By Matt Yeroschenko
I’m in the planning stages of a push against discrimination of all sorts. I believe judging, discriminating, and/or persecuting another human based on perceived differences is absurd, and I’m going to try to do my part to make it a laughed about, scoffed at thing of the past. This planning has had me thinking about things like sexism and ageism and the topic of this blog post: racism/nationalism. It’s a great idea to try to stop a trend from being trendy, but unless we can identify the underlying cause of the problem, it will persist and it’ll survive. If we don’t identify and suppress the roots, the weeds will continue to snuff out the beauty of our species.
Why are we racist? How did it start? Why does it persist? Why, in a world where the lines dividing race are becoming blurrier by the day, do we continue exhibit such silly behavior? Why, in (at least a local) society where racism is looked down upon and interpreted with such negativity – a society where political correctness is king (or queen) – are so many of our peers so racist? Why are people who don’t want to be, and don’t mean to be, still so judgmental based on the most absurdly inconsequential characteristics of those being judged? What is going on? Why does this happen?
It all started very innocently, way back when some folks jumped on a boat and found a pair of continents now known as North and South America. After this extraordinary discovery, waves of people made their way to the new continents. Waves of people all from their own respective countries and cultures made their way to North America and South America. Being that ownership of land was indicative of power at the time, each country wanted to lay claim to the new continents, and some fighting happened based solely on nationality. Eventually enough people agreed about who owns what, and countries were formed with the allure of a new life full of possibilities projected to the homelands of the current tenants.
The American Dream, as it’s commonly known, was the ideal that brought wave after wave of people to North America. When people came to this new, enormous, scary place, they did the obvious thing and stuck with their own. When a boat of, say, Italians arrived in New York, they stuck together because as a group they could pool their resources, their knowledge, and share their culture with one another – something they all understood and respected. In a country with a language different to one’s own, it makes all the sense in the world to acquaint oneself with others who speak the same language. Immigrants found comfort and security in associating themselves with their likeness. Italians flocked to Italians to all work together, to protect each other, and to find comfort in their adjacency to one another. It just makes sense.
Though it makes all the sense in the world, the security blanket that manifested itself as national pride in places like the United States and Canada has become the underlying cause of one of the most overarching ills that continues to exist today. When we work to identify what makes us the same, we have been taught, whether consciously or otherwise, to aim for specific traits. We learn from our elders how to conduct ourselves day to day, but their ways of life are becoming increasingly obsolete. It’d be silly to insist on watching television in black and white just because that’s how things used to be, yet we’re trained to identify with and connect ourselves or conversely to judge to others based on often dated criteria. We have the same nationality; we speak the same language; we live in the same area of town; we have the same skin colour. When we’re working to identify a select group based on generally unimportant similarities, we’re also actively working to cast aside those who don’t exhibit those traits. Irish actively seeking association with Irish means Irish NOT associating with Spanish. This need for a security blanket results in the separation of groups. Germans associate with Germans, Brits associate with Brits, Jocks with Jocks, Nerds with Nerds. It’s all strikingly familiar.
So we’ve got this group of Portuguese immigrants all associating with one another, and why wouldn’t they? Not only is it more comfortable to be around those who understand you and your culture, it’s also BETTER to be Portuguese, isn’t it? Just like it’s better to be English or Scottish or Irish or Welsh or Swiss or Belgian or Finnish or German or French or Italian or Austrian or… Don’t just be French, be PROUD to be French. Associating with a select group based on a limited set of similarities will inevitably lead to a sense of pride in those attributes. And herein lies the issue.
Just like finding the now inconsequential similarities that brought a group together inherently meant casting aside those who exhibited different traits, the belief that the now inconsequential traits that brought a group together makes that group superior inherently means a belief that those exhibiting different traits are inferior.
Bingo.
I’m in the planning stages of a push against discrimination of all sorts. I believe judging, discriminating, and/or persecuting another human based on perceived differences is absurd, and I’m going to try to do my part to make it a laughed about, scoffed at thing of the past. This planning has had me thinking about things like sexism and ageism and the topic of this blog post: racism/nationalism. It’s a great idea to try to stop a trend from being trendy, but unless we can identify the underlying cause of the problem, it will persist and it’ll survive. If we don’t identify and suppress the roots, the weeds will continue to snuff out the beauty of our species.
Why are we racist? How did it start? Why does it persist? Why, in a world where the lines dividing race are becoming blurrier by the day, do we continue exhibit such silly behavior? Why, in (at least a local) society where racism is looked down upon and interpreted with such negativity – a society where political correctness is king (or queen) – are so many of our peers so racist? Why are people who don’t want to be, and don’t mean to be, still so judgmental based on the most absurdly inconsequential characteristics of those being judged? What is going on? Why does this happen?
