Feature Image source: https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/i/intolerance.asp
We live in a world of anarchy where racism, police brutality, animal cruelty and social unrest are just some of the realities we are seeing in front of us.
I consider myself to be quite a sensitive person. More often than not, I try to put myself in the shoes of others to try and understand their perspective, sometimes to the detriment of my own mental well being. There is so much to learn from everyone’s life story that it just comes naturally to me. Whether we like what we learn or not, its a lesson nonetheless. There are so many different perspectives out in the world that sometimes, it does you a whole lot of good to step out of your skin and see a new side of things. By and large, I’ve always lived by a rule, albeit unconsciously – always respect everyone’s views, their way of life, their practices, however different they may be from you, even if you may not agree with them. Because everyone has a right to their opinions. Everyone has a right to live the way they want to and believe what they wish to. In fact, I considered this to be a common social practice which I usually termed as “tolerance or equality”. It turns out, I am among the extremely few people in this world who thinks in this manner. I say few because I have hopes there are others in this world, however remote, that do think like me. However, in today’s world, increasingly, I see intolerance and I feel deeply uncomfortable with what I see.
The classic definition of intolerance, as per oxford dictionary is “unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one’s own“.
As human beings, we are genetically programmed to have an opinion on almost anything we see or hear. Some opinions are followed by actions. These opinions/actions are usually immediately qualified as either good or bad based on the moral compass that society dictates everyone to follow. What intrigues me most is how the human mind processes what is good or bad. How is it that some things which in my mind seem bad, may be good for others and vice versa? This is what we know today as a “difference of opinion”. When you add in the total population of this world, with their own cultures and backgrounds, you compound the effect of this difference to an infinite degree. In a perfect world, this difference of opinion, nurtured by tolerance, should be what keeps the world balanced. That, in my mind, is true democracy. When there is intolerance, this difference of opinion cripples the whole world. That is what we are seeing today with the increasing number of cases on blatant racism in US. All 50 states are now participating in protests over the racism that the African Americans are facing here. On top of that, we hear about a case in India where humans brutally murdered a pregnant elephant by stuffing a pineapple with fire crackers and letting her eat it. Really? How low can humans stoop? Was it not enough that we deforest and industrialize every piece of land that they call home, poach them for their skin or tusks for money that now we start to kill them just for fun? A pregnant elephant that too! So we killed not just one life but two! I feel ashamed. Then I see horrific videos of how the police are handling peaceful protesters. A 75 year old man was shoved by two policemen. He fell back and hit his head on the pavement and blood streams out and one police officer even moves towards him to help but another officer stops him. Is there no human decency? I wont even talk about George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the countless other African Americans who were killed without any just cause.
I have to admit. I am no saint. There have been times where I have thought that I’m unsafe in a Detroit neighborhood because of its history, whether it was a predominantly African American neighborhood or even a Hispanic neighborhood. I have judged someone based on their tattoos and dressing style as well. I have judged people from India as well based on characteristics not under their control. But I have never resorted to extreme measures of trying to exert any privilege over them or establish myself as better than them in any respect. The case of Amy Cooper and her dog comes to mind as I write this. She exerted her privilege of being able to call a cop on an African American man solely because she knew of the history that African Americans have with the police. I am guilty in my own way and I feel terrible in the wake of recent events. I am not white and I do not hide under the cover of white privilege. If anything, I myself have felt discriminated against by both White Americans and African Americans. But I need to do better myself.
As I said in the beginning, I always try to put myself in other’s shoes. While we say that white privilege is destroying the country, it doesn’t mean all white people are bad. There are so many out there who are themselves ashamed of what we have become. They are participating in protests with everyone else, even sheriffs and police themselves. While some videos clearly show the terrible racism that the police department have shown, there may be cases where their action would have been justified but now because of some bad police, all police will suffer from a bad reputation. This may even lead to some real criminals escaping. Similarly, there can be some African Americans who may actually break the law in some manner but that doesn’t mean all African Americans should be perceived in that manner. No one side is better than the other.
With such social unrest all over the world, there is one major contributor to the chaos – media. More and more, I have developed a distaste for news and media outlets that cover current affairs. While they are a prime source of information, almost all media outlets are biased towards one side or the other. Even before you have had a chance to form your own opinion, they paint a picture so vividly biased towards one side or the other that they have pretty much steered your mind towards that direction without even given you a chance to process what you saw/heard. Very few, if at all, sources exist who give you the news, without any sentiment/opinion attached to it. Media is powerful enough to calm people’s nerves and help the government bring order to the madness. But in this case, neither the government nor the media is capable of such a task.
Having talked about the current social unrest, I can’t help but wonder if all this is just a side effect of the whole world still reeling from the effects of the terrible covid-19 spread. Every country has had or is still dealing with countless deaths and a shift in life as we know it. There is constant fear for life coupled with many countries facing an economic collapse and some even reaching milestone unemployment rates. These conditions, coupled with having been cooped up in their houses with no where to go for almost 3 months now, must have added to the frustrations of everyone. People must have been looking for an outlet and the bubble just burst with George Floyd’s murder. Without caring about social distancing, people have put on masks and have left their homes to gather in protests, some peaceful and some not so much, all over the world to show their solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement. On the one hand, I feel proud that people of all races and backgrounds are banding together to stand up for a common cause. On the other hand, I can’t help but notice that this will all subside and even go “back to the usual” because that’s just how things are now. The concept of tolerance and equality is borderline Utopian now. Maybe someday it will be a reality, but for today, we fight for equality and fight to end divisive politics.
Musings of a confused nut! 