There are a few issues which really get my motor running, tee me up, and make me get out a pen and write up a list (nsfw). Those issues, in no particular order are, abuse of women and children, the dh rule, and racism.
There are many reasons for racism, and I will touch on some of them, but what I really want to speak about is how far off the path we have strayed.
There is a theory in social psychology that talks about in groups and out groups. We strive like hell to become a part of the in group, and once there, fight to stay. We develop mores, and expected behaviours.
Many philosophers, psychic bunny rabbits, and holy rollers believe that human beings have this thing inside them that makes us strive to belong. In fact, strive may not be a strong enough word. We NEED to belong. We need families, peer groups, swinger circles, geekapolooza thursday nights at the local coffee shop. Some of us do the most ridiculous things in order to belong.
People will dress up in funny costumes, wear make up, and chant slogans just to belong to the in group. So I tend to agree that yeah, everyone has it coded in their dna somewhere that they need to belong; that without belonging life has little meaning.
Sometimes these are healthy groups, like say the boy scouts, and sometimes they are just evil and wrong, like say the Nazis.
The inescapable truth about belonging is that in order to belong, you need to not belong as well. In order not to belong, and to make you feel like you have chosen the right group to be a part of, you can do one of two things. Make your group stronger or make the other group weaker.
Here's another inescapable truth about human beings. We are friggin lazy. If you think pride is the route of all sin, I got one thing to say to you. This:
Sloth, laziness leads to us cutting corners in everything we do, that includes thinking. We develop schema just so things will be easier. In many respects, our eyesight is even based on memory instead of actually working. We see what we expect to see. I am sure many of you have taken that little reading test where the letter are all jumbled inside the words, and yet you were able to read it alright. This isn;t an example of the wondrous brain and how it can decode things, it is actually an example of how lazy the brain is. It sees what it expects to see and then makes things conform to those thoughts and ideas.
This is how we live our lives, and this is how we strengthen our groups. Not from the inside, but rather from the outside.
In a nutshell, what I am trying to get at is, groups use an external locus of control over the esteem of the group.
This can be harmless, or mostly so. Take for example the boy scouts. Here;s a little known fact about me, I was in the boy scouts....heck, I was super scout. Like always, when I actually get off my lazy ass, I do everything to the fullest. I actually achieved the highest honour in Canadian Scouting. I was the shit. I was also in Air Cadets. I know, geek rightÉ You try saying no to a hot 16 year old girl when you are 13 and she is saying, you wanna come hang out with me, learn self defense, shoot guns and learn to fly? Uhmmm no get away from me chick....yeah right. I signed up, immediately.
Anyway, the point to this trip down memory and mammary lane is that those two groups made fun of each other. When each found out I was a member of the other, they made it very hard on me. They would try everything to make me not want to belong to the other group. They did this instead of extolling the virtues of their own group. One would say the other is mean, and one would say the other was a bunch of pansies.
Sure, they could have just felt safe in that I belonged to the group and just tried to make my experience better in the group, but nah, that was a lot like work.
The problem arises when the outgroup hazing becomes destructive. Nothing bad has ever come out of projecting your fears and prejudices outward right?
Eventually it isn't enough just to denigrate.
What I am talking about is the difference between prejudice and discrimination.
Prejudice is unavoidable. We all have prejudices. We all feel things about other people and other groups. Some of it is based on fact, and some of it is based on stereotyping. Some of it is because of experience, and some of it is because we just want to feel better about ourselves.
Take the example of the NPR firing Juan Williams.
What this dude sad was that prejudice is a fact of life. Stereotyping is what we do. If you continue to listen to everything he said, you will notice he was saying it needs to stop at prejudice and not make it in to the realm of acting on it.
It is easy for us to say, when we see a muslim person we immediately get uneasy. It is much more difficult for us to examine the reasons why and to discuss how we can bridge that understanding with a little good old fashioned rethinking. It is also important to break the habit of acting on it. This is the crux of his position.
It was brave of him to admit his fear and prejudice.
It is a fear that has been reinforced time and again by north American media. It is a prejudice that we are fed constantly. To admit that you have fallen prey to this is not weakness, nor is it racism.
You see we all have prejudice, be it about the dirty bum on the streets, the guy who doesn't like star wars, or the muslim family that just moved in down the street. The difference comes when we decide how to act on it.
I mentioned Andre, and here's the thing. A group of douche bags decided that their group was put down and put upon by black people. They decided it would be good to rid the world of this scourge. Thus, they killed him, in front of me.
This was a mistake on their part because it led to me finding my own voice, and my own prejudice. It led to this attitude.
This is sort of like the epitome of what I am talking about when I say out group rage. An in group created out of anger and hate that devolves in to violence on both sides. Does it really matter if one group is righteous in their anger or not? The result is still the same.
So I think about a line from the good batman. It kind of sums up the idea that prejudice is in us, but what we do with it matters.
So in the end, we see that actions speak louder than words. Racism is about actively spreading hate. It is about actively seeking to destroy or weaken the out group. Racism is not about thinking someone is bad because of stereotypes.
I would love to be able to change the hearts and minds of everyone who has prejudice in this world for people based on ridiculous notions. I would like to be able to help people understand that in order to progress and become a more perfect society we need to shed all those things that cause fear and hatred to bring us down.
I can't. I can't make you see that people are just people. Some are good, some are bad. Some are white, some are black. Some believe in Jesus and some don't. I can't make you see the inherent value in all people....you know, until they prove themselves douches.
What I can do is change the way we act on these thoughts and feelings. We can all say it is not ok to mistreat people because of our feelings towards them, no matter what those feelings are.
We have come a long way since the caves, but there are still miles to go before we sleep.
We no longer club things over the head and drag them back to our cave when we want them. This is progress.
We still need to realise that we don't have to fight with each other to make the world a better place for our group. I am not sure what the perfect solution is, but carving out a niche for our group, being free to practice whatever strange rituals we wish to that do not harm others is a start. Not being mistreated because of this is essential.
You don't have to like me, or what I do, but that doesn't mean you should spread hatred for me. And it sure as shit doesn't mean we have to put up with that kind of behaviour.
Yet we do. We do it all the time. We ring our hands, shake our fists and say, wow that sucks big time, yet we do nothing to change it. We give acceptance that the behaviour is ok by not speaking out against it.
We hide from things we don't like because...wait for it....we are all lazy. We cannot sit idly by and let people spread hatred and fear, no matter why they are doing it.
We can accept in our hearts that people will always fear, distrust, and even sometimes hate the outgourp, but that doesn''t mean we have to sit by and let them do their thing, even if it isn't to our group.
We do each other a disservice when we don't act.
To paraphrase greatness, with free speech comes great responsibility.
We shouldn't make it so they can't say what they want. We need to make it so that they don't want to say what they want. Make them such an outgroup that they can't stand not to be in our group. The group of the sane, rational individual.
Join my group. The group of the normal average everyday person who is just trying to make their way in this world while trying not to hate on others.
Don't let hate or discrimination in to your group please.
Well that went to a different place than intended...so much for a position paper, though it did get a little technical. Oh well.
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