Prejudgment, an assumption made about someone or something before having adequate knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy. Ever heard of, “judging a book by its cover” ? Every single person in the world dose this, but some take it to another level, out casting, bullying and taunting people for prejudging them. This is known in the world today as prejudice. Its been with the human race since the beginning of time, and though its drastically decreased it still very much exists in America today.
One common prejudice that everyone knows about is Race. Race refers to the classification of humans into populations or groups based on various factors such as culture, language, social practice or heritable characteristics, but for a long while, it separated us by skin color. Yes, a hundred year ago or so, there were slaves of many races. And although we have come very far from that by giving them rights, protection, fair trials, and over all accepting them as our equals, there are still many who prejudge people according to their skin color. Some silently judge, but there are people who will shout it from the roof tops, some who can be violent and cruel. Skin color, or Race, is still separating neighbor hoods, creates useless gang rivalries, and can sometimes even be found in the most innocent of places like elementary schools, your grocery store, or even your apartment complex.
Religion is a very prejudicial subject for many too, its what paves a path in their life, and for many gives them meaning. Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature. This is a major wall in the building of prejudice, it’s a very touchy subject that’s separated people since we were evolved enough to think. There are countless religions in the world today, Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Satanism, Hinduism, Baha’i Faith and many more, but its always been something to separate us as a society. Its caused wars, people today kill over it, fight senselessly over it trying to prove that their truth is better then others, when the reason most people came to America in the first place is for their Freedom of Religion. The acts of some of these religious groups, and I say groups because each church of a certain religion is not the same, but some of these groups have done horrendous acts all in the name of their belief, their truth.
Something we can’t look past now days is sexual orientation. Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to men, women, both genders, either gender, or another gender. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation is enduring and also refers to a person's sense of "personal and social identity based on those attractions, behaviors expressing them, and membership in a community of others who share them." Whether we like it or not Sexual orientation is a big deal right now because people are more open about it and refuse to hide it any longer. It’s everywhere waiting to be accepted one day, though it seems as if America is split in half by this. A lot of people don’t agree with a sexual orientation other than a man and a woman together, some deriving from their religious views and some because its just “not natural”. There are many ongoing reasons to why people of different sexual orientations are prejudged, labeled as sinners, crazy, wrong or even freaks, but the main reason is because they are different. People fear differentially in others, especially when they think those people choose to be different, and its always going to be something that is prejudged, something that is going to hold us back as one human race. Like many situations before, we America have the power to accept, and to move forward with this.
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices, though prejudice has decreased in this century by a land slide, its still every where you look and around every corner you turn. America today is ridden with prejudice and can only be healed of it by time and by a slow acceptance of every ones differences.
* it didnt need to be that long of an essay, so there ya go
©HeyJude
Remember when we talked about biology. It's easy to point out are differences. But ya know what it's even easier to point our how were the same.
ReplyDeleteWe all breath we all eat we all drink. We all seek community, companionship and shelter. Everything else is relative.