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From my paper journal--
May. 29th, 2010 12:28 pmOften I will run into news articles that snap me out of my complacent walk through life-- articles about blatant racism, homophobia, and/or sexism usually. I will be shocked that these attitudes continue to exist in a post civil-rights revolutionary society. Here we are, forty years past the 1960s, and yet we still hear about discrimination against people of color. We still won't allow gay couples the same rights as hetero couples. We still don't pay women the same wages for the same jobs men do.
I rant and rail about stories like these because it seems no matter how far we've come, there is still a lot of work left to do, especially considering the notions people hold in their hearts. It is difficult to change such closely held beliefs when people would rather remain asleep than wake up and see how destructive these attitudes are. Even if most don't act on them, we run the risk of these thoughts being subliminally passed to children and other impressionable people. Even if nothing else is done, perpetuation doesn't take as much effort as true acceptance and tolerance of that which is different.
No matter how enlightened we believe we are, the fact is we all harbor secret prejudices whether we like it or not. We all carry some form of fear of the other in our hearts. We all have the potential and tools to discriminate against our fellow human beings. Whether this is ingrained or not, whether we are taught it or pick up pieces along the way, whether we seek it or it finds us at our most vulnerable, it is still the same.
Ignorance. Intolerance. Disintegration. Categorization only meant to raise one while pushing another down. Fear and hatred of what's different. And enough justification to make your head spin.
I am guilty of this. Much as I'd like to believe I'm immune, I find myself thinking terrible things from time to time-- things rationalized with processes set into motion lone before I was alive. For the most part, they are isolated incidents, but when I catch myself following such a train of thought, I am at once understanding of how these attitudes persist and disappointed with myself. I want to think I am better than and above the people I read about in the news, but the truth will not be denied. Not one of us is clean. Not one of us is exalted. Not one of us is without flaws. We are all capable of horrible things, and to think otherwise is to ignore the very core of our being.
This is why reminders are important. We must alert ourselves of the darker forces inherent in each of us. We must recognize our own parts in this mess, whether active or inactive. We must confront so as not to forget. If we fail to do so, we run the risk of falling asleep, of being blind to the hypocrisies we willingly perpetuate. We fold our hands in our laps and refuse to change even the small parts we can control. We remain silent in the face of the monster, the horror, the enemy-- ourselves.
I will never be rid of these thoughts, but I hope that at least I will be able to see them for what they are and, by doing so, lessen their impact.
I rant and rail about stories like these because it seems no matter how far we've come, there is still a lot of work left to do, especially considering the notions people hold in their hearts. It is difficult to change such closely held beliefs when people would rather remain asleep than wake up and see how destructive these attitudes are. Even if most don't act on them, we run the risk of these thoughts being subliminally passed to children and other impressionable people. Even if nothing else is done, perpetuation doesn't take as much effort as true acceptance and tolerance of that which is different.
No matter how enlightened we believe we are, the fact is we all harbor secret prejudices whether we like it or not. We all carry some form of fear of the other in our hearts. We all have the potential and tools to discriminate against our fellow human beings. Whether this is ingrained or not, whether we are taught it or pick up pieces along the way, whether we seek it or it finds us at our most vulnerable, it is still the same.
Ignorance. Intolerance. Disintegration. Categorization only meant to raise one while pushing another down. Fear and hatred of what's different. And enough justification to make your head spin.
I am guilty of this. Much as I'd like to believe I'm immune, I find myself thinking terrible things from time to time-- things rationalized with processes set into motion lone before I was alive. For the most part, they are isolated incidents, but when I catch myself following such a train of thought, I am at once understanding of how these attitudes persist and disappointed with myself. I want to think I am better than and above the people I read about in the news, but the truth will not be denied. Not one of us is clean. Not one of us is exalted. Not one of us is without flaws. We are all capable of horrible things, and to think otherwise is to ignore the very core of our being.
This is why reminders are important. We must alert ourselves of the darker forces inherent in each of us. We must recognize our own parts in this mess, whether active or inactive. We must confront so as not to forget. If we fail to do so, we run the risk of falling asleep, of being blind to the hypocrisies we willingly perpetuate. We fold our hands in our laps and refuse to change even the small parts we can control. We remain silent in the face of the monster, the horror, the enemy-- ourselves.
I will never be rid of these thoughts, but I hope that at least I will be able to see them for what they are and, by doing so, lessen their impact.
