Some feelings on discrimination and the like

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Since i like writing little essays on things I decided I might try release one a week. (That's about how long the plan will last) So here's an early one from my other sites.

Some feelings on discrimination and the like

One day when I was looking around the internet I come upon this block of text on a person’s profile on FurAffinity:

“*I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
*I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.
*I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.
*I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
*We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
*I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.
*I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.
*I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.
*I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.
*We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.
*I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.
*I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.
*I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.
*I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.
*I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.
*I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.
*I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.
*I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.
*I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
*I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.
Re-post this if you believe homophobia/transphobia is wrong. Please do your part to end it.”

And it had quite a strong effect on me so I copied it down into a text file and decided to keep it. Now I’m sharing it with whoever reads this. I’m sure you are now wondering why, or perhaps not as it’s fairly obvious. In any case I’m promoting, if not love, tolerance of other people’s views.

I find it quite sad that in our supposedly advanced society misinformation and ignorance pervades us so completely; completely enough that people are treated differently due to something that they like whether it affects someone or not. (On a side note I do not agree with the idea that everyone should be treated equally. There’s a difference between discriminating against people and recognising and respecting the differences between people and other organisms.) I’m imploring that if you are part of this paranoia that you do whatever you can to stop and encourage others to.

Does it really matter what the sexual orientation of the guy who sits next to you on a bench is? If he’s gay and you’re a guy he’s not going to rape you. If you think that way you must think that all women are imagining you’re about to rape them. Now I seriously doubt that and I’m sure that you would be incredibly offended if you were told that that were true. So give people of other sexual orientations a break. It’s a choice that doesn’t affect you and they aren’t asking you to become gay so leave them alone about it. If a gay guy is going out and killing people who dislike gays then you should have something to say as that actually affects you. I’m asking that you don’t judge people before you get to know them, and I know that is hard.

I don’t live in America but I watched the twin towers fall on TV and I’ve heard plenty about it over the news. Stories of Arab people being searched when going on flights, if they’re allowed, and generally being treated as terrorists. I know you’re scared and shocked but that is paranoia. The people who flew into the twin towers were extremists, not representative of the Arab population in general. The last I heard, such discrimination is still rife in America. It’s not necessary.

I know a bit about discrimination as I live in South Africa. I’m sure most people have heard of apartheid and some, particularly minorities in whichever country they live in, will have personal experience in discrimination according to race. And if not race, how many of you have been discriminated against due to your gender, sexual orientation, the amount of money you have, clothes you were or even where you grew up. Apartheid ended a while ago but it’s effects are still visible in my country and I agree it was an incredibly unfair system that needed to be done away with. That happened. What I don’t agree with is what’s now happening and I know happened in other countries, affirmative action (also known as ‘positive discrimination’). Its aim is to undo the past’s previous inequalities, a noble cause but one it fails at in my mind. I think that simply because it just reverses the discrimination. If you’re black you get preference over whites in the job market. In fact there are also quotas in this country. E.g. you must have at least one black person on the board of directors. That means if two equal candidates, one white and one black, both apply for a job the black one gets it. This creates, and I’m white so I know, anger in the white person. There’s nothing positive about that discrimination, it’s just discrimination. I know they say blacks were previously not given jobs and it’s caused them problems but this will recreate the same feelings of resentment in whites as the blacks have. I know some black people find it insulting to be given preference as they can’t tell if they got something because they were the best and deserved it or because of the colour of their skin.

On a similar note my country just began sixteen days of activism (I don’t know if it’s international), which is a campaign to highlight women and child abuse and call for people to bring it out in the open and stop it. While stopping abuse would be a great thing for the world this campaign has two problems for me. Firstly why sixteen days? Why not forever? We shouldn’t just stop abuse for sixteen days and then go back to it. We should always be striving for fairness as it’s the only stable way of living people have come up with. The second problem is what about males? It might not be the most common thing but they can be abused to, probably more mentally than physically but it happens. Shouldn’t we stop that too? A campaign like this enforces the idea of males being violent and in charge. We’re more vulnerable than that yet society dislikes the idea of men showing any emotion.

