Let's learn acceptance, people!
So I was hanging in Old Town Alexandria grabbing a bite to eat, when I overheard the men sitting at the table next to me talking about the issues in Israel and Gaza right now. These men looked like they were pretty professional, white collar gentlemen. Not that there is a shortage of such people in the DC metro. I would guess that these two gentlemen were in their lower 40s, but I could tell pretty quickly that they were both pretty pompous human beings. One of the guys had the audacity to say, "well, people who are oppressed, they bring it on themselves." The man he was talking with agreed far too quickly. Now, there were things that these men had said previous to this that made me frustrated, but that comment took the cake. I couldn't help but to interject.
"Really, sir? Do you honestly believe that ever group of people who have been oppressed through time, it was because of their own doing?"
"Listen, darling, this conversation does not concern you. You are too young to truly understand these types of issues."
It took me about a second and a half to recompose myself after having someone who clearly does not know me try to tell me what I know about. I'm pretty sure I've never felt my face quite so tense in my life.
"Really, sir? So you believe that the Native Americans asked to have their people slaughtered and their land stolen?? Do you believe that the Mormons asked to be tarred and feathered and have extermination orders put out against them as they were seeking religious freedom? Do you think the Hutus asked the European immigrants to separate their tribe from the Tutsi, resulting in the murder of hundreds of thousands throughout Rwanda? Do you think that the unkown number of women across the world who are forced into prostitution asked God to give them their double X chromosome, and be born to a family where prostitution was the only way to provide a living?"
The man looked at me blankly for maybe three seconds before shooting back at me.
"That is not the same. Those people didn't use violence to get to the point where they are today. The Palestinians were asking for the occupation when they decided to blow themselves up in the name of Allah. Muslims are dangerous people, and you can't argue that."
He clearly doesn't know who he is dealing with.
"First off, the conflict didn't stem from violence, it stemmed from policies created after World War II. Secondly, there are dangerous people in any group you pull from. Look at the KKK, The LRA out of Uganda, the IRA, or the many groups out of the Latin American countries, Eastern Europe, or the terrible dictators such as Kim Jong-Li? None of these groups or people are Muslim. You really cannot generalize a group of people based off of a small number of radicals in the group. That would be like saying that all middle class white guys are crazy because of people like McVeigh or Dahmer. That doesn't seem like an accurate argument, now does it?"
And with that comment, the men gathered their things and left.
People! When will we all be able to wake up and realize that judging others and making accusations based off the actions of a few is not right? When will we, as a human race realize that we truly do belong to one another? It is not enough to just speak of peace and unity, we must all do our part to make it happen. At the very basic level that includes avoiding the use of generalizing and passing judgement on another based on something about them. We have all done things that if others formed their whole opinion of us based on such actions, we would be hated by all. On top of that, how dreadful would it be if we all were judged based on the actions of a few from our group? Think about it, then think twice before making generalized statements about others.
"Really, sir? Do you honestly believe that ever group of people who have been oppressed through time, it was because of their own doing?"
"Listen, darling, this conversation does not concern you. You are too young to truly understand these types of issues."
It took me about a second and a half to recompose myself after having someone who clearly does not know me try to tell me what I know about. I'm pretty sure I've never felt my face quite so tense in my life.
"Really, sir? So you believe that the Native Americans asked to have their people slaughtered and their land stolen?? Do you believe that the Mormons asked to be tarred and feathered and have extermination orders put out against them as they were seeking religious freedom? Do you think the Hutus asked the European immigrants to separate their tribe from the Tutsi, resulting in the murder of hundreds of thousands throughout Rwanda? Do you think that the unkown number of women across the world who are forced into prostitution asked God to give them their double X chromosome, and be born to a family where prostitution was the only way to provide a living?"
The man looked at me blankly for maybe three seconds before shooting back at me.
"That is not the same. Those people didn't use violence to get to the point where they are today. The Palestinians were asking for the occupation when they decided to blow themselves up in the name of Allah. Muslims are dangerous people, and you can't argue that."
He clearly doesn't know who he is dealing with.
"First off, the conflict didn't stem from violence, it stemmed from policies created after World War II. Secondly, there are dangerous people in any group you pull from. Look at the KKK, The LRA out of Uganda, the IRA, or the many groups out of the Latin American countries, Eastern Europe, or the terrible dictators such as Kim Jong-Li? None of these groups or people are Muslim. You really cannot generalize a group of people based off of a small number of radicals in the group. That would be like saying that all middle class white guys are crazy because of people like McVeigh or Dahmer. That doesn't seem like an accurate argument, now does it?"
And with that comment, the men gathered their things and left.
People! When will we all be able to wake up and realize that judging others and making accusations based off the actions of a few is not right? When will we, as a human race realize that we truly do belong to one another? It is not enough to just speak of peace and unity, we must all do our part to make it happen. At the very basic level that includes avoiding the use of generalizing and passing judgement on another based on something about them. We have all done things that if others formed their whole opinion of us based on such actions, we would be hated by all. On top of that, how dreadful would it be if we all were judged based on the actions of a few from our group? Think about it, then think twice before making generalized statements about others.
posted by Grace at
11:25 AM
1 Comments:
So, you rock :)
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