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more musings. on american politics and discrimination. tl;dr
writing a semi-column on this, so using my journal to get out my thoughts. No, not friendslocking it. With proper capitalizations this time.
I'm sort of feeling the irony of how the media is playing up the fact that Obama is black. True, it's a huge deal, a huge step forward for the sake of eradicating racism. But the fact remains that discrimination remains a huge problem. Just because Obama won, or that Hilary got her candidacy doesn't means that sexism and racism are entirely gone in America, much less the rest of the world. The very fact that Prop 8 exists means that homophobia, or at least discrimination against homosexuals, is still there.
I'm not American, and I'm not white. Even if I have 'white' blood, that's really inconsequential because I live in an Asian country, so all that white privilege stuff is just reading material for me. But I find that it's sort of funny, in a way, the way people (BBC, I'm looking at you) have this tendency to see Obama's win as resulting from the fact that he's black. That people voted for him because he's black.
Isn't that racist still, on both sides of the coin? It's still segregation, marginalization. Voting for Obama because he's black makes one really no better than another person who votes for McCain because he's white. Because in the end, it's the same syndrome: "I'm voting for him because he looks more like me than the other guy." And that is what actually causes racism - that segregation between 'self' and 'other'. When people think of other groups as 'the other', and think of themselves as 'us' and other races or genders or sexuality as 'them', then that's where all the problems come rushing in, isn't it?
Because people in the end still fear what is unknown. And what people fear, they tend to hate, they tend to discriminate. They want to push 'the other' away, box them up, control them so this 'other' that they don't understand won't attack them. I find this incredibly funny, because it's really an extreme caveman-like behavior. Aren't we supposed to be civilised now? People are just that - people. Why judge others and think of them as 'other' because of the colour of their skin, or their bodies, or who they want to love? Why judge others according to what they cannot control?
No one chooses the skin colour they are born with. No one chooses their gender. No one chooses their sexuality. It's all decided by our genes, really. So why do you discriminate against someone for something that they didn't even ask for in the first place? Is it fair? It's never fair. Just imagine - someone discriminates against you, calls you dirty, calls you sick, calls you names and generally make you feel like absolutely worthless rubbish because of your eye colour. Because of the shape of your hands. Because you have an appendix.
It's the same thing.
I'm not saying I'm the most open-minded person in the world, because I'm not. Because I don't judge people on what they can't change. I have friends of different ethnicities, sexuality, and genders, and I honestly don't care. If I judge anyone by anything at all, it's on their ignorance, or that they discriminate. All of these are changeable, and the only reason why I judge them is because these are things they can so easily change, yet they don't. People who are ignorant, who are discriminatory - they hurt other people with their careless words and actions. Which is why I dislike them.
But I don't try to deny them their rights. I don't try to say - hey, just because you are discriminatory, I'm not going to let you have this scholarship grant or this university place, or I'm going to feel resentful against you because you got the promotion I wanted to have. Because that's unfair for you, and hypocritical of me.
I live in a country where racial discrimination is practically nonexistent, and where women might just be the stronger sex. But there are still heavy cases of homophobia. Mention a gay person in this country and people will make inappropriate jokes and laugh at them. Mention that you're gay, or bisexual, and they'll cringe away from you. It's a terribly sad state of affairs, when I see this, because what's the use of just getting rid of racism and sexism when you don't get rid of discrimination as a whole? Two steps forward, one step back.
I believe, honestly, that in the end we are just people. Why does all of this matter still? All that differs is, at the very, very most, one allele. All of us belong to one species, don't we? Just because I'm Asian doesn't make me more stupid, or more cunning, or more sneaky than the average Caucasian. Being Asian isn't all that I am - it's only part of it. The same with being a woman.
So why do we like to magnify that one aspect so much and make a big hoo-haa out of it? Why judge an entire group of people just because they are different from you in that one (or two, or three) aspect? Why even judge people based on something that a person can't ever hope to change, and what that person never asked for? Why do you even fear the unknown when there are so many people who are so different from you - lookswise and personality-wise both - everywhere around you? People with different faces, clothes, ways of speech... all of that.
We really are all the same kind. So please, accept this. Move on beyond it, and see what sort of person Barack Obama is, or what sort of person that man who lives across the road and who belongs to a minority is.
