I am white, and I am a woman. I was raised Jewish, and now do not share in the supernatural aspects of that faith, so I identify with atheism too. Take your pick for being discriminated against. Yes I include white in that mix - racism is not a one way street.
I read Eil's article, and she has good points. So do the rest of you. Here's the fact of the matter though: people need to quit blaming others for their problems.
This is not a thousand years ago, or 500 years ago, or even 50 years ago. As a society, we're a hell of a lot further along than we were. We're not perfect, but I think it's ridiculous not to recognize that the defining factor between then and now is that anyone who wants to have a voice and a cause can have one. That's freedom. Especially now in the internet age. The fact that Eil found articles to back herself up, to even identify the problem, shows that we're allowed to state what we feel - if we're allowed to do that, we're allowed to influence others with our words and actions.
If I don't get hired for a job, yes, maybe it's because I was a woman, not a man - that's still a viable possibility nowadays, just as it could be based on race or religion. It's my duty to myself then to pick myself back up and find something else, not to cry "discrimination!" Don't get me wrong - discrimination has to be recognized, but this needs to be tempered with the recognition that life is going to throw bullshit at you no matter how much money you have, what your skin color is, what your beliefs are, and even where you are from.
I can't say we're all equal - we all have different talents, levels of intelligence, different priorities, and different perceptions. But we ARE all equal in that we all have the ability to try again and again and not allow ourselves to be held down.
So I'm at work and I get irritated and some guy brushes it off as me "being on the rag". I can call foul all I want - or I can get smarter and explain to him exactly what the hell was irritating me. It's just as demeaning to a man to say "you don't understand!" and not attempt to explain it to them and assume they can't accept it as it is for them to say it - whether the topic be my menstrual cycle or my frustrations. I don't understand why he falls to the ground if I accidentally swing my hand around and it connects with his nutsack, but I can try to empathize with his pain. When you tell a person "you don't understand" you are being just as bigoted as they are. I suffer from it myself all the time.
Yes, people need to point out where someone is being a bigot. Yes, we should all attempt to think outside of our own bubbles and try to stand in another person's shoes, but that doesn't apply to just race or religion - empathizing with people would solve a whole lot of shit in this world.
"You can't do this because you're not smart enough." Fuck you, I'll learn. "You can't do this because you're a girl." Fuck you as well - unless it involves reproductive organs, since I don't have a penis, get out of my damn way. Fuck you to any other reason why you say I can't do something - it better be because I physically can't attain it (my midget ass will never play basketball, after all) or my brain has reached its capacity. THAT is the attitude you have to take - the more you put yourself out there and prove to everyday people that we're all capable of accomplishing the same things, the faster this world will realize that the bigoted opinions we held were ill-informed. But telling me I have to apologize because I was born with certain "privileges" is bullshit. No one is helpless, especially not in this country. I've watched too many friends rise to amazing lives because they didn't ask for apologies. They got up and did it.
Don't demean another human being because of his accident of birth. If you ask someone to apologize and grovel before you because they were born in some superior position, a fact they can't help, you merely take away the glory of rising from yourself. You don't get the same reward for conquering the mountain by cutting portions of it away instead of climbing the damn thing.
I read Eil's article, and she has good points. So do the rest of you. Here's the fact of the matter though: people need to quit blaming others for their problems.
This is not a thousand years ago, or 500 years ago, or even 50 years ago. As a society, we're a hell of a lot further along than we were. We're not perfect, but I think it's ridiculous not to recognize that the defining factor between then and now is that anyone who wants to have a voice and a cause can have one. That's freedom. Especially now in the internet age. The fact that Eil found articles to back herself up, to even identify the problem, shows that we're allowed to state what we feel - if we're allowed to do that, we're allowed to influence others with our words and actions.
If I don't get hired for a job, yes, maybe it's because I was a woman, not a man - that's still a viable possibility nowadays, just as it could be based on race or religion. It's my duty to myself then to pick myself back up and find something else, not to cry "discrimination!" Don't get me wrong - discrimination has to be recognized, but this needs to be tempered with the recognition that life is going to throw bullshit at you no matter how much money you have, what your skin color is, what your beliefs are, and even where you are from.
I can't say we're all equal - we all have different talents, levels of intelligence, different priorities, and different perceptions. But we ARE all equal in that we all have the ability to try again and again and not allow ourselves to be held down.
So I'm at work and I get irritated and some guy brushes it off as me "being on the rag". I can call foul all I want - or I can get smarter and explain to him exactly what the hell was irritating me. It's just as demeaning to a man to say "you don't understand!" and not attempt to explain it to them and assume they can't accept it as it is for them to say it - whether the topic be my menstrual cycle or my frustrations. I don't understand why he falls to the ground if I accidentally swing my hand around and it connects with his nutsack, but I can try to empathize with his pain. When you tell a person "you don't understand" you are being just as bigoted as they are. I suffer from it myself all the time.
Yes, people need to point out where someone is being a bigot. Yes, we should all attempt to think outside of our own bubbles and try to stand in another person's shoes, but that doesn't apply to just race or religion - empathizing with people would solve a whole lot of shit in this world.
"You can't do this because you're not smart enough." Fuck you, I'll learn. "You can't do this because you're a girl." Fuck you as well - unless it involves reproductive organs, since I don't have a penis, get out of my damn way. Fuck you to any other reason why you say I can't do something - it better be because I physically can't attain it (my midget ass will never play basketball, after all) or my brain has reached its capacity. THAT is the attitude you have to take - the more you put yourself out there and prove to everyday people that we're all capable of accomplishing the same things, the faster this world will realize that the bigoted opinions we held were ill-informed. But telling me I have to apologize because I was born with certain "privileges" is bullshit. No one is helpless, especially not in this country. I've watched too many friends rise to amazing lives because they didn't ask for apologies. They got up and did it.
Don't demean another human being because of his accident of birth. If you ask someone to apologize and grovel before you because they were born in some superior position, a fact they can't help, you merely take away the glory of rising from yourself. You don't get the same reward for conquering the mountain by cutting portions of it away instead of climbing the damn thing.
![[Image: Untitled2_zpswaosccbr.png]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i1140.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn569%2Fthesummerqueen%2FUntitled2_zpswaosccbr.png)