The basic idea I’m trying to impart is to be tolerant and respect each other. Don’t discriminate and generalise people. Give everyone a chance and judge them on their own merit. Remember they have feelings too and you wouldn’t like to be in their position. That’s the way of thinking that can help build a better society; considering how you’d feel in someone else place and looking logically at the big picture.

Rakuen Growlithe

[Red]

Hate crime and Belief Discrimination

OUR world is not perfect, there are many things that we may not agree on as highlighted in the list above. People believe in many things and believing in what your mind and heart tells you is fine, but it appears that there are a certain group of people who believe that no one else should not be able to make up their own mind and believe or see the world the way how they want to see it personally rather than what the extremist group want them to see. It is beyond understanding why a certain group of people have such a strong hatred against other people not agreeing to their ideas and have an urge to force them to make their belief align to the extremist's views. This is a horrible behaviour that is not acceptable and an appalling way to ruin the lives of many innocent people for just being themselves.

However, we as a society would be hypocrites if we try to ban the extremist groups from believing in what they want to believe. The optimal way to deal with this horrendous behaviour inflicted by the extremists onto the minority group is to use the strong arm of the law. Enforcing the law onto the extremist group can prevent unnecessary victims and improve the harmony of the community. Make it known that hate crime or discrimination on belief is something that would not be permitted and the people inflicting the emotional and physical pain would be found and punished to the fullest extent of the law. We need to be strong when using the law to show that we are being serious and mean business when those extremists group break the law in terms of assault and other form of criminal activities.

While the law itself could be a strong way to prevent unnecessary pains, a simple but effective way could really be just down to informing the general public that just because the minority group is different from the general public, it certainly does not mean that they participate in sex parties, unethical behaviour or even illegal activities that the public misconception might view about this certain minority group. The myths and rumours must be busted and corrected by informing the public the true facts and figures to prove that the minority groups do not bring down the standard of the community.

While the world would still not be perfect by employing the above methods, the aim is to make the communities in general a safer and happier place as a whole. Hate crime is something that should not be tolerated and prevented to make the community a happier and safer place to be.


I hope I make sense in this...

Cheers, Red.

[Denim]

I find it quite sad that in our supposedly advanced society misinformation and ignorance pervades us so completely; completely enough that people are treated differently due to something that they like whether it affects someone or not. (On a side note I do not agree with the idea that everyone should be treated equally. There’s a difference between discriminating against people and recognising and respecting the differences between people and other organisms.) I’m imploring that if you are part of this paranoia that you do whatever you can to stop and encourage others to.

You make a good point. Though I sometimes wonder about the propagation of stereotypes by the very people who are the stereotype. To explain I'd like to point out that after highschool I have never been gaybashed and I have quite a few straight friends. A lot of them are quite conservative people, but I don't make an issue of their acceptance of me, so they don't make an issue of it either. It's not always true. In some cases, with the more macho men, I need to occasionally throw in an, "I suck big cocks," while they're talking about boobs and pussy and whatnot. I don't know if you can consider me lucky, but I did have a shit time of it in highschool until I realised that it wasn't worth hiding and it wasn't worth acting like I'd get beaten up if I told people. I've sat down in a room of riled up Dutchmen and announced my homosexuality, grinned and continued to sip my drink :p The idea is that it doesn't bother me in the least that they know. And apparently if you behave that way they run out of hate-steam because they don't see a victim in you. Equality begins with how you treat yourself and playing victim is no answer to the problem Granted it takes courage to see yourself as equal, not to say I'm courageous, but it's not that difficult.

I don’t live in America but I watched the twin towers fall on TV and I’ve heard plenty about it over the news. Stories of Arab people being searched when going on flights, if they’re allowed, and generally being treated as terrorists. I know you’re scared and shocked but that is paranoia. The people who flew into the twin towers were extremists, not representative of the Arab population in general. The last I heard, such discrimination is still rife in America. It’s not necessary.

I'd like to bring to your attention a documentary called OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism

It's a nice little summation of the American media and what fuels their paranoia, the manipulation of a supposedly fair and balanced reporting ethic and the truth about the role of the media in global politics. I think you'll really enjoy it, Rakuen

I won't comment on the Affirmative Action matter, that's a whole other debate.

Firstly why sixteen days? Why not forever?

Agreed. I think it's more to do with limitations of funding rather that the intent to go back and beat a woman though. The media campaigns can only run for so long with the available funds and you won't believe the cost of a 30-second TV-spot, even locally.

