So, I was born with an oft envied, sometimes admired tan. I’m brown skinned. And then there are the whites and the blacks. And the yellow skinned. And the Asians, the Europeans, the Latinos, the Africans, the Aussies and I’m not really sure if there are the Greenlanders and the Antarcticans and all!
Oh I get it. It’s the visual factor. Fat people are looked down upon and ridiculed, the gawky, social butter-fingers are written off as losers, those on the extremes of the physical/visual spectrum are labeled freaks and so on and so forth.
Hmmm. On second thoughts, maybe not. How would that justify the violence that stems from the most cruel and hurtful, the mother-lode of all the forms discrimination manifests itself amongst us – racial discrimination? How would that justify the hard glint of hatred in cold, angry eyes when they mutilate and kill their fellow human beings in the name of religion and race? Is that how far are they willing to go to justify (or is it to earn?) the sense of “belonging”? I am prone to think that it can only be a person, who after innumerable unsuccessful attempts to find within one’s self any kind of fulfillment or sense of accomplishment or self-worth if I may, that clings with dear life to such notions of hatred and superiority.
I know. Countless articles, books, whitepapers etc. have been written on the “phenomenon”(?). This is my rant, my personal venting. Yesterday a dear friend confided in me the disappointment that stems from a rude shock to the belief system as a consequence of being sheltered and in denial so long. That this is the land of opportunities, that one who toils the hardest, reaps the most. Reaps the harvest of reward and of Respect.
Discrimination. The “D” word. Must it haunt us, from within our nation and without? By virtue of skin colour, of caste, of social status, of language, of geography, of wealth, of all those myriads of totally despicable reasons that never fail to gross me out.
For now all I can think is, when i have a family, if I can make my kids as oblivious to all this gungho crap as I was growing up, I can probably hope to have made my tiny contribution to making this world a little better. I Hope.
current song A Hundred Years by Five for Fighting
posted by dewdrop @ 2:35 PM
5 Comments:
I was deeply saddened when I saw Indians discriminating against Indians in London. Even more so when second gen Asian kids stoned and set off rockets into our hostel. Just like that, with no provocation.
I was angry, but felt sad because they had absolutely no clue of their identity. They were not British, they were not Indian...they belonged nowhere...
Non-Sensei
They turn pale when afraid, they turn green with jelousy, they turn red with anger, they turn pink when shy... and they call us colored....
I feel discrimination is born from not understanding something and therefore being in denial about that something . This denial causes these people to act in what we would term as discrimation.
Being differrent or looking in many cases causes people to feel scared or feel threatened . I dont know why it should not but may be if they look that is causes them to become they might change.
@NS: that is so sad. and ur so right...i don't know if i feel empathy or apathy for them. some of them handle it quite well while most of them are so torn. though since 9/11 it has become harder on them.
and hey i'm back!
@Marcus: the great Marcus finally speaks! welcome cuz. well, maybe they feel superior to us coz we're mononchromatic and they are technicoloured!
u lucky u back home all comfy now :-P
@akshay: i just think that even if they lack understanding or are just not aware, there must come a point in everybody's life where it should all make sense. people are just not willing to think beyond what they live with and whats in front of their eyes. maybe their priorities differ and so i can't really blame them. i also think everyone has a moral responsibility to try and analyze where their convictions lead them.
hows your story coming along? waiting for part 3!
Ahhh, had posted something similar recently on my blog too..the 'D' word exists everywhere in different forms...have experienced it first hand too..very saddening..but a brutal reality none the less ! I suppose it boils down to a the very primal instinct of proving oneself superior to another in whatever way..it could be money..intelligence..powere..and when all these fail to the most basic..and thats physical appearance..you can't prove yourself better as having a better brain or whatever..so you call yourself superior by 'colour' ! Its the easiest thing in the world ! We do it back home too..when the choicest bride ..is often the ''fairest'' one..sigh..thats the world..and yes..I do hope that it changes..hope floats :-)
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