What it should be about
Apr. 29th, 2003 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bronwynrhBack on March 20, I said something about how I hated to hear people spout ignorant crap as if it were fact and then launch themselves into foolhardy diatribes. My advice to those people was this:
Stop. Think. THEN speak.
Better yet. . . Stop. LEARN. Think. Speak.
This has not changed one bit, and the people I told you about yesterday are prima facie examples of why this is legitimate advice.
The couple in the parking lot judged my mother by the car she drove. My mom had seen them in the store, had seen other people in the store and had thought little of the differences between them. Why? Because she believes in the rights of everyone to be and do unto themselves. Not so this couple, apparently. All was pleasantness inside, but once they saw her next to her vehicle, they judged her and decided to berate her.
What were the results of this encounter?
The worst result is that stereotypes were reinforced. The two children who witnessed this learned from their parents that it is ok to judge someone by their appearances alone.
I find that absolutely tragic.
Also tragic? These are the same people who have been promoting peace, discourse and freedom in our community. In a single moment they completely invalidated themselves.
The same lesson stands true for the woman with the shoes and her ideas about status, jobs and charity. The laundry list of assumptions she made regarding my father (indeed, any person working at a nursery) is pretty exhausting. She also has some pretty nauseating ideas about charity.
Again, though, we are brought back to a case of assumptions. This woman came into a situation blinded by all sorts of preconceptions that were wrong. She wasn't just wrong about my father, either. She would have been wrong about pretty much everybody working at this nursery - she just happened to pick my dad for her "charity", and this choice in particular is what makes the story most funny because, outside of the owners, he is the one of the least likely to need any charity.
All of these people subscribe to ideologies - left-leaning or right-leaning - and they have been completely blinded by them. They have become blinded to the point that they are hurtful and their behavior defeats any good intentions they may ever have.
That is the biggest tragedy of all.
Stop. Think. THEN speak.
Better yet. . . Stop. LEARN. Think. Speak.
This has not changed one bit, and the people I told you about yesterday are prima facie examples of why this is legitimate advice.
The couple in the parking lot judged my mother by the car she drove. My mom had seen them in the store, had seen other people in the store and had thought little of the differences between them. Why? Because she believes in the rights of everyone to be and do unto themselves. Not so this couple, apparently. All was pleasantness inside, but once they saw her next to her vehicle, they judged her and decided to berate her.
What were the results of this encounter?
The worst result is that stereotypes were reinforced. The two children who witnessed this learned from their parents that it is ok to judge someone by their appearances alone.
I find that absolutely tragic.
Also tragic? These are the same people who have been promoting peace, discourse and freedom in our community. In a single moment they completely invalidated themselves.
The same lesson stands true for the woman with the shoes and her ideas about status, jobs and charity. The laundry list of assumptions she made regarding my father (indeed, any person working at a nursery) is pretty exhausting. She also has some pretty nauseating ideas about charity.
Again, though, we are brought back to a case of assumptions. This woman came into a situation blinded by all sorts of preconceptions that were wrong. She wasn't just wrong about my father, either. She would have been wrong about pretty much everybody working at this nursery - she just happened to pick my dad for her "charity", and this choice in particular is what makes the story most funny because, outside of the owners, he is the one of the least likely to need any charity.
All of these people subscribe to ideologies - left-leaning or right-leaning - and they have been completely blinded by them. They have become blinded to the point that they are hurtful and their behavior defeats any good intentions they may ever have.
That is the biggest tragedy of all.
