Guess who's back!! I apologise profusely for my lack of presence, but it's been half-term week and I've had places to go and people (well... person) to see.
So, Thursday was a *cough* eventful day, which ended with a pen-shaped indent in my finger, a notebook filled with messy scrawlings and a migraine... Worth it. The things we do for you!
So, being the Cassanova he is, Tom suggested we go to The R Word (The F Word... Get it?) - an anti-racism debate being held at The MAC in Birmingham. In the studio, there was a long table in the middle, with around 20 people seated at it, and a number of chairs surrounding the table for visitors to sit in. The idea of this layout was that during the debate, if you wanted to speak, you would go up to someone who was sitting at the table, tap them on the shoulder and swap places with them.
I entered the room slightly naïve and blissfully unaware of many social and economic issues others face. However, I did realise that a lot of the discrimination people of ethnic backgrounds receive in this country links in to the abuse women get too. Discrimination is discrimination, regardless of who is on the receiving end of it. Despite the fact I was born in this country, I can't go a week without being called a derogatory term due to my Romany gypsy ancestry or the fact that women are often second class citizens in some aspects of their culture (which may be my family's, but not my own). The result of the discussions were promising, if not a bit full on for a Thursday night, but a lot of it needed to be said.
One thing I definitely did notice is that people (the younger generation in particular) are told to "just chill out" too often, even though they're trying to make a difference. Why should people sit down, shut up and accept it? Why should people adopt such a sense of 21st Century cynicism, like nothing they do will be of any help? Why are people so passive, are they uneducated as to how to help? Truth is, there's only so much preaching you can do until people stop giving a shit. Young people - future voters - need to take a stand. They need to understand that welcoming people into your world and being generally friendly can be helpful when it comes to dispelling any misconceptions people may have of you. Show them you're better than that. But at the same time, something needs to be done on the larger scale of things. Being nice doesn't always work.
"There are worse things in the world...",
"You should take it as a compliment",
"I think you need to chill out".
Why should we take abuse and excuse it? Why should we take it as 'banter?'
Yes, there's having a laugh, but not all of it is an innocent joke. Entertainment often means that people have to give up their morals in order to be socially accepted, humorously appreciated or financially stable. It's the same regardless of which group it is aimed at, whether it's sexist, racist, homophobic etc.
So how do we make a change? Ladies, gentlemen, I need you to be rebellious and stop rolling around in the pools of hatred you grew up in. Hatred is taught, not inherited. However, hate is so much easier to feel. We need to teach love and tolerance and acceptance before it's too late. Change starts within a community, hostility melts with conversation and education; the end to discrimination will start off small and gradually expand. This blog is my own way of making a small change. With younger people getting involved more-so in politics than possibly ever before, can older people's ideas be challenged - can a leopard ever change it's spots?
You're a human being before you're a man/woman, and you're a man/woman before you're a member of a race or religion. Be humane.
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