The basic idea I’m trying to impart is to be tolerant and respect each other. Don’t discriminate and generalise people. Give everyone a chance and judge them on their own merit. Remember they have feelings too and you wouldn’t like to be in their position. That’s the way of thinking that can help build a better society; considering how you’d feel in someone else place and looking logically at the big picture.

Amen to empathy. I preach this same sentiment religiously, but for most people it's a difficult thing to wrap their heads around. There's one country in particular, that shall remain unnamed, but you all know who I'm talking about, that has bred a generation of people who are incapable of empathy. It piggybacks on the media, entertainment and a lifestyle of self-gratification that must be immediate or is of no use. It dumbs down the populous and it provides a healthy influx of retards to join their military...

All that aside, stop being assholes, love one another, be groovy, people >:3

It is beyond understanding why a certain group of people have such a strong hatred against other people not agreeing to their ideas and have an urge to force them to make their belief align to the extremist's views. This is a horrible behaviour that is not acceptable and an appalling way to ruin the lives of many innocent people for just being themselves.

Wow. Please don't be insulted, but the problem here is organised religion. Perhaps not the religion in itself that fuels this, but the people who use religion as a yoke to direct the emotional understanding of peoples through their spiritual outlet. In almost every case of major atrocities in Western history religion has been the number one factor in driving people to kill others who do not share their beliefs. China, I think, had the right idea. They suffered for hundreds of years with their provinces shattered and reunited on a seemingly fortnightly basis. I don't think I would be so bold as to state that all religion be banned, for fear or being marked the Anti-Christ, but there has never been the true separation of church and government that was meant to be.

However, we as a society would be hypocrites if we try to ban the extremist groups from believing in what they want to believe. The optimal way to deal with this horrendous behaviour inflicted by the extremists onto the minority group is to use the strong arm of the law.

Is it not still discrimination if you call the cops on them? :/ Look, I'm all for political correctness, but there really is a line. I'm Indian, but when I listen to comedians who aren't Indian making fun of Indian people I don't take offense. I don't see why I should :p Police states are notorious for hanging 1000 innocent men just to make sure they weren't the single guilty one, so I'd be afraid to crack any of my crude jokes or snapping with my sharp wit because I might be taken outside and shot for hurting someone's emo feelings. No offense :p

While the law itself could be a strong way to prevent unnecessary pains, a simple but effective way could really be just down to informing the general public that just because the minority group is different from the general public, it certainly does not mean that they participate in sex parties, unethical behaviour or even illegal activities that the public misconception might view about this certain minority group. The myths and rumours must be busted and corrected by informing the public the true facts and figures to prove that the minority groups do not bring down the standard of the community.

You know, I used to try this, but then I gave up because the sad truth is that I'm gay, I've been on the gay scene since I was 15 and I know people who do. I know people who take drugs, lots of drugs, people who attend sex parties, and people who are only interested in hot ass for one night. And I get shit from both sides about this. They tell me that they're big boys and they can take care of themselves, so I respect that. Your end of the spectrum tell me I'm mad and that it's not really like that. Well... You don't know the people I know, and saying that -I- don't get involved in the illegal stuff isn't the same as saying -we- don't get involved, because I assure you, the vast majority of homos are not really interested in being nice people or handing out flowers :p

You do make a kind of sense, but all this talk is rather idealistic, I don't blame you because we all wish it could be like that. I don't know how to make things better for the world, but I reckon I'm doing alright with myself at this point. My idea, as crazy as this sounds, is just to chill out, lose the emo haircut and grow some balls

If you're in a bad relationship, leave. If you're afraid to take a chance, take it anyway. We're so lucky to even have this life that it seems a waste to kick back, bitch and expect things to be handed to you because we're unhappy.

There are always a million reasons to not do something you want to. But you only need one reason to do what you need to

[Red]

It is beyond understanding why a certain group of people have such a strong hatred against other people not agreeing to their ideas and have an urge to force them to make their belief align to the extremist's views. This is a horrible behaviour that is not acceptable and an appalling way to ruin the lives of many innocent people for just being themselves.

