Saturday, May 23, 2015

Thoughts on Equality

Many people who have experienced injustices such as I have from legal and divorce systems, become quite prejudiced in their views.  They may conclude, for example, that all lawyers, judges and prosecutors are immoral criminals. Or they may view all people of the opposite sex as evil. Somewhere deep in human history the mental construct of lumping people together in a group and believing that all members of that are group exhibit a particular characteristic must have offered some evolutionary advantage. Maybe it was better than wasting precious calories on thinking. This is the basis of sexism, racism and all other discriminatory behaviors. It is discouraging that so many have not evolved their thinking beyond this.

Despite what has happened to me, I don't believe I have fallen quite that low. I still  have my integrity. However, the injustices I have experienced have made me a bit more perceptive to the inequities of our world.

Some thoughts

NPR ran a fascinating story on a white person named Jamaal, a traditional black name. Jamaal name gave him a perspective on racial discrimination that few white have ever experienced because people assumed he was black until they met him.  Ironically, he also saw first hand reverse discrimination when he obtained a teaching position interview because the district wanted to hire more people of color

The Homicide Monitor is a interesting look at homicides around the world. One fact is that men are the victims of homicide far more than women. In the United States, over 3/4ths of victims are male. Yet somehow society seems not to care. Certainly if most homicides were agaisnt women it would be in the news every day. In our society male lives simply do not matter as much as female ones and very, very few people think this is wrong. Have you ever heard anyone criticize that women were included with children for first dibs on the lifeboats when the Titanic sank?

Take a look at this article from 2013 on the 144 female soldiers killed since 9/11. Clearly the article believes this is a tragedy. They don't even mention the thousands of men killed.

I recently heard on the radio about a boat that sank in the Mediterranean that was full of refugees. Hundreds of men were killed but they they labeled the death of a dozen or so women as a tragedy.

In another radio segment I heard someone state that the Oregon Trail was difficult, especially so for women. Really? Why on earth would it be more difficult for women?

Prejudice and discrimination are so ingrained into our society people do not even recognize it. They become so sensitized to discrimination agaisnt one group they fail to see it when it goes against the way they want to lump people together.

Real discrimination does exist against women, men, blacks, whites, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, homosexuals, and virtually any group  of people you can think of. The fight should be against discrimination wherever it occurs and whomever it hurts.

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