Jon Stewart on Perception and Ferguson

 

 

This bit from The Daily Show of Jon Stewart poking Fox News over their take on media coverage has been making the rounds. 

 

It reminded me of this situation I encountered on the TTC where a black youth suffered from emotional reactions based in imposed stereotypes.

 

This is an issue that I've found bubbling to the surface again in a way that perhaps it hasn't before in my lifetime; a growing social consciousness about the pervasive nature of racism (and of course, the inevitable and accompanying charges of reverse racism) and the impact it has on individuals, communities and society as a whole.

 

The conversation in Canada around whether an Inquiry into missing Aboriginal women is, truly, a variation on this same theme.

 

Here's what I know, from having been part of the ethnic majority here at home and part of the ethnic minority in countless other nations; racism is universal. 

 

Yes, it is absolutely true that multiple social-historical factors have especially targeted hyphenated Africans and placed them in an underprivileged state compared to folk of European descent.  When it comes to the specifics of all bigotry, really, there are common themes that emerge - The Other is always dumber, less ethical, less far-sighted that you are. 

 

It's the great painful irony of human existence; by focusing on things like skin colour or sexual preference or religion or socio-economic status, we miss the fundamental similarities that bind all people together.

 

We are all ignorant, all prone to generalizations and the criminalization/dehumanization of those we deem as lesser-thans.  We're all racists.  In saying so I'm not trying to minimize the concerns of one group or the other.  I'm simply referring to evidence.

 

The recognition of our faults and limitations isn't a condemnation, but a starting point.  Think of all the fears you had as a child that don't bother you now - the dark, monsters under your bed, whatever.  As you grow and learn you come to see your fear as a response to what you don't know, an emotional safety blanket rather than a fair appraisal of reality.

 

Then, think about how real those terrors are for the children living them and how frustrated they get when you can't understand the strong emotions that are shaping and boxing in their reality.

 

Homophobia, or racism, or aggressive partisanship is no different.  Which means, of course, that when the progressive left decries the conservative right as dumb, intransigent and elitist, they're doing the same thing.

 

We don't need to defend ourselves from them, 2nd or 3rd world of isms.  The reason is that there is no them or us, the world's not black and white.  There's just us, on the raggedy edge.  If we're going to survive here, we need to learn to work together, to overcome the communications barriers that lie between us.

 

It's a simple message, presented throughout history by prophetic leaders and very quickly subsumed into partisan framing. 

 

Together is better.