Wow. Please don't be insulted, but the problem here is organised religion. Perhaps not the religion in itself that fuels this, but the people who use religion as a yoke to direct the emotional understanding of peoples through their spiritual outlet. In almost every case of major atrocities in Western history religion has been the number one factor in driving people to kill others who do not share their beliefs. China, I think, had the right idea. They suffered for hundreds of years with their provinces shattered and reunited on a seemingly fortnightly basis. I don't think I would be so bold as to state that all religion be banned, for fear or being marked the Anti-Christ, but there has never been the true separation of church and government that was meant to be.

I was not talking about organised religion, I meant belief in its actual core as in personal views and opinions about the world around them. Organised religion is one of the biggest jokes around at the moment, they have their hands in the politician’s pockets everywhere changing the laws so that they are better off than before and I find that appalling. Breaking up organised religion would be a start.

However, we as a society would be hypocrites if we try to ban the extremist groups from believing in what they want to believe. The optimal way to deal with this horrendous behaviour inflicted by the extremists onto the minority group is to use the strong arm of the law.

Is it not still discrimination if you call the cops on them? :/ Look, I'm all for political correctness, but there really is a line. I'm Indian, but when I listen to comedians who aren't Indian making fun of Indian people I don't take offense. I don't see why I should :p Police states are notorious for hanging 1000 innocent men just to make sure they weren't the single guilty one, so I'd be afraid to crack any of my crude jokes or snapping with my sharp wit because I might be taken outside and shot for hurting someone's emo feelings. No offense :p

I was not saying that we should create a police state, I was actually saying that we should use the existing laws to crack down on assault and abuses such as inflicting injuries or endangering someone's life. I am not too sure how to deal with discrimination though, there has been cases where anti-discrimination laws were introduced only to result on people using it to force the potential employers to hire them by using the "he did not hire me because I was [insert group]" argument. So I am not too sure how to work in this case, but causing injuries and death threats are something that must be cracked down on.

While the law itself could be a strong way to prevent unnecessary pains, a simple but effective way could really be just down to informing the general public that just because the minority group is different from the general public, it certainly does not mean that they participate in sex parties, unethical behaviour or even illegal activities that the public misconception might view about this certain minority group. The myths and rumours must be busted and corrected by informing the public the true facts and figures to prove that the minority groups do not bring down the standard of the community.

You know, I used to try this, but then I gave up because the sad truth is that I'm gay, I've been on the gay scene since I was 15 and I know people who do. I know people who take drugs, lots of drugs, people who attend sex parties, and people who are only interested in hot ass for one night. And I get shit from both sides about this. They tell me that they're big boys and they can take care of themselves, so I respect that. Your end of the spectrum tell me I'm mad and that it's not really like that. Well... You don't know the people I know, and saying that -I- don't get involved in the illegal stuff isn't the same as saying -we- don't get involved, because I assure you, the vast majority of homos are not really interested in being nice people or handing out flowers :p

I knew that what I was saying above was VERY optimistic view, just that some people are uneducated about the very idea of what certain minority groups are all about, while it would not convince everyone, it would at least hopefully make some people listen if an effective method is use to present the facts and figures to the general population. It is a bit like the furry community, a lot of people think that being a furry means that you must be participating in sex parties, everyone behaving like animals all the time, other random seedy activities that is normally not accepted by the general public. As we know, this is not true, while some furries actually do things like that, a lot of furs don't even participate in ANY sex activities at all!

You do make a kind of sense, but all this talk is rather idealistic, I don't blame you because we all wish it could be like that. I don't know how to make things better for the world, but I reckon I'm doing alright with myself at this point. My idea, as crazy as this sounds, is just to chill out, lose the emo haircut and grow some balls

I have to say that it is a true statement that you have made there. I do want the minority group to have their rights, but we won't be getting anywhere if they continue to complain, they have to make themselves HEARD, use their voice to tell people that the would not tolerate other people interfering their rights!

I have also heard of cases where people are now realising that they can't just let the government to do the protection for them, and take up self defence themselves such as martial arts or other non-leather defence methods.

If you're in a bad relationship, leave. If you're afraid to take a chance, take it anyway. We're so lucky to even have this life that it seems a waste to kick back, bitch and expect things to be handed to you because we're unhappy.

