Am I a racist?
- Recently I read a long story written by a fellow blogger about how she is racially abused by foreigners only because she is an Indian. She said she lived in various countries and went on to accuse Australia, Canada, US, UK and Israel as racist countries. I would like to disagree here because I feel racism is not present in certain countries or races, instead it is omnipresent. Yes. I feel almost each and every person in this world has a bit of racial intentions. Let me explain.
- What is racism? Leaving away the formal definition of racial biases etc, let us asses it from a psychological background.
- Every human being in this world wants to be better than others. For example, we are participating in Indiblogger of the month because we want to be better than other bloggers. We are participating in a running race, because we want to be better than other participants. In this world all the successes and resultant happiness is determined comparatively. Based on various reasons, we develop a perception that certain people are not competent enough to overtake us. If those people tend to outsmart us, we want to invent certain activities to irritate and spoil their happiness to keep them below us. This activity is what I am going to term as racism. If we see in this angle, we are all racists. What do you call the behaviour of cricket fans in India to Andrew Symonds? What do you call the violence unearthed in Chennai Law College? What do you call the behaviour based on casteist disparities in India? What do you call the behaviour of people in superior posts towards their subordinates? What do you call the tratment of maratis towards Biharis in Mumbai?
- My point is that we don’t have to develop hatred towards certain countries or race as it is not an activity present within them alone, instead it is the outcome of a basic attitude called dominance which is present in almost every human being. We need to understand that good people and bad people coexist in every part of this universe. Racism can be eliminated only when people tend to believe success is not a comparative term.
5 comments:
I think racism is there..and always will be there...
Everyone/Anyone who says that racism can be eradicated is only satisfying themselves by saying this... it is of no use to say all that in short.
Oh, I've lived in Israel and Australia...(the first and last countries u mentioned on ur list). Yes i have heard saying stuff while I would be walking on the street. Yes it happened with me at school as well... But it didn't get to an extent where I was stabbed with a screw driver...(the guy in Melbourne hospital however is fighting for his life because of racial attack). I am not saying everyone is like that in the above mentioned countries..but yes it is there and it has to be tackled to an extent where no one is loosing their life at least.
No one can defend ANY country saying that their is no one who racist... no country is any less.. India is the same..it does this within it's own people!..Caste and creed... its all messed up.
Defining what racism is..and what we should do..will do no good to anyone.. it comes from within a person... I believe in "live and let live". I ignore those who look at me with distaste... i ignore those who blabber swear words at me while I walk on the street... i am here for myself...and that's what matters. Racial abuse use to affect me before...and it hurts sometimes ..but since I have accepted the fact that it's here to stay... I don't worry myself anymore.
When I compete, even if with friends, I aim to win and to win i need to believe I am better than the rest and maybe I even really am ... that has got nthin to do with dominance .. there is a very fine line ... You can be great and you could know it ... racism comes when u develop an ego and then want everyone else to say you are great ... you want to demand it and not command it ..
true it is omni present and true we should not single out nations .. very very true .. :)
@ gargi ..
spot on ..
:)
@ Gargi: The main motive of this post is to inform that we should not hate people based on generalizations and to understand the real cause of the problem.
There is no doubt that it should be treated immediately and my greatest empathy to those who faced it.
I am happy that you are upagainst it.
@Towards reclamation:
I am not against your opinion on the cause of the problem. I am happy that you accepted it is omnipresent. That is what the motive.
yeah I totally agree... we are all latently racists but again if we ought to fight it... we have to shed away that belief... anywayz excellent observation
@Karthik - Thanks pal
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