I read a post from Pioneer Woman today about diversity. Go read it, please. It made me smile. It made me think. It made me aware. I particularly liked her photo of all of the "people" in a big pot with a spoon. I was also glad that it included elderly people and persons with disabilities. I try not to be prejudiced, but I know that I am in some ways. I HATE intolerance of any kind, be it intolerance of other races, disabilities, sexual orientation, age, gender, weight, religion...whatever. I think that it's just silly and shows how little a person knows rather than how "smart" they think they are when they talk about or make jokes about another "group" of people. Does the fact that a person is black/asian/white/hispanic make their views less important? Does the fact that a person is gay/lesbian/straight change their personality? Does a persons age make their opinions less valuable? I mean, what do I care where a persons ancestors came from/who a person chooses to sleep with/what they weigh/who or what they worship?!? I care about the person that I'm talking to. I care about their personality, their opinions. I mean, yes, I care about their views about life, but I hope that I don't let that influence my decision as to whether I can be their friend/co-worker/family.
Maybe I'm way off base. Maybe I'm living in a dream world. Maybe I'm more prejudiced than I think I am. Who knows. But, I'd like to know your reaction to Pioneer Woman's post.
2 comments:
Loved the post and the idea. She is in a situation where this type of learning is doable. When children are going to school or in a more culturally diverse location the learning comes more quickly and can come with less than ideal circumstances. For instance my niece called a black man "chocolate". Of course she also considered herself vanilla. Obviously it was important that her mother explain the difference and give her daughter the correct language to use when discussing race. Not every black man would think being called chocolate was funny.
When Erin started school in CA we had to answer a ton of questions about being Hispanic and speaking Spanish. We just answered the questions as they came up and didn't make a big deal about it.
While growing up and attending church I was very discriminative against gays and lesbians because it's what the church I was going to told me was "right". They went as far as to tell me not to talk to, be around, or have any interaction with Charity. Luckily I was able to overcome that thinking and now don't really care if she or any other person is gay, bi, or straight.
Prejudice is either a result of fear or the need to feel better than another person.
I haven't read the post yet but I will and I'm with you, Jen, I try not to let prejudice influence my way of thinking, I wonder sometimes if it does though. I grew up in a different time. In Ada when I was a teenager (high school) there was still a "colored town". And as far as I know there are still no black families that live in Allen. The color was mostly Native American when I was young and a lot of older white people still hated them from the not so distant past my Dad included. (funny that he was married to an Indian girl when he was young). My ex-husband grew up in LA in the 50's and hated blacks, so as hard as I try to overcome all those influences in my life I am afraid there is still some of it there, but, like you, also... it makes NO sense to my sensible mind; just seems really stupid and oh, so, cruel. We should judge each person for the person they are.
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