Non-witty subject. (See paragraph 3.)
My sleep cycle has been really inconsistent as of late. Which is why I'm writing at this hour. Plus there's a...let's call it derived from a harvest festival outside my home (literally on my doorstep) this weekend and for at least the last hour (I started this entry at about 5:50 AM) all I could hear was a street sweeper (which normally runs two nights a week, this night not being one of them) going back and forth. Of course now that I fire up the laptop and start writing I can't hear it. Sigh.
This isn't about my sleeping, or lack thereof. Or jobs, which I'm a tired of writing about. I'd like to have one already.
I've had some things on my mind lately and nobody to talk about them with. (Racism, privilege, pronouns, and a hint about slut shaming in a future post.)
I've been thinking back to when I was younger, in particular when I was in sixth grade as what's when I remember a couple of things happening for the first time. That's when it's stuck in my mind that I first learned about slavery and privilege. I realized that I was born in to privilege and that as such I was probably not ever going to see the darker side to not having privilege myself. When I learned about slavery and what humans had done to each other I was dismayed. I remember vowing to myself that I would not treat other people that way. I would treat others fairly and without hate. Treating someone different for something they couldn't control, like racial heritage seemed really dumb to me. Which is why I never really got so many types of discrimination. Why hate a person because they are different? Especially if if doesn't directly impact you. In retrospect maybe I was the only one who heard about these terrible things we did to each other and thought it was awful and that I would strive to be better than those people in the past. I wonder now, how my classmates responded in their heads? Did they care? Did they want to be better than our ancestors? Were any of them harbouring hate?
There was a time I hung out for a little while with one of my neighbours and he said some of the most racist things I've heard in a long time. Seeing it really disappointed me. Being in the company of a few of his friends who seemed to share his feelings I mostly stayed silent on the subject. It seemed to me as though their opinions had been molded by outside sources, including the media, about what people from other parts of the world are like. He used discriminatory slang that I didn't like--and am not keen to repeat as it's oppressive language--presumably because somehow he thought it was okay. I very much got the sense he didn't think about them as real people or that they have feelings muchless consider any of the factors that would account for our differences. He's not that kind of person. No idea if the marijuana made any difference.
Even as he'd say awful things about a group of people he then got to start talking about someone of the racial group he was badmouthing that worked at a nearby store that he seemed to like enough and think was okay. He talked enough about that good person while continuing to put down the rest of the people of that same ethnic group without realizing that more people may be like this guy from the store that he seemed to think was alright instead of being terrible people with malicious intent. That his preconceptions may be wrong and that most of the people of that ethnic group may actually be good decent people instead of bad people.
I do think the news had a fair bit to do with his preconceptions. It certainly didn't do anything to show that ethnic group in a positive light. It didn't do pieces on how they aren't as horrible as they constantly get made out to be. It's just that the media only talks about the people in that ethnic group that give the entire group a bad name. Which is because all the news seems to really do is focus on the negative and if that's your primary source of information about the world and what's going on in it including other countries, you're bound to wind up with a pretty jaded point of view. This guy isn't a thinker, he's not into bigger picture stuff, he doesn't consider that others may be different, he comes off as much more in the moment. Much more short term, tiny picture. Those may well be relevant factors. It seemed to me that he was easily swayed by outside sources, someone who tends more to believe what they hear without questioning it or validating that the information is even correct before swallowing it whole.
When I learned about privilege, by way of the women's equality/women's rights and slavery lessons in history and how they don't earn the same amount of money compared to white men, I resolved that if I was in a position to determine salary that anyone I employed would be treated equally in that regard. I wouldn't pay a person less just because they were born with different sexual organs or due to their ancestry, sexual orientation or anything else. At the time this was initially based on things I perceived as being beyond the person's control as it seemed that most types of discrimination were based on factors the individual couldn't change. Initially I had in mind more of a flat pay, where a particular job would pay the same for any person that occupied the role. Which was an oversimplified solution. It does make more business sense to have tiers you could establish so that you use the tier most appropriate based on experience. There would be wisdom in providing additional guidelines to ensure the correct tier is used, perhaps some requirements even to prevent abuse. Experience being the real consideration and not any other measure where discrimination may occur.
Every company that discourages or has a policy outright forbidding talking about your pay with co-workers seems to contribute to this continuing to be a problem instead of helping to improve the situation through transparency. Transparency can lead to outrage which can lead to change. It's happened before. Without that transparency it's another way for the company to exert control, or power (more on that in a second) over what can amount to an oppressive mechanism to keep people from social progress. Instead helping to keep certain groups relegated to a place in society. Doesn't that seem unethical? Everyone should have an opportunity to be be better. If they start from humble beginnings they should have an equal chance to improve their situation in society.
