Something that has become noticeable to me throughout my life, is the importance that is placed upon ones heritage. Everyone is proud to show there colors off. Whether its ethnic, racial or national pride, people love to fly there colors for all to see.
I used to proclaim my pride for my heritage to, like many of us do. Canadian, and of Metis origin, I had 2 things to seemingly be “proud” of.
But as I have moved on and learned more, I have come to the realization that such pride is not as harmless as I (and its believers), think it is.
The first thing I want to mention, is the seemingly obvious (yet unseen) bias often perpetuated by believers of various forms of ethnic pride, against one form of such pride. The form of pride that is looked DOWN upon, is White pride.
One can have a pride parade, or otherwise show off, for pretty much any ethnicity, and its not considered offensive. But if one puts on a White pride parade, the claws come out. Even those whom are white, often use the word “racist!” right off the bat.
Though “White Pride” does have a bad name from its past usage, showing pride for there WHITE heritage is no different then showing pride for any other back ground. AKA, if you see no problem with being openly proud of your heritage, you can not be intolerant of another of a different heritage, doing the same.
Moving on, one of the bigger problems of racial pride, is the “were better then ________” attitude that sometimes accompanies the mindset.
Being in a city with a lot of immigration, I get to see this a lot first hand. In fact, one of the most racist people that I ever met, was an African American kid I worked with at a job for awhile. I do not fully blame the kid for such views, knowing that a BIG part of who we are is our parents.
But it goes to show, that pride of an uncontrollable aspect of ones life often results in friction. Its not hard to spot this when you look anywhere in the world.
When it comes to bullying, a big reason why I see it happening, is societies tendency to keep people in groups.
Parents start the process, by passing on there personal beliefs, whether they know they are an influence or not. But also, industry does it, right from an early age. In high school especially, cliques are important. Being in the right one, not being in the wrong one, and CERTAINLY not being OUTSIDE of one. Though cliques create friction in schools, they also sell a whole lot of clothing and accessories, for the companies that make the products in that category.
Though A&F is most vocal in terms of having a clique as its main source of cash flow, they are all the same.
Then when people grow up, the same mentality remains, only the cliques change. The US is dominated and being torn apart by cliques.
Though industry driven grouping and personal pride in heritage are 2 seemingly different things, they are one in the same, in that they divide us. They keep us distracted and infighting, and keep our eyes off of the bigger problems. The people selling our future off for a short term profit.
We must celebrate the things that make us human, the same. Not the things that divide us.
A Raindrop In The Ocean 