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How Big a Bigot Am L....a Big One, a Little One, Not One?
By lindamuralidharan on 2015-09-25 22:58:25
Probably for me the answer to the title question is "all three" depending somewhat on which group we are talking about and
on what stage of my life we refer to. [caption id="attachment_7576" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
cars in contemporary
Cubal[/caption] I began writing on the topic as I thought about an ongoing puzzle I think about often. I still don't "get" how
many people continue acting on various biases and stereotyping of people in groups other than their own. I got to really
grinding the grey matter over why I hear so very much negative commenting on Iran. Do you hear that about Paraguay?
About Thailand? About Ethiopia? For just one recent instance, it was reported that a lot of people in the US are complaining
that Iran is a great threat to Arab states and Israel because of their gigantic military establishment. Well, the fact is that the
rich oil states of the Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, and Israel have armies, weapons, air force capacity that is much,
much larger than that of Iran. And, Iran's equipment is way outmoded because they cannot upgrade with sanctions in place.
[caption id="attachment_7577" align="alignleft" width="534"]
: a Late Shah of Iran and family[/caption] It
is rather scary for domestic air travelers in Iran because the planes are old models and no replacement parts can be brought
in to the country because the US has sponsored import bans of various kinds long before the current more highly publicized
sanctions. The Iranian planes bring to mind the 1950's cars that are representative of the Cuban barricade. Sure, some
people fall victim to propaganda and false or limited news reporting and don't do any independent research of thinking of
their own on a given subject. And, Okay, I myself know about scientific breakthroughs that can identify ways we humans
are "hard wired" to categorize people and to be wary of differences. It all makes sense in evolutionary terms. [caption
id="attachment_7578" align="alignright" width="188"] “WTranian President Rouhani[/caption] In
a primitive situation...say certain early humans were living in actual caves with their cooking fires just outside the entrance.
If a strange looking group of people approached, they needed to detect friend from foe. Friend might be quite welcome.
Foe might intend to rush the cave and take supplies of food or hunting equipment or even be intent on stealing or harming
some of the children playing near by. Quick thinking would require precautionary measures in the face of Other humans not
recognized as friendly...rush in to the cave to defend the supplies, place the women and children safely in the back of the
cave, grab clubs or spears or whatever might be used for defense. The sad fact is we don't need these harsh evaluations in
modern life. A group of Jewish friends is not going to rush a family of Mormons sightseeing at the Stature of Liberty.
People of Latino descent are not going to make an effort at a violent take over of Albuquerque...or Des Moines. Afghans as
such have no hostile intents towards Americans unless they happen to belong to the religious subgroups that want to
dislodge the current secular government which the US is defending. And, my goodness gracious, neither LGBT activists nor
Afro American lobbying groups intend to kidnap your kids or appropriate your private property by force. There is enough
time in modern life to distinguish friend from foe....outside of dark alleys which are places you may want to avoid anyway. I
personally have prejudice...or some kind of instant revulsion toward certain groups. In a couple of cases this regards
religion. The issue is pretty much any group that is doctrinaire and inclined to proselytize. With effort, though, I can
carefully adjust my prejudices of this type so that I really only want to oppose the actual negative behaviors, if any, and I
have the ability to be close friends with people belonging to groups that I have to work at understanding and in many cases,
whose beliefs I deeply resent. I really see my friends as individuals and we often just don't discuss areas of fundamental
disagreement or faith. All this is probably my "little" bigotry. I also have "soft" or "little" bigotry towards the Latino
culture....and that can ooze into automatic thoughts about individuals with Hispanic sir names ( unless they are a good
offensive player for the New York Giants!). I really need to check myself all too often in this regard. I think of the Catholic
church's tendency to justify subjugation of women, the machismo of the South or Central American tradition, the ease with
which some Catholics seem to be able to commit sins and then rush off to confession, the complicity of the Church in the
excesses of South American dictators and military rule. Some of this is a bit outmoded today. And I certainly will fall back
on the classic justification of the bigot. Yes, I have been very comfortable around numerous people of Hispanic heritage and
delighted in them as individuals. These experiences perhaps do not reflect a real justification on my part but rather the
helpful mechanisms that have led me to rid myself of stereotypes about members of this culture. I need to work at it, but I
harbor no ill will, no wish to discriminate, no wish to generalize or lump all Hispanics in to one generalization. I have
worked at it and retain an awareness that I need to be on guard, but I no longer have active prejudice towards Latinos. My
true bigotry applies to one ethnic group I shall not name. I still have to say I am prejudiced toward that group despite the
fact that I have met or see in public life members of that group who have excellent characteristics and are really good people
to interact with. I am a real work in progress when it comes to being completely open minded about members of that group.
