema. How will "sharing our hate" *defuse* hatred? And how precisely can we turn hatred into love? I like this idea, but I find myself wanting a more analytical explanation of how these exchanges can actually take place in everyday contexts—such as your driving through Oakland.
I definitely think people like nazis have the right to free speech. I feel that when people are stifled others may think there is truth to what they are saying. If we let nazis give reasons to why they hate out loud it would be easier to call them out on their idiocy.
I agree with Paris that it is not really racist to lock your doors in a known dangerous neighborhood. It may be racist however to assume that only the black people their commit crimes. I looked and just so we know it is 40% African and 24% White.
Post a Comment