I remember being shocked that women weren't treated equally. We are all humans after all. I was dismayed that women participate in the workforce but are not valued as equals to men. It struck me as so unfair. Really, any time I heard about one party dominating another I was disappointed. I wanted to believe the best in people. Seeing that we have been so terrible, and still continue to be so really disappoints me. I know I keep saying that but it really does sadden me.
Maybe it's about power? Is that at the heart of why people discriminate and why privilege is even a thing? I get that power is something humanity has long been so interested in based on how civilization has changed over time, but is trying to retain power something people have been so intent on doing that they were willing to let civilization evolve in such a way that it means less than ideal treatmen of your fellow humans? It seems like such a short-term view (I know humans view the future as being like a foreign country they will never visit) that's harmful for all of us in the long-term. Of course you're more likely to realize that if you're actually thinking about the long-term, or someone you know/trust is talking about it to/with you.
Thinking back I also remembered that in my head until about sixth grade I found myself predominately using gender neutral pronouns to refer to people. I don't remember why I did that. Why I was so hesitant to use the typical pronouns. Was I afraid of something? I don't know. As I recall it was that year when I finally gave in and let myself start using the more common pronouns that everyone else seemed to be using when thinking about things/people in my head.
I can recall being on the playground in kindegarten and being so hesitant to use pronouns in my head. I was in front of the school (a brick one, with two classrooms, basically split vertically down the center of the building) inside the wooden fence on the right side (if facing the front of the building) between it and the swingset. As I recall the thought in question had something to do with a girl but I'll be if I have any recollection what or why that was (maybe what she was doing or had said...?), just that I was so on the fence, so to speak, as to whether or not to use female pronouns or not. (That would've been around age five if I'm not mistaken.)
Lately I've also been thinking about slut shaming (Insert disappointment with humanity here. Sigh.) and want to write about that but right now doesn't feel like quite the right time for that. I think I may seek out more reading materials on the subject, I've barely done more than glance at the tip of the iceberg through a looking glass from quite some distance away. I started talking a little about it with a friend the other day and I just keep returning to a line they said and I keep getting hung up on the feeling that it was an oversimplification and that the matter is much more complex. I have faith my friend knows that. I want to be able to properly articulate on the matter. Besides, some of the things that have been rolling around my mind on the subject have probably come up before. I can't really be the first to think such thoughts. More on that later.
This isn't about my sleeping, or lack thereof. Or jobs, which I'm a tired of writing about. I'd like to have one already.
I've had some things on my mind lately and nobody to talk about them with. (Racism, privilege, pronouns, and a hint about slut shaming in a future post.)
I've been thinking back to when I was younger, in particular when I was in sixth grade as what's when I remember a couple of things happening for the first time. That's when it's stuck in my mind that I first learned about slavery and privilege. I realized that I was born in to privilege and that as such I was probably not ever going to see the darker side to not having privilege myself. When I learned about slavery and what humans had done to each other I was dismayed. I remember vowing to myself that I would not treat other people that way. I would treat others fairly and without hate. Treating someone different for something they couldn't control, like racial heritage seemed really dumb to me. Which is why I never really got so many types of discrimination. Why hate a person because they are different? Especially if if doesn't directly impact you. In retrospect maybe I was the only one who heard about these terrible things we did to each other and thought it was awful and that I would strive to be better than those people in the past. I wonder now, how my classmates responded in their heads? Did they care? Did they want to be better than our ancestors? Were any of them harbouring hate?
There was a time I hung out for a little while with one of my neighbours and he said some of the most racist things I've heard in a long time. Seeing it really disappointed me. Being in the company of a few of his friends who seemed to share his feelings I mostly stayed silent on the subject. It seemed to me as though their opinions had been molded by outside sources, including the media, about what people from other parts of the world are like. He used discriminatory slang that I didn't like--and am not keen to repeat as it's oppressive language--presumably because somehow he thought it was okay. I very much got the sense he didn't think about them as real people or that they have feelings muchless consider any of the factors that would account for our differences. He's not that kind of person. No idea if the marijuana made any difference.
Even as he'd say awful things about a group of people he then got to start talking about someone of the racial group he was badmouthing that worked at a nearby store that he seemed to like enough and think was okay. He talked enough about that good person while continuing to put down the rest of the people of that same ethnic group without realizing that more people may be like this guy from the store that he seemed to think was alright instead of being terrible people with malicious intent. That his preconceptions may be wrong and that most of the people of that ethnic group may actually be good decent people instead of bad people.