There are always a million reasons to not do something you want to. But you only need one reason to do what you need to

[Denim]

I was not talking about organised religion, I meant belief in its actual core as in personal views and opinions about the world around them. Organised religion is one of the biggest jokes around at the moment, they have their hands in the politician’s pockets everywhere changing the laws so that they are better off than before and I find that appalling. Breaking up organised religion would be a start.

I understood what you meant, but by referring to beliefs there's something implicit here. I've rarely experienced a war based on an opinion that is different between people. But in almost every case of true discrimination the grounds have been on a) religion, b) land and c) 'race', where (c) is a trick card because technically it's not even real.

These days, if you talk about extremists, you're talking about religious fundamentalists, the same as 50 years ago. In individual cases, I agree, the state cannot always be expected to protect the individuals in it because the state also recognises the freedom of those individuals to make choices. Those who choose to do stupid shit will not always be caught... But those who can help themselves should be expected to :/

This really runs a wide gamut, discrimination is a really varied aspect of human nature and it spans every possible difference people can exhibit. Whether it's sexual preference, religious beliefs, skin color, sexism... I think in any one of those categories you'll find a handful of people who bite down, strap themselves in and just live their lives the way they want without hurting anyone. That's, I reckon, where we should all aim. Just go with it, stop hating :/

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Wow. Some very nice responses there. One thing I didn't agree with though was just reporting people to the law. True if you use it to eliminate certain minorities you could possibly get to a perfect world but on the way you'd have lost a lot of the whole point. Since the law takes a view that their ideas are right and superior to others I don't agree with that sort of rule. I've been thinking about how best to compromise best for freedom and safety. Pretty much the best I've accepted is you should never make a law against an action unless it directly affects someone other than who is doing the action.

Also that strong arm of the law is state controlled. Whoever in charge dictates the law. The law has absolutely nothing to do with right and wrong. It's to do with who's in charge.

[Red]

Wow. Some very nice responses there. One thing I didn't agree with though was just reporting people to the law. True if you use it to eliminate certain minorities you could possibly get to a perfect world but on the way you'd have lost a lot of the whole point. Since the law takes a view that their ideas are right and superior to others I don't agree with that sort of rule. I've been thinking about how best to compromise best for freedom and safety. Pretty much the best I've accepted is you should never make a law against an action unless it directly affects someone other than who is doing the action.

Also that strong arm of the law is state controlled. Whoever in charge dictates the law. The law has absolutely nothing to do with right and wrong. It's to do with who's in charge.

What I meant was that we use the law and order to enforce the existing laws that are used to protect the people from physical harm from other people around them. From what I hear, people get away with petty crimes like that too easily.

But where I live is generally a safe place, but with some seedy areas where you just have to keep to yourself and be street smart in those areas. I don't know too much about other countries around the world though.

A side note, what causes the people to hate other strangers in the first place anyway? What triggers them to do that? Is it their parents, is it their peers, is it the media? What causes them to come up with a decision to hate someone in the first place? It is not something that happens just because.

[Dracius]

A side note, what causes the people to hate other strangers in the first place anyway? What triggers them to do that? Is it their parents, is it their peers, is it the media? What causes them to come up with a decision to hate someone in the first place? It is not something that happens just because.

The way in which you are brought up has a -huge- influence on it. They just arent educated in their life with common sense, which is, to know better. (i.e. if you kill, expect to be hunted down and thrown in overcrowded jails. No one gets told that, only after they kill, they are told this.)

Money could also be a huge issue, but I think the above has a bigger influence. I know people that I used to survive on hardly R3000 a month and yet they still felt happy and were always willing to achieve more.

Just my 5 bob.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

But where I live is generally a safe place, but with some seedy areas where you just have to keep to yourself and be street smart in those areas. I don't know too much about other countries around the world though.

A side note, what causes the people to hate other strangers in the first place anyway? What triggers them to do that? Is it their parents, is it their peers, is it the media? What causes them to come up with a decision to hate someone in the first place? It is not something that happens just because.

SA isn't the safest place ever. Of course there are still 'safe' areas and ones where you just don't go if you can help it.

Some people just hate for no reason. If they have a reason at least then you can talk to those people and find out why. Sometimes maybe something happened to them or they don't like something but I'd say a lot of the time it's just irrational.