I work to counter my hard wiring, my environmental influences that want us to think that "white" anything is superior to
"black anything and to deal with limited information I may have about a country or group of humans who are different from
me. For example, I thoroughly disagree with some of the Mormon doctrine such as the man being the head of the
household and the historic concept of polygamy (what, no polyandry?), the struggle women have to acquire a role in the
church hierarchy, and the encouragement of large families in an overpopulated world. It often is a challenge not to confuse
the distaste for the philosophy with distaste for the believer. At the same time, over the years I have had an open mind in
getting to know Mormon neighbors of mine. I truly respect some of the solid family values that are practiced by so many.
And I give a little teeny, teeny, tiny credit to the institution itself for finally allowing blacks as full members and beginning
to let women have a few larger roles in the church's operations. It is all a question of my addressing Mormon individuals as
just that: individuals. [caption id="attachment_7579" align="alignright" width="600"]
. ; " ! | - = ety =, | - Te
a a : ive Contemporary Iranian
Family[/caption] The question I am raising is why more people don't work hard at overcoming their own biases..especially
now that they know it is not a human failing but a human strength that has just become obsolete with changes in society. I
suppose there is a certain amount of brain chemistry involved. We are.. after all..pretty much just a bunch of chemical and
electrical charges when it comes to our brains and our behaviors. (This does not eliminate the fact of such mysteries as a
concept of "soul" or spiritual cravings or spiritual experiences or the wonder of human variety and ingenuity, etc.) I was
definitely on the young side (maybe 9? or 11? years old) when I noted how fascinated I was by the backs of the New York
City slums you could see as you rode by in the train on the way to see a New York Yankee game with my family. These
places were grimy, crowded, homes for poor people, many black. Why was I so drawn to these scenes? Was it brain
chemistry? I might have been influenced by the Christian Sunday school I went to, but then millions go to Christian
churches and then turn a blind eye to the poor and the homeless, the people of color...and even work to keep in place or
implement policies that contribute to poverty and discrimination. I cannot tell why I was different from an early age. By
high school I had chosen as my senior thesis a paper on Gunnar Myrdal's American Dilemma, a book about the
contradictions between our American ideals and our race policies in America. Brain chemistry or environment? I did spend
my childhood summers with my beloved Southern, segregationist white relatives who had all kinds of personal relationships
with the black persons whom they exploited on the cotton and tobacco farms. Since then, of course, I have had to work very
hard to understand and be tolerant of groups like Latinos, African Americans from walks of life different from mine,
Mormons, Amish, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Afghans, Iraqis, Arabs, Muslims, Evangelicals, Russians and other East Europeans,
Micronesians, Bible Belt people outside my clan, and the list goes on and on. I just don't get why more people don't follow
that path. I know also that many do. Many teachers, for example, utilize material on Teaching Tolerance from a group like
the Southern Poverty Law Center. Check out www.teachingtolerance.org for yourself. Some churches....particularly the
Unitarian/Universalist denomination conduct all kinds of multi-cultual projects for their congregants. However,it also seems
like many resist these involvements. It seems like many push back, waaaay back, (as we used to chant at our high school
football games) and repeat and preach bias and stereotyping. Additionally it seems that media and entertainment fields like
to profit from this negativity. [caption id="attachment_7580" align="alignright" width="600"]
Quds Unit..Iran's "Special
Forces"[/caption] As the Cold War wound down, for example, Hollywood began to shift villains from so called
"Communist" or Russian bad guys to Arab bad guys. On what basis, I don't actually know, but I guess ignorance and
prejudice are the spark. Or brain chemistry? Two big things I want to mention in terms of how twisted the thinking can
become if you do not choose to search your soul for honest understanding of individuals as separate from their stereotypes.
Presidential candidate Ben Carson keeps talking about Muslims not being suitable for the presidency. We don't have one
running against him right now so I'm not sure how it matters even in the world of bigotry. Why doesn't he want a Muslim?
