racism/ageism/sexism/religion
To me, all those isms are dated terms. I feel that if everyone stopped discriminating based on those factors, the world would be a better, generally happier and smarter place. I think that hatred and negative feelings are universal and natural, even necessary, but to feel negative feelings based on someone's skin color, sex, sexual orientation, age or religion is a choice. I could have made a decision to discriminate. I live in the country, I'm surrounded by hicks in pick-up trucks, I'm white. But I've never seen what the discriminators see in people. I see people, and that's all I see:PEOPLE. Their sex, sexual orientation, race, age and religion are merely something I OBSERVE. I only witness these things. Never have I looked at someone and judged based on these factors. I judge people, yes. But I judge their character, their style, things you can only learn from getting to know somebody. And even with these judgments, I'm not discriminating, I'm only gathering information and assessing the person to gather more information. I couldn't ever just look at someone and judge. I've found that the old saying "Never judge a book by its cover" rings true across the board. We are born a certain way, and we develop in different ways, but in the end you can't accurately pass judgment on someone based purely on appearance, because ultimately anyone can be anything and do anything. To say that because someone appears a certain way, therefore they are the stereotype of that image, is dangerously shortsighted. That's all. Unity, people. That's all we need. Unity.