There is one last cause of prejudice that isn’t really connected with ignorance but personal problems. Sometimes one can find himself in stressful situations either at home or at school and one can build up anger. Being prejudist can then be a way of releasing your anger on an easy target. This is more of a selfish act but if we learn to talk more we can overcome problems like these.
There are many forms of prejudice. You may think racism and religious prejudice are the only kind involved. This is not the case. In fact, it is possible to have prejudice on appearance, disability, people’s sexuality, drugs, social status, sport and sexism. You can see that with all these types of racism prejudice can easily create many problems worldwide and is why it causes so much aggravation.
The consequences of prejudice can be drastic. Most of the world’s largest tragedies have been a result of prejudice. One of the most catastrophic and historic examples is the holocaust. In this approximately six million Jews were killed as a result of Hitler’s prejudice, ignorance and lack of understanding. He was a man invaded by stereotypes. His views were that because some Jews had committed crimes and the nation was in shambles, this was down to the Jews. He had no real knowledge of how the Jews really behaved and wanted to exterminate them due to his hate for them. Of course this is a very large scaled example but it shows you how catastrophic prejudice can be.
This was over sixty years ago and one might say would not happen today. Of course that would be an inaccurate statement. If we investigate the actions of September 11th it is very easy to see that it was a prejudice act, one of religion. The so-called Islamic extremists despised the western world and this mainly included America. The Western views did not co-exist with theirs and therefore they wished to abolish it. To do this they then sent two planes into the world trade centre because of a lack of understanding and possession of ignorance. These two examples display the problem’s associated with prejudice and how maybe it is are the heart of all the world’s problems.
If we look at some less major examples it will become obvious that prejudice involves many things and causes a lot of damage.
First let us examine sport. Sport may not seem like a prejudice topic but if you look harder it is very obvious. Take the World cup 98. It was a tournament that promoted much violence and harm. After England were knocked out the tournament on penalties the fans were furious and detested Argentina, the football club. Then, because of their ignorance, they assumed all Argentineans were rough and actors, which caused a large fight between the fans. Much harm could have been avoided but the English fans wanted to release their anger and used their stereotypical views to harm. Sport in general is also extremely prejudice. Many athletes are not allowed to present their country as of colour or background.
Another example of religious prejudice is shown here. This time it is not so damaging but shows my point. Nearly two years ago Glenn Hoddle was sacked as manager for England. He presented his Hindu beliefs to the world and no one was willing to accept it. Days later he was sacked. This was because the public and England football team representatives were ignorant and not willing to accept or try to accept his views.
The next few points are ones that I have personally noticed in my local area as well as in my school. While me and my friends go for our usual walk around town every weekend, somehow we always manage to be prejudice. Usually someone mentions the ‘Gothic’s’ as if they are all the same. There is a stereotypical view that because they wear all black they are mentally ill and slit their wrists. Of course this isn’t true and when we say this they become angry. This anger is the cause of all the problems. Violence or emotional damage can be caused by it.
This anger can also be caused by our views on ‘druggies’ and ‘gays’. When we associate ‘druggies’ we seem to think that they are uneducated and foolish people. In actual fact they are not and in many cases are very intelligent. In addition, there is an extremely prejudice view on homosexuals which I share. This is because I am a Muslim and as part of my religion it is said that homosexuality is wrong. This is a view that I share entirely based on my religion but there are people with the same views for different reasons. They may think that homosexuality is unjust and disgusting as they cannot understand it and may show violence to homosexuals. Violence is not always just shown to homosexuals. Sometimes it is shown to people standing up to gays to people against them. In the past years me and another schoolboy had a serious argument on homosexuals. His argument was that I was racist towards homosexuals and mine was that my religion said otherwise. He could not understand from where I was coming from and we nearly fought over the matter. Here was a fight between someone prejudice to homosexuals and another prejudice to religion. This lack of understanding on both our parts caused much trouble. It shows how prejudice can change you and make you in some cases aggressive. Aggression is the key to violence. Without violence most of the worlds problems would not exist and this emphasises my point that prejudice is at the heart of all the worlds problems.
Finally, I would like to write about how our parliament is prejudice. Look at the amount of blacks or women. You will find that the amount is minute compared to the amount of white men. This is as of sexism and the thought that women are not as good as men. This thought is also shared about blacks. This proves how corrupt the world is when the people running our country are racist and sexist, it is very difficult for the younger nation not to follow. How can we overcome prejudice when the people who are meant to be our examples promote it?
So far I have explained how destructive prejudice is which shows how prejudice is at the heart of many problems but I have not explained how it is worldwide.
Where ever you are in the world prejudice is always around. In Germany there was the hate of Jews and In America there was the hate of blacks and still is in some places. Moreover, In America there was a strong hate and fear of ‘commies’ due to stereotypes and vice versa in Russia. Anyone who was in favour of communism or capitalism in America or Russia was usually executed at the time of the cold war. At the time of the cold war prejudice was worldwide. Usually, if you were communist you hated America and if you were a capitalist, you hated Russia.
Throughout Africa and Asia Prejudice towards whites is found as well. When I was in Egypt, as I did not look very Egyptian sometimes I was taunted on the streets from the equivalent of ‘skallies’. This was not just based on the colour of my skin but by the clothes I was wearing.
In England there was the Steven Lawrence case. When he was killed, it was thought some white offices did not search hard enough for the culprit. It is another example of Racism but in another country showing how racism is not just in certain areas.
This prejudice also occurred in South Africa in which it was segregated and the whites ruled. They thought that because they had owned the country for a short amount of time they were supreme. The blacks wanted to end the white supremacy and get back what was rightfully there’s. They were not aloud to sit next to whites on buses or eat with them. It was enormously racist.
In terms of racism, Australia falls short of international standards. We know this from the recent judgments of various United Nations committees, criticising amendments to the Native Title Act, mandatory sentencing and the level of disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. But, most importantly, we know about the racism in Australia from the everyday experiences of indigenous communities. The racism is from a limited level of understanding. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are living in a completely different community even though they are in the same country as Australians. They are not given equal opportunity or treated fairly. It is not always peoples colour that people are prejudice to. In this case it is their culture. All this proves how widespread prejudice is. It is scattered all across the globe and these are just a handful of examples.
We must become more aware of prejudice if we are to overcome it. We must realise that it is in politics, our school, all around us. Without it our lives would be far better off but this is just a dream. Prejudice will always be around and will always be at the heart of most of the worlds’ problems.
Hesham El-Assra 4FV
