There are approximately 17,000 murders in
the U.S. each year in which 60% of them are with weapons. However one of the
most powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others, and affects all of
us in one way or another is racism. According to Globalissues.org, racism is
the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people
simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to
others. This is a serious issue. Racism has been prominent since the beginning
of civilizations and is still seen in our society today and yet, we still do
nothing to stop it. I realize that society will never be able to control ones
personal thoughts on racism, but we should definitely advertise and support the
idea of rationality within our global communities. As our world becomes more
interconnected, racism is definitely a factor that needs to be eliminated for
the success of our local and international communities. By raising awareness,
it has and will continue to create a bandwagon and new stereotypes of not being
racist. This can be seen specifically through many advertising companies. They
ensure that every race is in the picture or video to imply that everyone is
accepted. I believe this is very important just as long as people are being
genuine and honest about their outlooks to make sure seeming ‘non-racist’ is an
undiluted, powerful and wonderful view.
Great blog post, Erin! Your point regarding outlooks on non-racist views is significantly important. Stereotypes are a main component to racism. For example, after 9/11, many stereotypes have been associated to Muslims and the Islamic belief. And due to that, racism has been heightened regarding that ethnic group.
ReplyDeleteThe danger with racism is that it will spiral out of control and turn into something awful like genocide. You're completely right that raising awareness is the right way to do this. However I also think that education needs to be utilized in tandem with awareness so a correct message is spread.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, the more "society" wants to include and accept all different races results in more individuals acceptance with different people. One other way that could help is with popular media such as movies, and T.V shows. Media like this will portray people of all different races, but will more often then not give the person of that race their racial stereotype. If this was done less and less people of all different races would just seem like other people and not their encouraged stereotype.
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