I was reading a recommended diary by chaunceydevega about racism. I found it both interesting and informative, same thing with the comment section. Whether I agree with everything or not is beside the point, the importance is to think about what was written and why it was written in the first place. I could have written a similar diary maintaining much of the rhetoric about sexism with mansplaining replacing white privilege.
How we all view the world is based on personal experience and by that I mean the people around us and the education we received. My grandparents held views little accepted today, and indeed this caused many familial arguments, my nephews and nieces hold different attitudes and expectations than their parents. I would argue that progress is being made towards an unprejudiced world view with each passing generation. Never forget conservatives can have progressive children, sadly sometimes the opposite can actually happen, however there has been a general and positive progress.
I agree with the diarist mentioned above about the "softer" forms of racism and these can be some of the hardest views to change, after all the blatantly racist sentiments are easier to spot and refute. The same thing can be applied to sexism. However, I would not put the two extremes under one umbrella, nor would I use the same rhetoric to label them. I found nothing that upset me in the diary, nor in the way chosen to express their viewpoint, sometimes you have to experience the bigotry to see it clearly for what it is. The method of expression and the words chosen are sometimes irrelevant, the question is, are the points raised valid.
We all hold little [sometimes elephant sized] prejudices in one form or another and these come from or own cultural and familial upbringings. The best thing we can do about them is when someone points them out [because we may not even notice] is to have a think about them and see if we can change how we really feel and behave.
Mocking those left behind is valid, however it is also necessary to encourage those for whom there is hope.
Just a thought
Sometimes a song comes to mind.
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