http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7KDRbO01u8
Discrimination and racism are a big issue in our world today. People are segregated and looked down upon depending on their race or background. Immigrants like myself have it hard in US. We do not speak English as well as “Americans”; I quoted it because all the Americans are in fact descendants of people who colonized America. People are refused jobs just because they are black or Spanish, I’m white but I’m still an immigrant and I’m still looked down upon when I want to get hired anywhere.
People always think of themselves better than others therefore there will always be segregation and different social classes and standards. The video I have picked shows an example of an Iranian lady being refused apple products because of her heritage and background. She is viewed inferior and untrustworthy just because she comes from a different place. Later on in the video they explain on how you can’t import apple stuff into Iran, it’s not like this lady is going to sell it. She wants to buy an apple product for her own needs, not being able to buy it and use it is a good example of discrimination. I’m honestly sick of the people today, all this segregation and discrimination is not getting us anywhere, every day you heard on the news of new examples of discrimination and racism. This country is full of it. I just hope that as we live on this will slowly change but I’m afraid that life is too short for this to happen. At least for the time being.
The reason of racism is not the color of the skin, but the human thinking. Therefore, if we want to get rid of racial prejudice and intolerance, then we should get rid of false representations, which for so many thousands of years have been a source of wrong concepts of superiority or, on in contrary, the lower the position of various groups among mankind.
Racist thinking permeates our consciousness. We are all a little bit racist. We believe in the ethnic balance. And, of course, the cultural distance between immigrants and “host population” exist. But it is exist because of the features of socialization and acquired skills of the behavior.
I think the racism and discrimination comes from the Media and differences between social classes. We are accustomed not only to the fact that the one race has more authority than the other, but also to the credibility and distance of the highest class to the lowest (even if the people same race.)
The distance also exists between the residents of small villages (cities) and residents of megapolises. The residents of small towns are accustomed to dense networks of interpersonal contacts, and residents of megapolises prefer privacy and often feel their superiority over the residents of small towns. Another distance that common is between the poorly educated people (or not educated) and people with a college degree. So, as we could see from these examples cultural differences are only a “garnish” to the structural and functional differences. Thus, the inequality of social strata led to the inequality of the races.
Discrimination against people on the grounds of race, color or ethnic origin is an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations among nations. It is capable to disturb the peace, security and the harmony of coexistence of individuals even within the same state. The existence of racial barriers is repugnant to the ideals of any human society. I think the government should take a leading role in addressing this problem. The state should ensure the equality of every person under the law, without distinction to race, color, national or ethnic origin.
The reason of racism is not the color of the skin, but the human thinking. Therefore, if we want to get rid of racial prejudice and intolerance, then we should get rid of false representations, which for so many thousands of years have been a source of wrong concepts of superiority or, on in contrary, the lower the position of various groups among mankind.
Racist thinking permeates our consciousness. We believe in the ethnic balance. And, of course, the cultural distance between immigrants and “host population” exist. But it is exist because of the features of socialization and acquired skills of the behavior.
I think the racism and discrimination comes from the Media and differences between social classes. We are accustomed not only to the fact that the one race has more authority than the other, but also to the credibility and distance of the highest class to the lowest (even if the people same race.)
The distance also exists between the residents of small villages (cities) and residents of megapolises. The residents of small towns are accustomed to dense networks of interpersonal contacts, and residents of megapolises prefer privacy and often feel their superiority over the residents of small towns. Another distance that common is between the poorly educated people (or not educated) and people with a college degree. So, as we could see from these examples cultural differences are only a “garnish” to the structural and functional differences. Thus, the inequality of social strata led to the inequality of the races.
I hate to break it down, but I think that racism and discrimination are still there in almost all of the societies around us.
I am from Bangladesh and South Asian communities have been known for their distinctively different cultural patterns, which is hugely different from western style. Sometimes, some people looked at us and think that all of us from that part expressed bad notion about Western World. One woman who is working with me in my store asked me bunch of very racist questions which to be honest with you offends me a lot. I tried to make her understand that all of these bad notions that she express about my culture are not necessarily true. I also see that there are some people who perceive us as very friendly, career-oriented and family persons who thrives in this society. I would say most of the people in New York are very cordial about other cultures, only some are different and very negative in terms of their perception. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about all the societies because a lot of other places are much more racist than NYC. Some people here are so much out of touch that they think that countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan belongs to Middle East !!! Got to praise that geographic knowledge there (sarcasm) !!!
This incident that you presented has happened in Australia and the woman were denied of Apple’s service because she is Iranian, even though she is an Australian citizen. US has an embargo against Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria however it doesn’t say that people from this country can’t purchase their stuffs in a foreign country so I would ay that woman has a legitimate shot of getting racially discriminated. I have heard from my relatives from Australia that South Asian communities are not given enough opportunities in White-Collar jobs even though South Asian students have exceed Australian students when it comes to studies and graduation. Can’t say if it is true or not but if it’s true it is sad for us.
US has been much more tolerant towards other cultures and a lot of people have got equal opportunities here in comparison to a lot of other countries, so I would disagree with you a little bit on this opinion. However, I share the same concern and this problem will continue to exist. Remember that shooting at Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, some freaks will always try to jeopardize the harmony.
There are many social “wrongs” in our society and racism and discrimination is indeed one of them. People are discriminated due to race, skin color, sex, gender etc., it’s simply absurd and out of line. The video posted in the blog is clearly an example of race discrimination. An innocent woman was denied of an Apple product due to her being Iranian? Measures must be taken to stop unscrupulous moral behavior during this day in age. I don’t think the root of the problem is with individuals being discriminative themselves, its bigger and more abstract than that. I believe that society as a whole imposes such ignorant and immoral behavior. For example, Hispanics are this and blacks are that and Arabs do this comes from social institutions labeling such groups as and thus trickling down to individuals. Not one person comes out labeling a whole race as such; it starts from a bigger social influence and after it being passed down through word of mouth it becomes a common practice among the many to discriminate and become racist.
Personally, I don’t ever recall being a victim of racism and discrimination within my environment even though I’m Hispanic but I do see it around me and I am strongly opinionated about the topic at hand. It can happen to me at anytime that’s one and two it’s just plain and simply wrong to discriminate due to race. Eventually this generation is going to know better in the future and hopefully the whole problems of racism will closer and closer come to a halt.