I have been thinking a lot about discrimination lately. It seems that there are so many people who feel they are being discriminated against for various reasons. So my question is this: What is discrimination?
I remember when I was growing up discrimination was described as blacks not have the same rights as whites and women not having the same rights as men. Today "discrimination" is used in so many different ways and by so many different people. People whose lifestyles do not fit into the category of the perfect past lifestyle often consider themselves discriminated against. Many people with different religions feel that they are discriminated against. The list goes on and on. Each of us have to pick and choose our own battles to fight. Discrimination seems to be one of the most chosen battles to be fought for in today's society.
Whether we are for or against President elect Barack Obama we are witnessing a historical event on Tuesday Jan 20th 2009 as he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. So in the minds of those who were once fighting for equal rights for blacks - that battle has been won as the first African American becomes leader of this great country.
Only history will tell what other battles pertaining to discrimination will be won. I would like to have a discussion on your views of discrimination. Please keep it civil. Remember we all have opinions and our opinions are valid even when they are different.
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Comments: 36
We are taught prejudices its not an inborn thing. Teach the kids that everyone is equal regardless of their skin color, religion, sexual orientation or politics and the world would be a better place.
Do you think that the way we are raised has anything to do with how we address prejudices? I mean the enviroment such as abuse both physical and verbal?
I am of a religion that many look down on. I believe certain things and I am strong about my beliefs but I also believe that those believes are for me to live up to not others. I believe that each of us have our own way of life and I am not to condemn or judge another person just because they do not live the way I believe I should live. Does that make sense?
Do you believe that teaching in the home or in the schools will make a bigger impact on the way a person belives and behaves?
I mean personally I believe the way a child is taught in the home has the bigger impact but many people belive that it is the way the schools teach that will impact the way a child will grow and develop to live their lives.
Could you go into more detail about that thought?
Most definitely at home. You have to give kids a good base to start from and keep the communication open and honest.
I agree with that statement. So many people think they can just send their kids to school and the school with teach them all they need to know and they think the same thing about church. I am a firm believer in teaching a child the basics and giving them a foundation to begin with at home by loving parents.
When I was growing up I did not know anyone in our community that was divorced so I was not exposed to "half brothers and half sisters". However my oldest daughter is married to a man with two sons from a previous marriage and I have never heard them refer to the boys as being half brothers to Victoria and Ron's two kids.
I admire you for the strength you possess when it comes to keeping your family anchored and tight knit.
I am curious, how do you intertwine 5 different cultures together? Do they all celebrate the same holidays and such?
Down with Prop 8 !!!
Kidding of course. I think it is grand that the US made this leap, and I truly hope that we will one day be a truly blended nation, since the first people were such a mixed bag of immigrants from many places and natives anyway.
Children are not born this way. They don't see differences when they're young. It takes adults to point them out to them.
I've always told my kids that you can't change people by yelling at them. You have to go on about your business with respect and tolerance and people will see for themselves what you are. I ended up raising my kids by myself but my step kids still call me mom.
But there doesn't have to be discrimination. We can arrange things so that discrimination almost never happens. For how we can do that (this isn't some "love your neighbor" panacea solution) you will need to visit
www.nopom.info
That is amazing how so many different cultures are into one large family. I can only imagine how much the younger generation has learned from this. Truely amazing. We should all be so lucky
I think I know some people like that too. LOL
I honestly think that happens a lot
I always considered myself to be unprejudiced. I honestly believed that too. One day we was in an area where there were people whom I had never been around before. I was in the vehicle by myself as my husband went into the gas station to pick us up a soda. I suddenly felt fear of these people. I locked the doors and could not wait for my husband to come back.
I learned a valuable lesson that day.
That makes prefect sense to me. That is what I mean about being open minded. I do not judge someone else based on my religion, beliefs or how I was raised. I have learned many things through out my life. One thing was to be tolerate others and not judge or pity them. Being gay is against my religion. I don't judge people who are gay. Instead I befriend the ones I want to be friends with. I don't judge someone who a different religion. Instead I like to learn and understand why they believe the way they do. I also enjoy learning about other people religion. To me that is being open minded.
The road to conquering bigotry will require us to stop generalizing based on any one aspect whether it be race, political party, ethnic background or hair color. Just because she's blonde doesn't mean she's necessarily naive or stupid!