Our Worst Enemy...

reply to post by Agree2Disagree


Just because a word has multiple meanings, does not mean that you can use all of them at once.

If you cannot see that there is a difference between, discriminating and differentiating, I'm afraid we are in much more trouble than your post implies.

Here is proof, I can differentiate that blue and red are different colors(I can see that they are different colors) but I do not discriminate against those colors because I have no reason to. Now if society or my own superstitions, gave me reason to think that red is the color of evil. I would both be differentiating and actively discriminating between the two.

I dont know if you are just trying to be cute in saying there is no difference between those two words but you honestly see no difference between differentiating and discriminating, you need to do a little research into the way language is used.

Those words can be used interchangeably in certain contexts but that does not mean that all of their definitions can be used in every context at all times.

Here is another example of how words can have multiple meanings, I can say that one football team "killed" another, but I do not mean that one team actually murdered the other team. In this context "killed" means beat the other team.

Another example is the word dense.

Dense \Dense\, a. [L. densus; akin to Gr. ? thick with hair or leaves: cf. F. dense.]

1. Having the constituent parts massed or crowded together; close; compact; thick; containing much matter in a small space; heavy; opaque; as, a dense crowd; a dense forest; a dense fog. [1913 Webster]

All sorts of bodies, firm and fluid, dense and rare. --Ray. [1913 Webster]

To replace the cloudy barrier dense. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]

2. Stupid; gross; crass; as, dense ignorance. [1913 Webster]


Multiple definitions but they can not be used interchangeably in certain contexts. The word has vastly different meanings depending on the context in which it is used.



[edit on 7-12-2009 by iamcamouflage]

reply to post by iamcamouflage


How about this....SOCIAL differentiating...and SOCIAL segregation...are one in the same? Does that fit properly?

Edit to add: this is not meant to sound condescending...I apologise if it does...

[edit on 7-12-2009 by Agree2Disagree]

reply to post by Agree2Disagree


Yes they absolutely are. Recognizing that people or groups are different in certain ways does not mean that you have to discriminate against them.

I'm not sure how you dont see this.

Do you treat African Americans or Muslims or women negatively, poorly or different from anyone else? If you do than you are discriminating. If you dont than you are merely acknowledging(differentiating) that all three of those groups, look or believe something different from you.

How about this....SOCIAL differentiating...and SOCIAL segregation...are one in the same? Does that fit properly?

I can acknowledge that people have differences without segregating them. Asian people look different than you and I but that doesnt mean we put them internment camps(not anymore at least).

Fear is the enemy of progression and usually what creates irrational behavior such as grouping people and treating them different based on arbitrary characteristics.



[edit on 7-12-2009 by iamcamouflage]

reply to post by iamcamouflage


The message of the thread doesn't apply to those that see past the veils of differentiation(segregation). I try not to differentiate in social circumstances...I see people as humans...not as an ethnicity or a religious background or political standing...

Those who do not are covered behind the veil and those are the ones that this thread is for....