Say it ain’t so Kramer!
Say it ain’t so Kramer!
here
. It’s really unfortunate and sad that this happened, and it does make me feel angry. I guess it’s possible to like the character played by an actor but not like the actual actor at all.
I’m not necessarily angry that he has some prejudice in him, but rather that he was not able to realize it was silly and keep it under control. I think it’s impossible not to have any prejudice because I think it’s built into the way we think. I think the important thing is to realize what your prejudices are and examine why you have them and whether or not they are realistic (for example, a prejudice against hanging out with hungry lions is probably a good thing =) ).
For example, I must admit I was prejudiced against people from the South after years of reading about slavery, the civil rights movement, and even stories from friends and family members who had experienced racism in the South. Growing up in Michigan, I had actually never met anyone from the South at all. Then, during senior year I had the great fortune of being in Ms.
DeMontigny’s AP English class.
She was one of, if not the best, teachers I have ever had, and that includes college. Before her class I was used to putting almost no effort into each paper and still pulling off an A. After I turned in my first paper in her class, she came to me the next day and told me that it was crap. This was the first time this ever happened to me, and it lit a fire under my ass. I realized that she didn’t care about length or formatting like the other English teachers, she just cared about good writing. During that class I actually learned how to write, and it’s all because of her that I aced all my papers in college.
Ms. DeMontigny also told us stories from her childhood and stories about the South, and because of this, I began to lose some of my prejudice, bit by bit, story by story. I think that the key to dealing with prejudice is actually meeting people face to face. A lot of times, I’ve noticed that people that make blanket statements will generally make an exception for someone they actually know. This idea is a major part of the movie American History X (great movie by the way).
I’m curious what you all think about this.
-Vikas
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post and comments imported from Xanga - vikas
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whats boost?? haha
and it wouldn’t load or i wouldn’t of asked…
sorry for commenting.and i shall read your story or blog and comment on that
woot
have a great day!
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OMG I heard about “kramer” (I don’tknow his real name. lol.)and thanks! but I’ll need more than luck to make a relationship work… hahahahah.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! =0)
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i had an english teacher like that my senior year, too! he was awesome! he had long hair and also liked they might be giants…yeah so i totally agree. it’s easy to hate what you don’t know. that’s why i’m such an advocate for diversity, of everything! diverse diversity. have you ever seen avenue q? great play! there’s a song, “everyone’s a little bit racist.” it’s human nature to want to classify things, but by labeling people we miss out on the chance to actually know them. stereotypes come from somewhere, but diminish the complexity of people. the labels are there so we don’t have to get to know them b/c they are “southern” or whatever other label…okay i could really go on all day about this, but i gotta catch a plane
happy tgiving!
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Interesting post. I also hadphenomenal writing teachers…I found those to be the most beneficial instructors as their teaching spread to all of my other classes. And, I also grew up in the midwest with little to no racial confrontation. I have in recent years gotten to know many from the South who shared similar stories about their childhood. That is alway why I am careful to not make blanket statements about anything if there is a smidgen of unknown. Which pretty much means everything. This isn’t, however, an excuse for me to shy away from having strong opinions or convictions. But, no matter what, prejudice involves people. And, need to be taking into consideration no matter what you point of view.
Thanks for hearing me out…Happy Thanksgiving!
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Totally LOVE the Xanga audio
