I am still in the beginning, but I can’t put it down and it has made me think deeper and longer than almost anything that I’ve read in the last few years.

But here is something else for you to chew on: why did God make things so difficult for humankind by making people of all these different colors? Why didn’t He just make us all the same? I think it has something to do with whatever is the opposite of prejudiced…

There was this scientist being interviewed by Tom Snyder on the “Tomorrow Show” many years ago. He held college degrees in several diverse subjects. Asked about what motivated him to reach such academic heights, he told of a very vivid dream in which a UFO landed and the aliens picked him to take a test to determine in mankind would be allowed to survive. He woke up in a sweat knowing that he was sadly lacking as a human being and that, if the fate of the human race rested on his shoulders, we would all be lost. After that, he worked like a madman to make himself the absolute nest best example of humanity that was possible.

This may seem off the topic, but I don’t think so. It came to mind reading Torias’ comment “Sometimes Hispanic people hit for no reason.” I do agree that people as individuals, by their actions, train others how to perceive them … but also that the perception is usually clouded by a lot of other information people use to make judgments about others. Anyhow, what follows is my take on the idea that Hispanics must WANT to be known as the people who hit for no reason because they keep doing it and therefore re-enforce that stereotype. First off, this gives me a flash back to a cartoon character that represented “Hawaiian Punch” for years. He wore a loud Hawaiian shirt and hauled off and punched people that asked for a Hawaiian punch. I certainly hope the repetitive airing of that commercial didn’t label overweight white men in Hawaiian shirts as random hitters. But more to the point, let’s say 1000 Hispanics in LA decided that it was cool to build a little fear of (and respect ? of) the Hispanic community by sending a message “Be aware of us and fear us because we may strike without reason at any time!” How many Hispanics are there in total? Even if there are, let’s say 100 million Hispanic people in the world, that thousand people in LA would represent one thousandth of a percent of all Hispanics. Although EVERY Hispanic that Torias may have ever encountered may believe in random hitting (and that may or may not be true depending how much Torius gets around), that sampling of experience is a very narrow sampling to make a judgment on an entire group of people – although it might justify how Torias prepares to face a day among the 1000 that may surround him.

So here’s the question, if you identify yourself as a member of a specific race or group, who would you want to represent your people in the public’s mind if being pre-judged is inevitable? Would you want it to be you? Are you a “credit to your race?” Another question: Should a group have the right to choose which 1000 or 100 or 1 represents how the public views them? If we are to be pre-judged by an unfairly small sampling, shouldn’t we be the ones that get to choose the sample? There are certainly 1000 clansmen still around. I don’t want to be judged as holding views like theirs. There were at least 1000 people in Hitler’s regime taking a hand in the Holocaust. I certainly don’t want to be thought of as being genetically bound to behaving like they did. I would probably lean to selecting Nobel Peace Prize winners and Pulitzer Prize Winners and volunteers who sacrificed themselves without seeking notoriety. But would I pick me to represent me? The individual is the smallest unique “group” there is. Theirs my left brain and my right brain, … which represents me better? Right now, the only thing I know for sure is that I want a body double. But I’ll have to think on the people I want to represent me and the specific traits in each of them that I want to be known for.

So, these comments approach the topic two ways. One, I believe that any large racial or cultural group is far too diverse to be fairly pre-judged by a sampling based on any individual’s personal experience. Two, I challenge you all to consider whether or not YOU are the person you want to represent the groups you belong to … and to make an effort to be the person that you would want to represent your group.

I got up at 3:00am to write this, so I hope it makes sense in the morning. I’m heading back to bed.

Take Care!

I had an opposite but similar experience. I live in Dubai and went to the US to study. I think that although the US was a nice place to be, explore and understand yet, I feel that prejudice plays an important role in this country and my hometown. Taxi drivers in Dubai give preference to whites when picking up their customers as they go for long distances and tip the drivers (something that is not there in the culture of 60% of the population). I think this racial discrimination has gone to such an extent that when these cab drivers do pick me up they think Im Arab and so I will pay them extra. But I am not. Otherwise these guys never pick me or any other non-white up.

I am not here to discriminate between races but to highlight that such countries face problems with racial discrimination within races and inferiority complexes that their race is inferior to another. I think that all races are equal in the way science and biology prove it so.

Getting back to my US experience – well, my roommate in my dorm was not in right shape. What I mean is that he was influenced by people around him. In my second semester I realised that due to people around him he thought that I, since muslim was a very introvert kind of person who ment harm to someone. I too keep a beard and to date I have never been questioned by US authorities on basis of random checking. But my roommate was another story, he had no ethics or anything. He and the people on my floor did not respect my way of living. They thought that just because I have a beard means that I cannot be open minded and always am stuck up. They harassed me to no end. Of course they got what they deserved (police intervention) but I then found that there were people who were not prejudiced also (my resident adviser) and were very supportive and very understanding.

I think that eventually in every place in the world, we have good people and bad people. We must never listen to the common motto and experience everything ourselves. Not everyone is a saint but yet not everyone is Hitler.

Sorry for the long post but Id just like to say that one must be open minded and never listen to common media as we all know does distort reality to no end!

Allison, I think you do a really good job by letting others voice their opinions and discussing such issues. I am patiently waiting for the next season and I’m sure it’ll be brilliant as usual.

Thanks and have a great day!

Or “It would look better on my bedroom floor”