Prejudice - Shame of All Nations

Important topics...well, I have quite a few. There’s no denying that when it comes to picking one, it might just say more about me than I actually intended it to, but I guess I'll have to worry about that later, or maybe it wouldn’t be something to worry about at all.

I thought long and hard about other topics that I felt passionate about, issues that I’d wish to address if I was given a podium and a microphone. I considered the different human rights violations I see around everyday, whether women being groped on our streets or members of political opposition jailed in our prisons. I considered the minorities in my society being marginalized and discriminated against, I thought of religious intolerance, which took me to terror and the numerous ambiguous definitions that go with it.

I have this idea of a world free of prejudice and name-calling, a one where people don't fear what they do not necessarily know, where they tolerate each other’s differences, be it religion or race or gender, be it the way you dress or your hair and makeup, or even just that very lame phrase that you just uttered.

Actually, I'm calling for the prohibiting of words such as lame, cool, loser, freak, and weird...I'm calling for prejudice to be an actual crime. I won't lie and say I've been suffering my entire life from prejudice, or that it has defined who I am today. However, I will recall all the times I knew I could have had a better chance if it weren't for the judgment passed on me because of my gender or religion.

Prejudice it is; in all its forms, practiced by the high socialite’s, the politicians, and the employers. Prejudice practiced by the parents who don't understand a new generation; By the teachers who stopped reading new material; By the journalists who stopped going to the field and write it all up 'online' now.

Prejudice sparked by social class, passport colors, college certificates, or even last names. It is the root of all stereotyping, misjudgment, ignorance and intolerance.

Chauvinism, narrow mindedness, discrimination, bigotry, injustice, unfairness…words that come up in a synonym list to a concept I believe has defined our wars, education, media, and faiths.

It all came back to prejudice; inaccurate and insufficient knowledge of entire countries, races, cultures and belief systems. It drives fear, arrogance and suspicion in the minds of those who know less, or just think they know it all.

I marvel at just how much some things can make a difference. Education that is free of pre-set agendas and brain washing educators. Clerics who could preach to their believers the importance and meaning of concepts such as tolerance and respect towards others. Media that is objective, independent and decent.

Nations, free of Prejudice.

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“We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.”

Stephen Vincent Benet quote