Wednesday, May 14, 2008

wonna tha guys

I think it's funny how some of us take for granted the generally politically correct environment we live in. In school I'm part of an exceedingly liberal and open community, and there is little time for people who, out of fear or insecurity, crack inappropriate jokes at the expense of someone else's sexuality or gender. Now that classes have finished and I'm out in the real world a little more, I find myself sometimes rudely awakened to the fact that there are a lot of ignorant opinions and uncontrolled testosterone out there.

The funny thing is, that while I think it's definitely a generational thing - older men tend to be less at ease with others' differences - it is absolutely something that's being passed down through our respective cultures as well. I've noticed a much higher number of young African American men making ignorant or derogatory statements about gay people for example. It makes me wonder exactly how far our civilized veneer is actually going to cover.

And I suppose the mere fact that I frame it in those terms speaks to something as well: Are we actually changing people's minds with our efforts at tolerance, or are we merely shutting people up? My uncle made the point a while back that the notion of "colour-blindness" in terms of cultures is ridiculous, because the black guy across the road does look different than you and it's silly to ignore that. I tend to agree, but I think it's more that we need to find a place where we can look at a person who look or behaves differently than we do and say "so what?"

Is that a painfully obvious statement?

Back to the older men I've been watching - I've been in a few situations lately where I have to interact with these types, and really it's strange because so much of their culture is based on these shared ideas that are clearly at odds with the way most younger people are raised. I find myself wanting to integrate into the group, but not willing to play the game. An acquaintance of mine, who happens to be gay, also has to deal with these kinds of guys regularly and I can only imagine how tough it must be to tread that line between standing up for yourself and being a part of the gang.

More to come on this subject, I'm sure...

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home