a reply to:
imnotanother
I agree with both tone and theme of your post, well realized.
That said, only one collective entity exists with the power to not only provide true equality to all people in this nation and around the world but
also enforce universal equality and that entity is we the people ourselves. It's a monumentally colossal and difficult task for to achieve such a
state of equal beingness each and every one of us would have to voluntarily give up, set aside, relent the generationally inculcated prejudices with
which we are born: step one. Step two would require each of us to overcome the community, regional and national prejudices into which our countless
micro societies and cultures have indoctrinated us.
If I have learned just one universal truth about human nature, that truth is the inherent need for the individual to feel superior over his or her
fellow human being, in some way, in order to exist with any degree of self-confidence or even self-acceptance. Even lifelong friendships are subject
to this truth. Relationships, while dynamic, always depend on a dominant/subservient or leader/follower model. This inescapable interpersonal
arrangement in my opinion lies at the root of the need for human self-division into distinctive groups.
Additionally, all of us humans want, need to believe ourselves unique in some way that meaningfully distinguishes us from the next average jane or
joe. Turn over the coin and we find that all the while throughout our quest for uniqueness among the masses, we just as relentlessly search or quest
for those as similar to us as possible so that we can create and lead or join and follow a group of people like us; people who believe like we
believe, look like we look, talk like we talk--and in doing so these like minded individuals act as mirrors in whose reflections we see justification
and vindication of what we always believed or needed to believe or suspected was "the right way" or "the true way" because they look or do or feel
like we do.
Then rears its benighted head the human need to know truths, right and wrongs, that others cannot also know, and that are inseparable from the id and
infallible in our own minds. The greatest threat to such hallowed beliefs of self is doubt, and the possibility or suspicion that someone else's
"known ultimate truths" are more right than our own or make more sense. Back an animal into a corner and yes out come the claws, but beware backing
another person's most sacred truths into a dead end alley of the heart and psyche for the instinctual self-defense response will be a to the death
fight for the preservation of ideology and right to say or be "right".
But these tendencies of us human beings to voluntarily divide and fracture our race into countless subgroups cannot soley be blamed on either the
collective or individual. Our leaders, our rulers since time out of mind have nurtured our nature to discriminate, to be prejudiced and ultimately to
hate. Today the media also divides us intentionally via manipulation of our most ancient prejudices, as do corporations through labyrinths of
advertising and the design of products for one segment but not the other, knowing full well that other segment desires said product even more than the
intended customer base.
Can a stand be made against the division of our race? When I think about how ancient so many of these modern sources of hatred really are, and I mean
sources going back several millennia, I truly have doubts such deep wounds can ever be healed. Perhaps a first step could be a unified refusal to
allow their further exploitation.
Think about being white and walking alone in a black ghetto, or being black and breaking down some night outside an affluent gated white community
where your skin color is seldom seen, even more rarely interacted with. The white man and black man--they are not natural enemies, nor even very
ancient enemies inherently for that matter.
So what then predisposes these these two representative examples of the human race to hate the other based on skin color? Tradition. History.
Teachings both of the parent and the society. Media and corporate based encouragement. All sources of hate that have nothing biologically to do with
being human.
Exploring prejudice and hatred in this light perhaps some hope can be generated for change and unity, as the media and corporate influence can be
changed. History and centuries of socio-psychological conditioning? A much steeper slope to negotiate for sure, but identifying some part of the
problem at least could be a viable step zero
edit on PMp01201430042014-09-12T13:04:14-05:00J2014America/Chicago by AphoticJoe because: edit for continuity
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PMp01201430062014-09-12T13:06:02-05:00J2014America/Chicago by AphoticJoe because: spelling