Guilt by association, I guess, since there are some very anti-democratic and violent individuals within some of the minority
subsects of Islam. Still I wonder if he means the type of Muslims who...like so many Christians...are raised in a home of
faith but as adults do not practice that faith except to go to a mosque (or church as the case may be) once or twice a year to
please their mothers or does Carson mean any Muslim who says he believes in the faith and prays five times a day? Carson
says he doesn't want a Muslim (or anybody) who doesn't believe in our Constitution and the separation of church and state
and yet he loudly proclaims his own faith and claims we are a country beholden to the tenets of the Judaeo/Christian
traditions and he himself...along with a host of other supposedly legitimate national and regional politicians....claim the
Bible tells him how to vote. Carson also says that Islam insists on government by theocracy. Well the millions of Muslims
in India are okay with a secular government. On the other hand, Israel which is supported by Carson, functions in many
ways like a theocracy and a good number of its citizens wish it were literally. Does Ben Carson wish to bar Jewish
Americans from the presidency? Next, Iran. I am not familiar with much of went on in Iran before the US manipulated the
overthrow of the legitimately elected Mohammed Mosaddegh. He was not a great democrat but he was elected, he wanted
the oil revenues for the Iranians and not for colonial powers, and he was an improvement on the usual Mideast dictators or
sell outs to foreign oil interests. So some Iranians over the years held that against us...as I do. Then we propped up the
vicious Shah. In some ways he did good in modernizing Iran but there was no outlet for dissent except through super
religious mosques. We ignored the the unrest among the people going on right under our noses, and they had a nasty
revolution with the help of those extremist imams who had given shelter to their protests. The imams were rewarded with
great power. Since then, the US government seems to treat Iran as an enemy. Who knows why? I don't get it. Yes, they
took hostages, but there are people in Afghanistan who have killed many Americans and try to kill more, but we say we are
friends with Afghanistan. And the hostage taking was ages back and not one of them was killed. The Iranian theocracy is
absurd as most any theocracy is and is definitely autocratic which I abhor. There are some elections with the ayatollahs
limiting who can run but there is still scope for a lot of popular sentiment to be reflected in these limited elections. In Iran
the people as a whole thrive, and education is valued including for women. Many countries from places like Uganda to
Myanmar to Saudi Arabia have ugly repressive policies toward women or minorities or opposition leaders and yet we have
diplomatic ties with most of them and even cheer lead for some. What is wrong with Iran (in the minds of the people who
say they are our enemy)? Iran has not attacked any other country in our life time and has no plans to attack us or Israel...the
stupid rhetoric of a few Iranian leaders to the contrary...since they are few indeed and rhetoric is not action. We ourselves
have our hawks talking all the time about a war on Iran from our side, but there is not much interest in that in our body
politic, and the current administration will not fall for that nonsense the way so many Democrats and Republicans did with
regard to Afghanistan and Iraq. [caption id="attachment_7581" align="alignright" width="300"]
tke Iranian Quds in Syria[/caption] Okay, Okay, I have to add some caveats. In
the last half of the last century Iran did physically take over two islands in the Gulf. When the Shah was in power. And
yes...under the same regime and with the encouragement of the US, Iran did plan to build a nuclear bomb. It set up funding
at MIT to pay for the training of Iranian scientists in nuclear bomb development. So when I say Iran had never attacked
another country or planned to make an actual bomb (which is different from planning to have the capacity in case of attack
from out side), I mean Iran has not done these things except when it was serving as the puppet of the US. Let us return to the
subject of prejudice and stereotyping. There was tremendous prejudice against Iraqis (during the height of the Iraq War),
against Arabs, against Muslims, and to some extent there still is. There seems to be a whole lot of prejudice against Iran
now, and I am not sure what the average American thinks about individual Iranian citizens. I guess they don't think much of
them or they would be marching in the streets to be sure we don't bomb them and to insist on using other means to work out
differences of opinion. I wonder if Americans as a whole know that Iranians are not Arab? [caption id="attachment_7582"
align="aligncenter" width="362"] Magazine called "Teaching
Tolerance"[/caption] People do seem to accept out of whole cloth the idea that Iran is in the process of building nuclear
weapons. However, anybody who tries to take the time to really study Iranian politics and policies over the last two decades
will discover...as indicated above....that the story is not that simple. In fact, hawks have been claiming for decades that Iran
is amere matter of months away from having a weapon. I think sometimes some Iranian leaders were glad for their enemies
to believe that but it was not true and was certainly debunked at the time by responsible intelligence factions in the US and
Israel. And here we go again, with Israel and the US continually threatening to attack them so you can imagine they need to
have some realistic defensive plans. Wouldn't you in their place? [caption id="attachment_7583" align="alignleft"
width="300"]) . Talesh family in Iran[/caption] I suggest that people of good
faith and with a sincere interest ina a less violent world check the official words of both Democrats and Republicans alike.
The facts are strangely different from much of what we hear although there can be a grain of truth in all the propaganda. I
presume much of the prejudice individuals harbor towards Iranians or any Middle Eastern country has something to do with
the barrage of propaganda coming from many different sources. A friend of mine claims that Iran is the biggest sponsor of
terrorism in the world. When I asked him where and what are the dollar amounts, he absolutely could not...in fact he just
changed the subject. [caption id="attachment_7584" align="alignright" width="300"]
Iranian family in Tehran[/caption] I know how hard it is. I have to work at
addressing my own prejudices life long. I am making progress in being less prejudiced against that one ethnic group I
mentioned but won't name. I choose to seek encounters with new and different groups that receive a lot of negative
attention....the Micronesians here in Hawaii, for instance.....and then I look into the situation to find the facts. Of course, the
Micronesians are no more perfidious or lazy as a group than anybody else. They do arrive here in great numbers ill prepared
for urban, industrial living, and many know little English. I believe that with time and the assistance other immigrant groups
have received in the past (plus many exhibit the ability to work hard) Micronesians will eventually integrate very well into
our society. Especially if we do not pre-judge them.
