Black History Month

craig · Feb 9, 2005

Ironically we lost Ossie Davis last week. It is clear that this forum holds no prejudice. None the less; look on this month as a reminder; "no man will be judged on race, creed or color.

Artemis · Feb 9, 2005

Its so good that now I dont think people are judged on that....but there are other things people are judged on

craig · Feb 9, 2005

Maybe now it is about ones personal possessions.

Artemis · Feb 9, 2005

Or gender? or religion? or intelligence...infact im very bad at judging people on intelligence

craig · Feb 9, 2005

Can we as humans not judge or predict? Intelligence to one person may seem "wish wash" to another. Can there ever be a global community?

Artemis · Feb 9, 2005

I dont think so, people are to versatyle. to different to be controled, or agree on one point...there will always be a minority, and whether that minority believes another group of people is inferior, then they will continue to treat the other group badly....and thus...the other groups will treat them badly...

craig · Feb 9, 2005

Too true.

ferny · Feb 9, 2005

It's built into us to be prejudice.
Think about it. Or basic instincts tell us to kill, eat and hump. If we hunt with the wrong people we fail and go hungry. If we have sex with the wrong people the human line gets fecked. It's no different to any other animal. The weak or different get outcast.

I'm not excusing it. Just saying there is a reason. But one of the things which make us human is the ability to control our instincts. So I think any prejudice is wrong. I can't understand why people get looked down on if they have a different colour skin, are shorter (well, I get the looking down part there, sort of...), or not as good at certain things as me. Everyone is different, but most of us are the same inside.

terri · Feb 9, 2005

I agree, Ferny. The very root of the word "prejudice" is to "pre-judge", meaning you have failed to give someone or something an objective study before you decide on his value. Yes, we're supposed to possess the ability to recognize prejudice for what it is and control it, not let it control us. Some people are better at it than others, and then there are those strange few who can't even be bothered to stretch their minds that much.

treehuggerhikerboy · Feb 9, 2005

barring a global community of exact clones without any differences, man and woman will always be judged on race (which there is only one by the way (anthropologically speaking) human), creed and color.

I would even go so far as to say that everybody judges each other every time they interact, whether they want to or not. We're hardwired with our senses to pick up external stimulation, and then to assess and process that information....without it (as someone said before), we couldn't survive.

Having said all that (I just like to argue sometimes), I think we could all use a serving of tolerance....differences will always exist, it's how we deal with them that will be the key.

carlita · Feb 9, 2005

have you ever wondered what your views would be like concerning this sort of thing if you'd been raised in a different environment?

say you'd been born into the age where racism was not only far more rampant than it is today, but was... acceptable. mainstream even.

i was talking to my mom about that the other day. like how i feel bad for getting angry at certain people for having different views than mine about people who are different when i know full well that they haven't had the same experiences or been brought up in the same environment as i have. and i wondered out loud if i would be as open-minded as i am if i'd been born decades earlier. i recognize that how i think and what i feel about other people is largely a result of where and when i've been raised. it sort of scares me to think i could ever have possibly been as hateful a person as many people were back in the day and have it go unchecked.

my mom responded by saying "well, i was raised in that era and had two very closed-minded parents... and i turned out fine, didn't i?" she's right... she and i pretty much feel the same way when it comes to this stuff and we are products of two very different generations. the thing is though, she knows for sure that she could be who she is despite the plague of hate and inequality of the past, and i admire her for that. but i'll never know that about myself.

i guess rather than letting that bother me, i should just appreciate the fact that i was born into a more tolerant time, huh?

wow... it was entirely too early in the morning for me to babble so much. i hope this made some sense. :razz:

ferny · Feb 9, 2005

It's an interesting subject carlita. I do agree that where we're brought up and how affects us but I also think that the way our brains are put together at birth have a big role to. Some people pop out of the womb as bastards and there is nothing that can be done.
I don't want to blow my own trumpet or go into details but it's been commented how people are surprised I'm not running the streets and mugging old ladies during the night as a result of what I've been raised around. A large chunk of that is down to my mum who taught me right and wrong. Another part is that that sort of thing just isn't in my nature.

I would even go so far as to say that everybody judges each other every time they interact, whether they want to or not. We're hardwired with our senses to pick up external stimulation, and then to assess and process that information....without it (as someone said before), we couldn't survive.

It's said that in the first seconds we meet someone we ask ourselves three questions. Can I eat it? Will it eat me? Can I have sex with it? It's the basics that help us survive.

Now if you'll excuse me. I'm off to ask a watermelon some intimate questions. Tonight could be the night!