Paul Heslop wrote:
>
> elag wrote:
>
> >
> > I know there's Paki-bashing and all of that... ignorance, bred in fear,
> > can be found everywhere. Hatred based on people's actions can't be
> > avoided... if only people could be made to see that it is Pre-Judging
> > people based on superficialities of color or accent which increases
> > hostility on both sides.
> >
> > I'm not beyond feeling some apprehension based on people's appearance,
> > at times. After all, it is in part a defense mechanism, but I can
> > suspend judgement until I see who they really are. To me the plethora
> > of different cultures is what makes life more interesting... I don't
> > like the youth gangs any more than anyone else, but I've met some crazy
> > looking characters that turned out to be quite interesting... at times I
> > could even be accused of being a suspicious looking character (according
> > to the coppers).
> >
> > --
> > replace "NINE" with "9" to reply
>
> I've been, in my times, on just about every side of the law,
'cept behind a badge, I guess...
I've been in gangs, I've been violent (through stupidity and drink) I've
> had black friends, indian friends and racist friends (the latter only lasted as long as I didn't know he was racist)
> I know what it's like to be feared and to fear. I recall doing everything I could not to hurt people while at the same time getting a
> reputation as being a troublemaker.
> An eye opener for me was a half indian half english lad I met at work. When working night duties we would sit sit and discuss the
> world at large etc and he told me about his childhood, how he was treat like dirt here because he was half indian and how his mother,
> in desperation, agreed to move to India to get away from this, only for them to find that racism was as bad there, if not more so as
> the boy was actually abused by adults aswell as young people. I found his story heartbreaking, but was forced to think that here were
> we, sitting in a building with responsibility for 20 or so disabled children while our own youth had been savage and disturbed and
> both of us had been outcasts at one time or another. Somewhere down the line we had both made a decision that we cared more for others
> than others cared for us, and both were lucky to find an employer who ignored our pasts and gave us an opportunity to do what we
> really wanted to do.
I think that's the key to removing prejudice... getting out in the world
and broadening one's experience of other cultures, and not just as a
tourist. Luckily, even w/in big cities like London, New York or
Montreal one can meet and talk to people representing nearly every ethnicity.
If people would only allow themselves to experience life that way...
unfortunately, many Merkins (for example) just go around shouting at
people very slowly in Englitch and more or less try to live the same way
they do back home... eating the same foods & watching the same TeeVee
shows instead of really trying to experience the other culture from
w/in... as much as that is possible.
The same holds true w/in one's own town. How many people really take
the time to snoop out all of the interesting ethnic nooks and crannies
which often abound right off the beaten path. Sometimes, just crossing
a bridge and eating the food of a country one knows little about in a
tiny ethnic dive can be the beginning of enlightenment.
--
Replace "8" with "9" to reply.
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