Discriminate? You? Them? Pshaw...

Mr. Curtis keeps talking about discrimination in class, but, sadly, we never have time to get too in depth about it. I really wish we would though, because it's a freaking HUGE issue.

Let us see. One of the things I hear most often at school: "That's gay!" "You're so gay!"
Let us evaluate this: 1) What do these people have of experience that lets them think this is okay? Besides, of course, all of the other people they know? Um... mostly... nothing from true experience.
2) Now, experience aside, even if you haven't met any LGBT people, what makes the people who say such things believe that "gay" is negative and derogatory? I'd say, background -- people, religion, etc.
3) Why is being gay such a bad thing? Is it somehow threatening to the people who say this? Or do they use it because they believe that it puts them above other people?
(So, you can see, I'm pretty much interested in what the people who use this has to say about it.)
4) What makes being gay a "bad" thing? My position: nothing. "Gay" has always been used as "merry" or "happiness", until, well, now. And goodness, I'm nothing against happiness. Isn't that what our country's about? "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

And with that "all men are created equal", it brings me to my next topic. Sexism.
Another common thing: "You act like a girl!" "Be a man!"
Evaluate: 1) We hear these things all of the time in our life. Sandlot: "You play ball like a girl!" Followed by shocked silence at that insult to rise above all others. Um... hello?
2) Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it. There's tons of people out there who's families are "traditional" with the father working and the mother staying at home to cook, clean, and raise children, which I have nothing against. BUT I always hear guys saying "I wanna become a _____ and I'm gonna have a stay-at-home-wife." PET PEEVE. Buddy, not your choice to make. This belief that may not be so strongly held NOW that men are superior to women and that women are "property" still influences us NOW. (If anyone's reading from somewhere other than my US of A, it may not be the same for you... for any of this, but I'm speaking from what I've observed.) Back in "the day", women were considered property, and the women had nothing... as were children, so suggests the bible, that they were only worth money... but I am NOT going to get myself into a major religious debate because I will not ever shut up if that happens.
(Sorry to guys. I know there's sexism towards guys, but, as a girl, I don't notice it as much.)

The big bad horribly overused racism: Slavery, etc.
Evaluate: 1) OBVIOUSLY the majority that I hear is not in any sense of actuality, racism at all! Peeeeet peeeeeeeeve! "It's because I'm Mexican, right? Racist!" "You like white socks better than black socks? Racist!" First: "Mexican" is not a race. Second: Yeah... I like white socks... socks are not a metaphor for anything...
2) Inequality in toleration (even though NONE should be tolerated!!). (Where first is being the "discriminator") I most often hear "racism" being described as white-black, white-Latino, or white-Asian. I don't usually hear any other combination, though, when I do, people don't take it so "seriously", such as black-Asian. You hear someone from African descent joking about the shape of someone from Asian descent's eyes. It's not usually taken so harshly as the same thing from a white person doing the same (but, this is just what I've noticed, I may be wrong, but in my life, yeah). STOP TOLERATING.
3) Now, now, now. I put the example of "slavery", just because all of my other examples weren't really serious racism. So, my voice on this is: Get the facts and stop making this less serious than it is. Mr Curtis said it, that when people accuse of racism where racism isn't actually present, it just masks the real racism (or ANY form of discrimination) that is going on and IS serious.
For that example of slavery? People were treated unfairly for that! People were killed for their race!

Religious discrimination: Mormons, Jewish, etc
Evaluate: 1)Mormon: Up until 1976 in Missouri it was legal to kill someone because they were Mormon, apparently. Um, yeah, some people might have disagreed with the belief system and religion. But to go so far as to KILL them for it? NO!
2) Holocaust: Sadness to the extreme... sent to concentration mines to work and be killed because the Jewish people were thought to be below everyone else? So wrong.

The organization of all of that might not have made too much sense. But it did in my mind... sometimes stuff in your mind just doesn't come out so well "out loud".


Now, stereotypes, which can be counted as being discrimination in some cases, but not in all. I just have to put the little side note of "stereotype" in here somewhere, and the unfairness that goes along with that PREJUDGEMENT (ooh, vocab).
Nerd. Prep. Goth. Emo. Jock. Gangsta'. Redneck. Ghetto. Druggie. Slut. Tree hugger. Geek. Player... Yeah, I think you get it. I've been labeled "nerd", "prep", and "tree hugger". I don't really mind "nerd" and "tree hugger". I just don't like "prep". BUT, I bet anyone, including myself, who uses the word "prep" doesn't even really know what makes them call someone a "prep" (or "goth", or "pervert", etc).
http://gurl.typepad.com/label_it/

So.
I'M HUMAN, YOU'RE HUMAN. Why don't we just make it as simple as that? <3