Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression


Recently, I was watching a talk show about two friends discriminating against another friend because he came out the closet about being gay. He decided to live his life as a female and wanted his friends to accept his new lifestyle. They disagreed with his lifestyle and were bias against homosexuals because of their religious beliefs. In fact, when they saw him in the neighborhood they threw objects at him, shouted insults and threatened him on social media. Their biases diminished his equity by discriminating against his sexual orientation. Their behaviors oppressed his freedom to express his social identities. He felt betrayed and hurt that his “so called” friends were threatening his life and embarrassing him in social settings. I felt compassion for the young man because his closest friends became his enemies overnight. I was also disturbed by his friends emphasizing their Christian beliefs as the influence of their prejudice behaviors.  As a Christians, I did not agree with their methods, it is not right to harm people because you disagree with their lifestyle or beliefs. In this situation, I think the friends would have to change their hateful ways to create an opportunity for equity. A possible solution maybe, “to agree, to disagree,” but most importantly eliminate the vicious behaviors and insults. They have a choice to be his friend or not, but they do not have a right to harm him because of his personal choices. 

3 comments:

  1. Hi Katara,
    It is to bad that people have to resort to violent behavior because they are fearful of what they do not understand. They should have agreed to disagree and their would have to be an understanding that everyone would have to work through their feelings before they would be able to confront the situation.

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  2. Katara,
    This is an example of LGBTism that we covered in the class. This is discrimination and oppression. Thank you for sharing this story. It shows how people have not progressed past violence and oppression. Although this is just one group, problems like this occur all over the country.

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  3. Katara,
    This is so hurtful that in an instant a friendship was broken. Some people act based on their lack of knowledge and must be further educated on the realty of the real world as supposed to the world that they have created in their head. I completely disagree with them basing their actions of their Christian beliefs. A violent approach is not the answer but an approach of understanding and as you stated agreeing to disagree.

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