I do think the news had a fair bit to do with his preconceptions. It certainly didn't do anything to show that ethnic group in a positive light. It didn't do pieces on how they aren't as horrible as they constantly get made out to be. It's just that the media only talks about the people in that ethnic group that give the entire group a bad name. Which is because all the news seems to really do is focus on the negative and if that's your primary source of information about the world and what's going on in it including other countries, you're bound to wind up with a pretty jaded point of view. This guy isn't a thinker, he's not into bigger picture stuff, he doesn't consider that others may be different, he comes off as much more in the moment. Much more short term, tiny picture. Those may well be relevant factors. It seemed to me that he was easily swayed by outside sources, someone who tends more to believe what they hear without questioning it or validating that the information is even correct before swallowing it whole.
When I learned about privilege, by way of the women's equality/women's rights and slavery lessons in history and how they don't earn the same amount of money compared to white men, I resolved that if I was in a position to determine salary that anyone I employed would be treated equally in that regard. I wouldn't pay a person less just because they were born with different sexual organs or due to their ancestry, sexual orientation or anything else. At the time this was initially based on things I perceived as being beyond the person's control as it seemed that most types of discrimination were based on factors the individual couldn't change. Initially I had in mind more of a flat pay, where a particular job would pay the same for any person that occupied the role. Which was an oversimplified solution. It does make more business sense to have tiers you could establish so that you use the tier most appropriate based on experience. There would be wisdom in providing additional guidelines to ensure the correct tier is used, perhaps some requirements even to prevent abuse. Experience being the real consideration and not any other measure where discrimination may occur.
Every company that discourages or has a policy outright forbidding talking about your pay with co-workers seems to contribute to this continuing to be a problem instead of helping to improve the situation through transparency. Transparency can lead to outrage which can lead to change. It's happened before. Without that transparency it's another way for the company to exert control, or power (more on that in a second) over what can amount to an oppressive mechanism to keep people from social progress. Instead helping to keep certain groups relegated to a place in society. Doesn't that seem unethical? Everyone should have an opportunity to be be better. If they start from humble beginnings they should have an equal chance to improve their situation in society.
I remember being shocked that women weren't treated equally. We are all humans after all. I was dismayed that women participate in the workforce but are not valued as equals to men. It struck me as so unfair. Really, any time I heard about one party dominating another I was disappointed. I wanted to believe the best in people. Seeing that we have been so terrible, and still continue to be so really disappoints me. I know I keep saying that but it really does sadden me.
Maybe it's about power? Is that at the heart of why people discriminate and why privilege is even a thing? I get that power is something humanity has long been so interested in based on how civilization has changed over time, but is trying to retain power something people have been so intent on doing that they were willing to let civilization evolve in such a way that it means less than ideal treatmen of your fellow humans? It seems like such a short-term view (I know humans view the future as being like a foreign country they will never visit) that's harmful for all of us in the long-term. Of course you're more likely to realize that if you're actually thinking about the long-term, or someone you know/trust is talking about it to/with you.
Thinking back I also remembered that in my head until about sixth grade I found myself predominately using gender neutral pronouns to refer to people. I don't remember why I did that. Why I was so hesitant to use the typical pronouns. Was I afraid of something? I don't know. As I recall it was that year when I finally gave in and let myself start using the more common pronouns that everyone else seemed to be using when thinking about things/people in my head.
I can recall being on the playground in kindegarten and being so hesitant to use pronouns in my head. I was in front of the school (a brick one, with two classrooms, basically split vertically down the center of the building) inside the wooden fence on the right side (if facing the front of the building) between it and the swingset. As I recall the thought in question had something to do with a girl but I'll be if I have any recollection what or why that was (maybe what she was doing or had said...?), just that I was so on the fence, so to speak, as to whether or not to use female pronouns or not. (That would've been around age five if I'm not mistaken.)
Lately I've also been thinking about slut shaming (Insert disappointment with humanity here. Sigh.) and want to write about that but right now doesn't feel like quite the right time for that. I think I may seek out more reading materials on the subject, I've barely done more than glance at the tip of the iceberg through a looking glass from quite some distance away. I started talking a little about it with a friend the other day and I just keep returning to a line they said and I keep getting hung up on the feeling that it was an oversimplification and that the matter is much more complex. I have faith my friend knows that. I want to be able to properly articulate on the matter. Besides, some of the things that have been rolling around my mind on the subject have probably come up before. I can't really be the first to think such thoughts. More on that later.