It all started very innocently, way back when some folks jumped on a boat and found a pair of continents now known as North and South America. After this extraordinary discovery, waves of people made their way to the new continents. Waves of people all from their own respective countries and cultures made their way to North America and South America. Being that ownership of land was indicative of power at the time, each country wanted to lay claim to the new continents, and some fighting happened based solely on nationality. Eventually enough people agreed about who owns what, and countries were formed with the allure of a new life full of possibilities projected to the homelands of the current tenants.
The American Dream, as it’s commonly known, was the ideal that brought wave after wave of people to North America. When people came to this new, enormous, scary place, they did the obvious thing and stuck with their own. When a boat of, say, Italians arrived in New York, they stuck together because as a group they could pool their resources, their knowledge, and share their culture with one another – something they all understood and respected. In a country with a language different to one’s own, it makes all the sense in the world to acquaint oneself with others who speak the same language. Immigrants found comfort and security in associating themselves with their likeness. Italians flocked to Italians to all work together, to protect each other, and to find comfort in their adjacency to one another. It just makes sense.
Though it makes all the sense in the world, the security blanket that manifested itself as national pride in places like the United States and Canada has become the underlying cause of one of the most overarching ills that continues to exist today. When we work to identify what makes us the same, we have been taught, whether consciously or otherwise, to aim for specific traits. We learn from our elders how to conduct ourselves day to day, but their ways of life are becoming increasingly obsolete. It’d be silly to insist on watching television in black and white just because that’s how things used to be, yet we’re trained to identify with and connect ourselves or conversely to judge to others based on often dated criteria. We have the same nationality; we speak the same language; we live in the same area of town; we have the same skin colour. When we’re working to identify a select group based on generally unimportant similarities, we’re also actively working to cast aside those who don’t exhibit those traits. Irish actively seeking association with Irish means Irish NOT associating with Spanish. This need for a security blanket results in the separation of groups. Germans associate with Germans, Brits associate with Brits, Jocks with Jocks, Nerds with Nerds. It’s all strikingly familiar.
So we’ve got this group of Portuguese immigrants all associating with one another, and why wouldn’t they? Not only is it more comfortable to be around those who understand you and your culture, it’s also BETTER to be Portuguese, isn’t it? Just like it’s better to be English or Scottish or Irish or Welsh or Swiss or Belgian or Finnish or German or French or Italian or Austrian or… Don’t just be French, be PROUD to be French. Associating with a select group based on a limited set of similarities will inevitably lead to a sense of pride in those attributes. And herein lies the issue.
Just like finding the now inconsequential similarities that brought a group together inherently meant casting aside those who exhibited different traits, the belief that the now inconsequential traits that brought a group together makes that group superior inherently means a belief that those exhibiting different traits are inferior.
Bingo.
Now of course it’s unfair to blame our pilgrim ancestors who bravely made the journey to a new land for associating with their own in order to create a relatively comfortable environment for themselves. It’s unfair to blame new immigrants from flocking to each other in order to find some sense of identity in a new place. But unless you’re fresh off the boat, what’s your excuse? You’re Irish? No. You’re Canadian. No. You’re human. Your skin is ‘black’ and mine is ‘white’? Sure, but we both walk on two feet, have awesome opposable thumbs, have five senses, and bleed red. If this is your homeland, you have no excuse. If this is home, you don’t need a security blanket. You don’t need to associate with your own because everybody is your own. If this is home, these are all your housemates.
Who gives a **** where your great grandparents used to live? What difference does it make? How does geography affect personality? Why do we pretend it does? That’s ALL it comes down to and it’s absurd. It’s childish and silly.
We have infinitely more in common than not. Quit being stupid and ignoring that. Judge each other by the colour of their blood, not the flag that represents a previous generation’s geographic location. Make friends and enemies by the actions of individual people, not based upon where their ancestors once lived.
We’re all the same. We’re all in this together. Let’s start acting like it.
You are the catalyst for change.
Who gives a **** where your great grandparents used to live? What difference does it make? How does geography affect personality? Why do we pretend it does? That’s ALL it comes down to and it’s absurd. It’s childish and silly.
We have infinitely more in common than not. Quit being stupid and ignoring that. Judge each other by the colour of their blood, not the flag that represents a previous generation’s geographic location. Make friends and enemies by the actions of individual people, not based upon where their ancestors once lived.
We’re all the same. We’re all in this together. Let’s start acting like it.
You are the catalyst for change.
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