when i decided to start this blog, my motivation wasnt the thirst for argument or conflict, it was to educate and also to be educated....and i will freely admit that reading everyone's comments and reassessing my own, i have been educated; i have realized the error of my ways, and i understand why the statements i made served only to diminish my credibility....in admitting this i wish to humbly retract the points i made and rewrite a piece that i hope reflects the real way i feel...hopefully the amount of thought and genuine emotion i have put into this will be reflected in my writing, and hopefully those i enraged will recognize and appreciate that i am willing to learn from my mistakes and so realize that the point of this is really to bring positive things out of negative situations...the last piece only contributed to the negativity that is the embodiment of the many problems that humanity is now facing.....but i sincerely hope this piece will do what i wanted all along, which is to inspire positive vibes....
society nowadays is faced with a multitude of problems related to the human condition, from the very basic ones such as hunger, poverty and disease, that directly affect physical life and well being, to the ideological and sociocultural issues such as racism, sexism and supression of human rights, which stifle progress and make impossible the task of finding peace and harmony among all human beings. sometimes it is obvious to see those who perpetrate these forms of negativity, and so it is easy to lay blame, but other times we ourselves contribute to the problem even when we do not believe so.....its hard enough when we have to deal with the effects of capitalism and corruption that directly fuel the poverty and disease that is abundant in, but not exclusive to, places such as sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America....but sometimes we all tend to contribute to stereotypes and to pointless arguments of supremacy that only serve to further divide us when we actually need to unite to correct the fundamental issues that plague our society in today's world.....
rather than criticize, i wish to make a plea to all those who perpetrate these stereotypes to wisen up and broaden your views...to men who continue to find stupid excuses to supress women, remember that society can only progress when women are given equal standing, because the male-dominated history of the world, which is tainted by egoistical chauvinism, ignores the tremeandous contributions women have made to the human race even while being severely opressed.....to those women who foolishly antagonize the male-female issue by practicing self-victimization and attempting to trivialize matters of sex and gender, i urge you to follow in the footsteps of the brave people, such as feminists or human rights activists who have fought tirelessly, and continue to fight, for women to have the many increased freedoms they enjoy today and once could not, and not to make this admirable work go in vain as you continue to feed the constructed dichotomy.....to those who continue to judge based on race, i urge you to bear in mind that scientifically, there is more genetic variation within a given race than between the races....to those who criticize the religions and beliefs of others, remember that religions and ideologies are manmade, but the human condition is a tangible existence beyond the realm of religion or ideology.....to those who feel they are of a higher class than another, remember that we all share the same roots, the same strengths and weaknesses, breath the same air, tread the same earth, feel the same pain, have the same basic needs.....
i plead to all those who buy into debates and struggles of superiority and power, to remember one simple thing: the merit of a human being should be measured by the contents of the mind and the stability of the character, traits which do not vary between sexes, or races, or classes, but which vary from person to person regardless of manmade parameters such as previously mentioned.
my point is that it is senseless to fight one another over matters of difference, because when all the layers are stripped away, all we are left with is our humanity, which is shared equally among everyone......
what do you think ?
Diplomatically as always eh? Nice words man! I would have never apologized for the first post though, i mean, if that's how you felt, why worry about the voices of a few. It's good to admit you are wrong and what not, but totally going against what you originally said because of a few HUGE fans of yours objection, makes you look weak. And i'm sure they will enjoy this post because it will be a victory to them. Read the Art of War, I hear it's a good book.lol
ReplyDeletethanks for your solidarity, but its not about winning or losing, its about education, and i have no issues with admitting being wrong when i am proven to be.....now...having written this piece, let me restate the initial point i was trying to make with the first post...firstly, all credit to the feminist movement and their tireless work to try to earn women the respect and equality which they rightly deserve, i foolishly referred to them in my anger when writing my first post when my issue was not with them directly...my issues were with a small group of women and a handful of situations which i found to be contrary with the notion of equality...and i will illustrate my point with three examples...first: my uncle once had to hire an assistant in his law firm, and he narrowed it down to a boy and a girl; both had the same level of education, both were well spoken and seemed equally good candidates for the job. after careful consideration, my uncle hired the boy. the girl (who is my friend) came to me afterwards and said, "Your uncle is sexist. I didnt get the job because Im a girl." I went to my uncle afterwards and asked him, "uncle, how come u didnt hire my friend and you hired that boy?" he replied to me, "well, they were both great candidates, but the boy has worked as a law assistant before, and the girl hasnt, so I had to hire him because of his experience..."
ReplyDeletesecond: a 17 year old student of presestation college was walking home from school one day when he was confronted by three 16 year old girls from san fernando east junior secondary school. they taunted him and demanded that he give them money. when he refused, they accosted him, slapping him and kicking him while attempting to pull away his school bag. defending himself, the boy fought back and kicked one of the girls in her stomach. a resident of the area (a woman) came out of her house on hearing the commotion just in time to see the boy kicking the girl in her stomach, and called the police. the matter went to juvenile court. the magistrate (who is a woman)scolded the girls and sentenced the boy to 3 months service in the juvenile delinquent centre (YTC), saying that "he should have known better than to kick a girl....". Thirdly, my friends and I (male and female) were shooting a video tribute to a mutual friend who had just graduated. we had devised a skit that had me playing a talk show host interviewing a celebrity couple (my two friends, who are boyfriend and girlfriend). several takes revealed that girlfriend was unable to speak her mind because she was a bit camera shy and was not good at public speaking (which she admitted). the friend who was video-taping (a male) then told the couple that the boyfriend should then do the talking, with the girlfriend just there for support. he was clearly facilitating the girl's shyness, but upon his request, she curtly replied, "Why, because I'm a woman?"
My friends, I do not deny that women have been wronged and mistreated throughout history, I do not deny that many women are not hired for jobs they deserve simply because they are women; i acknowledge that that millions of women are victims of domestic and other types of violence perpetrated by men on a daily basis, and i readily admit that many men continue to subjectify women to specific roles because of unfair notions of male supremacy...the point i am trying to make is that, in the struggle for equality, situations as i have described above, although admittedly random and highly situational, do not help the equality struggle any little bit...women have every reason to fight fot their rights, but must be careful not to turn every single situation into a male-female conflict issue, because ultimately this way of thinking is an anti-thesis to the problem at at hand......