I’ve gotten some comments about my previous Say what? For this I’m grateful and I only wish you had left your opinion here too, so we can share the very interesting stuff you point out.
I do understand the social and emotional connotation that the word ‘discrimination’ has. I am totally against any mistreatment, rejection or prejudice towards a person or group based on their race, religion, age, sex, etc. It wasn’t my goal to blame, hurt or offend anyone. That said, here are some thoughts, hoping to make my point a little clearer.
In my mind, different does not equal bad. This is the part that got me in trouble, mostly when I tried to keep the value judgment out of my definition of discrimination. I was talking about the mental process of distinction and categorization that allows us to see differences and organize them under some label in our brains. The ability we have to spot differences is not the problem, but the way we react to them.
I didn’t mean that racial and language discrimination do not exist, or that it is the ‘discriminated’ one’s fault for feeling that way. I live in California, where generations of Mexican immigrants have gone through all sorts of struggles since before I was born. I’m aware of that, though it hasn’t been my experience. As far as Jefferson County, what I saw was a smaller community of mainly first generation working immigrants and Americans trying to help out, not discriminating.
What I meant before is that sometimes the harshest judgment comes from ourselves. I know mine does. Nobody else told me anything but good things about my English and yet I was still worried about it. The insecurities and foreign environment can make some of us especially vulnerable. And what I’ve seen is that depending on our state of mind, we react towards the challenges in different ways.
Personally, I don’t think I’ve been discriminated… yet? Maybe offended by some news or media narrative of what they perceive is happening, but again, it’s about agreeing to disagree, not about discrimination necessarily. I could feel the very same way in my own Mexico City; for example about how they separate men and women in different cars in the subway at rush hour. Is it right? Is it wrong? Does that mean we believe men are incapable of keeping their hands to themselves? Are women happy about it? Should there be a protest against segregation?
Or a practical case: unisex bathrooms… uh, it does sound fair. In primaria (elementary school) the only way to get to the emergency stairwell was through the boy’s restroom. No offense guys, but the only time I went there it was because my life depended on it.
Of course you don’t need me to tell you about the discrimination gone wrong cases and I sure believe we all deserve the same rights. We all want that! So let’s move on, shall we? Sometimes it just amuses me the way we try so hard to keep up with the rhetorical and political correctness. We are all the same and we are all different. Deal with it, it is fun!
Who said, “The pen is mighter than the sword.”?
Hurray. It is time to take a look at what our current belief systems dictate and advocate for change. Literacy, or better stated, illiteracy, is the point of contention in any language. That’s the real issue of discrimination.
Good job Diana! Keep people thinking!
Reminder – thank a teacher and your family if you are able to read this!
Edward Bulwer-Lytton was the one who said “The pen is mightier than the sword”. Y yo tambien quiero comenzar con una cita, “…yo hice a la fealdad tan bella que en su aparacion permite que en la vida haya matices sorpresas y circunstacias. Y solo por que que hay ignorancia es que la verdad existe…” versa la cancion que habla de como piensa un Dios, y con esto quiero decir que la “discriminacion” es una condicion humana, pero en su peor forma tenemos los actos discriminatorios, los cuales los encontramos en todo el mundo, miente quien diga que dónde él vive no pasan esas cosas, pero como bien dicen ustedes, es solo cuestión de conocimiento, quanto mas desarrollada este una sociedad, menores niveles de actos discriminatorios ésta tendrá, yo reconosco que no vivo en una sociedad perfecta, pero, gobierno, instituciones privadas y empresas estan tomando cada vez mayores medidas para evitar los actos discriminatorios y si, vivo en Estados Unidos también. Admito que hay mucho por hacer aún por la sociedad a nivel global, pero el primer paso para erradicar la “discriminacion” es erradicando la “autodiscriminación” en cada uno de nosotros.