It seems we have a society where anyone who disagrees with a particular part of another person's way of life, the color of their skin, the religon they practice, the kind of car they drive....WHAT EVER DIFFERENCE they may have is somehow a reason to cut that person out of the general rule of "acceptance".
Let me discuss that a bit.
We all go through our lives living within a set of rules and guidlines that we either accept or reject based on our perspective. Some of these can be from our religon, or they may be from the environment of our home, city school or just passed on through our experience of life in general. Political beliefs can also be a factor.
For a particular aspect of a person's being to be accepted can be rejected by another person just by that person being taught or led to believe a different set of perspectives on the issue in question.
Racism in my own life is something I have had a view of that a lot of people have not had. I grew up in an all white neighborhood, went to all white schools and had all white friends.
You can see i had a limited view of different races. I didn't really get involved with other races until I went into the U.S. Navy. Even then it was a rare event for me. My boot company had one Chinese kid, a couple of Latinos, and the remainder were white. The first Black fellow we had was a set back from another company and I never had much to do with him either.
SO...Am I a "racist" because I have no knowledge to speak of in dealing with others of a different race? Not exactly. I try to accept people as they are. For example, I had to deal with young men who were Black, grew up in the Southern states and looked at me as though I was some kind of hateful person that would do them harm because I was a "white honky m*********er". Was I being racist here? I think not, but then I wasn't raised in the same context that they were. I have worked side by side with people of all different races. I have many who are friends with me. So, as I live in Alaska now, being a racist is a bad idea here when there are so many different tribes and cultures around me all the time. I find many of them to be fascinating and worthy of learning about.
Religon is a very touchy subject now days, what with the Muslim and Christian based faiths being subjected to much news concerning a great many things. How does one agree to one thing when the faith they practice tells them not to? The Islamic faith wants to purge all "infidels" from the face of the earth so they can be a society of one ideal. Of course, this collides with the Christian faith of love and acceptance and it is tough to convince a Muslim of what the Christians want.
What about Sexual Orientation? Well, the way I see it is one way, and the way others see it can be another. My Bible tells me one thing, and that God condems a man sleeping with another man and a woman sleeping with another woman. Now this is in the NEW testament, not something from the OLD testament, so this is AFTER our Lord Christ Jesus was here. I believe in marriage between one man and one woman. I want to be faithful to my faith in thte Lord, so I must abstain from and reject all other options in this.
Does this make me a bigot or a racist or a hater of those who have a different perspective? No.
I deal with the fact that there are people of all faiths, beliefs, ideals, religons and colors, creeds and whatever differences there are amongst us in our world. I deal with those whom I come in contact with and try to keep my own faith, ideals and beliefs to my self.
For example, if a television show comes on and it has a character that MAKES IT KNOWN that they are homosexual, I will change the chanel to a different program. This is DIFFERENT than watching a Star Trek show with George Takei on it, as he was NOT portrayed as being a homosexual, even though he is. The same is true with an old Rock Hudson movie. He was NOT portrayed and act as a homosexual. I have no problem with Star trek or Rock Hudson movies.
SO...I ask, WHY does a character on a television show have to be announced as being a homosexual? Is it important? Is it neccessary? Does it make any difference? Do the hetero sexuals need to be identified as being hetero sexual?
Now I ask these questions: What constitutes bigotry? What is it that makes one with a different set of ideals to cause them to be ostracised?
I believe it is ignorance. Ignorance is the refusal to accept the knowledge that is available. OK, with that in mind, let us look at another aspect. Why is it that over-weight people are ridiculed but skinny people are not?
You never hear, "Hey, Skinny, Why don't you ram a plug up your butt and shove Big Macs down your throat!". No, you don't hear much of that. Even though there are people who have a very hard time trying to gain weight, there are others who have a very difficult time losing weight.
Blacks or Asians, or Native American Indians, or Caucasians...We can not control what color our skin is. Our parents determined that and we had no say in how that came out. So why is there bigotry and hatred because of skin color? Is it a mind set or something passed around in our society?
Sexual orientation...What about the faith and belief that makes us different? Are we to be ostracised because we do not agree on something like this? Just because it exists, does it make us bad to disagree on it or reject the pracice of it? How about a life experience that causes us to have a view of it that is repulsive and disgusting?
Are we to throw out all our faith, belief and personal life expeiences just to comply with that of another?
To do that, we would lose our personal morality, our anchors in the way we see life and how we hold our selves in place in the world. We disagree on things because we have CHOICES. How we live and act is who we are.
Hatred is a thing that gets out of control over an issue. Skin color doesn't rub off. Religon is something we all see differently. There are agnostics, Pagans, Christians of different sects, Muslims of different sects, Atheists, Jews, Hindus, Budists, Shinto....On and On. For one person to hold out a hatred of one thing is not rational. Just to disagree with a issue is another matter entirely.
Go in PEACE.
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