There's a current line of thought that people who are different are really just the same "on the inside." This could not be further from the truth, actually. Can't we get over ourselves and our bloated sensitives and admit that everyone is different, on the inside and out, but that's okay? Gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic level... All these things affect a person's worldview so completely, and worldview is a big deal. It's sort of everything, actually.
I recently read in a book (I think it was the Social Animal by David Brooks, but I'm not sure and this ain't no English paper so I'm not about to cite any sources, thank you very much) that even the best intentioned, nicest people can't help but have prejudiced thoughts sometimes. It's just an evolutionary remnant we're stuck with - distrust of those different from us. And race is an obvious visual indicator of someone who is different from you. But this is no excuse for racist words and actions. We have a conscious mind that for most people knows wrong and right, so let's use it. I guess my verdict is don't feel awful about yourself if you think a racist thought every once in a while. Don't worry about it as long as your next thought is, "Oh my god, did I just think that? I don't believe that, not at all! Why did I think that?" Then make sure your thoughts don't turn into words or actions and viola! You're not a racist. Congratulations.
This apparently evolutionary trait makes it seem a little less likely that racism will die out with older generations, as many hope - as I hoped. While these instinctual thoughts might not disappear, what will hopefully die out is these thoughts finding their way into the public. It's always becoming less acceptable to say politically incorrect things in public, and this trend will undoubtedly continue. Whether or not PC culture is going overboard, well, that's not something I'm going to go into right now.
(But in AP Lang last year we had a synthesis essay prompt about this very topic and one of the documents was a list of words that were deemed by some company to be offensive and their more preferable alternatives. And it was ridiculous. One of the included words was the word "hut." Then "replace with small house." I'm sorry, but I don't want to order pizza from Pizza Small House.)
By "not going into [it] right now" I generally mean "going into it right now, but inside parentheses."
Side rant over. Main rant cont'd.
Racism, as least internally, will continue unless everybody is the same race. Some people think that we'll all blend together in the future into one nice olivey skin tone. Sorry sunburnt white people, but that's not going to happen because a.) the majority of people reproduce within their own racial group and b.) have you seen how many people are on earth? Diversity will continue, my friend, unless a terrible tragedy cuts the human population down to roughly the size and racial proportions of the people on the island in Lost, and then, well, we have a chance to achieve a happy medium of skin pigmentation once repopulation begins. (Which, given the behavior of the inhabitants of the Lost island, will be in no longer than a season or two.)
On the other hand, do we really want to all be the same hybrid race? Talk about boring, especially if cultural distinctions disappear along with race. Besides, racism is something we can overcome, without getting rid of race. The problem is not in the diversity, but in people's reactions to it.
So let's all react positively, but realistically. By which I mean, acknowledging that people are different from you and just being okay with that. Like, what's the big deal?
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