Have you ever felt so angry at someone that you just want to strangle them? Like, really, physically beat the shit out of them? I don't remember much about the book "Crime & Punishment," which I read in high school English class, which was (scarily enough) years ago, but I do remember feeling more than a bit sympathetic for the main character.
With that said, something that I don't understand- and maybe it's not fair to say this, but here goes: one thing I don't understand is when black people are racist. Of all people, I think they should understand what it's like to be treated as inferiors just because of the way they look. Right?? But even as I was wondering about this illogism (what? It's a word in French!), I realized that that's exactly the problem- a black person who treats Muslims and Asians like shit, calling them damn foreigners, saying "I hate it when they come in speaking 'their language' (when they are clearly speaking English), yelling "go back to fucking Korea", or acting as if we can't operate a simple computerized sandwich ordering machine when it's clear that it's the machine that is broken, not the orderer's brain, a person like that, no matter their color, is clearly not a rational being. One might even call them crazy, or fucked in the head, and there are certainly enough of those kinds of people here in Philly, so I guess it makes sense that we have so many of these incidents...
Point being, racism, bigotry, bias, whatever, is inherently unreasonable, and although this point is not meant to help victims of that sort of injustice feel much better, at least now we know it's because they're not as smart as us. But then again, does "more rational" mean "smarter"? I can see now why education is so important for society, and this is a point reiterated over and over and over again (I guess that's why they call it a "theme") in the book, "Three Cups of Tea": educated minds incite rational behavior. It may not be a cure to the world's peace problems, but a person who is taught to think logically from a young age is less likely to believe baseless statements like "All Muslims are terrorists" or "Americans are the devil incarnate" or "Iraq is the axis of ev..." for some reason, I just lost the desire to finish this sentence.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Ahhh... I feel ya.
I've only heard about it in passing, but there's a VERY intriguing debate going on about whether or not to classify racism as a psychological disorder, right along with things like OCD and narcissistic personalities. Sadly, the reason that it isn't currently believed to be a diagnosable *disorder* is because it is "SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE" and therefore doesn't cause societal impairment or whatever. Which is an indication of the fact that EVERYONE has prejudices, whether we like it or not. I guess the interesting thing about education is less that it teaches us HOW not to be prejudiced but rather that those beliefs are, like you said, irrational and should be thwarted. Versus embraced and propagated, which is what the Wawa sandwich people apparently are doing (did I guess the setting right?)
...and to their kids, too. It's such a headache of a world, Angie. Let's form a band of superheros and fight racism in the night. Or else... just get together and watch HizPiz and be happy for a weekend. SOON! :)
Post a Comment