Broaden your mind a little, that's all I ask.
I'm sort of feeling the irony of how the media is playing up the fact that Obama is black. True, it's a huge deal, a huge step forward for the sake of eradicating racism. But the fact remains that discrimination remains a huge problem. Just because Obama won, or that Hilary got her candidacy doesn't means that sexism and racism are entirely gone in America, much less the rest of the world. The very fact that Prop 8 exists means that homophobia, or at least discrimination against homosexuals, is still there.
I'm not American, and I'm not white. Even if I have 'white' blood, that's really inconsequential because I live in an Asian country, so all that white privilege stuff is just reading material for me. But I find that it's sort of funny, in a way, the way people (BBC, I'm looking at you) have this tendency to see Obama's win as resulting from the fact that he's black. That people voted for him because he's black.
Isn't that racist still, on both sides of the coin? It's still segregation, marginalization. Voting for Obama because he's black makes one really no better than another person who votes for McCain because he's white. Because in the end, it's the same syndrome: "I'm voting for him because he looks more like me than the other guy." And that is what actually causes racism - that segregation between 'self' and 'other'. When people think of other groups as 'the other', and think of themselves as 'us' and other races or genders or sexuality as 'them', then that's where all the problems come rushing in, isn't it?
Because people in the end still fear what is unknown. And what people fear, they tend to hate, they tend to discriminate. They want to push 'the other' away, box them up, control them so this 'other' that they don't understand won't attack them. I find this incredibly funny, because it's really an extreme caveman-like behavior. Aren't we supposed to be civilised now? People are just that - people. Why judge others and think of them as 'other' because of the colour of their skin, or their bodies, or who they want to love? Why judge others according to what they cannot control?
No one chooses the skin colour they are born with. No one chooses their gender. No one chooses their sexuality. It's all decided by our genes, really. So why do you discriminate against someone for something that they didn't even ask for in the first place? Is it fair? It's never fair. Just imagine - someone discriminates against you, calls you dirty, calls you sick, calls you names and generally make you feel like absolutely worthless rubbish because of your eye colour. Because of the shape of your hands. Because you have an appendix.
It's the same thing.
I'm not saying I'm the most open-minded person in the world, because I'm not. Because I don't judge people on what they can't change. I have friends of different ethnicities, sexuality, and genders, and I honestly don't care. If I judge anyone by anything at all, it's on their ignorance, or that they discriminate. All of these are changeable, and the only reason why I judge them is because these are things they can so easily change, yet they don't. People who are ignorant, who are discriminatory - they hurt other people with their careless words and actions. Which is why I dislike them.
But I don't try to deny them their rights. I don't try to say - hey, just because you are discriminatory, I'm not going to let you have this scholarship grant or this university place, or I'm going to feel resentful against you because you got the promotion I wanted to have. Because that's unfair for you, and hypocritical of me.
I live in a country where racial discrimination is practically nonexistent, and where women might just be the stronger sex. But there are still heavy cases of homophobia. Mention a gay person in this country and people will make inappropriate jokes and laugh at them. Mention that you're gay, or bisexual, and they'll cringe away from you. It's a terribly sad state of affairs, when I see this, because what's the use of just getting rid of racism and sexism when you don't get rid of discrimination as a whole? Two steps forward, one step back.
I believe, honestly, that in the end we are just people. Why does all of this matter still? All that differs is, at the very, very most, one allele. All of us belong to one species, don't we? Just because I'm Asian doesn't make me more stupid, or more cunning, or more sneaky than the average Caucasian. Being Asian isn't all that I am - it's only part of it. The same with being a woman.
So why do we like to magnify that one aspect so much and make a big hoo-haa out of it? Why judge an entire group of people just because they are different from you in that one (or two, or three) aspect? Why even judge people based on something that a person can't ever hope to change, and what that person never asked for? Why do you even fear the unknown when there are so many people who are so different from you - lookswise and personality-wise both - everywhere around you? People with different faces, clothes, ways of speech... all of that.
We really are all the same kind. So please, accept this. Move on beyond it, and see what sort of person Barack Obama is, or what sort of person that man who lives across the road and who belongs to a minority is.
Broaden your mind a little, that's all I ask.