Hate Pyramid G. Anthony Ruiz CRE101 21356
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Hate like many other things, is expressed and comes in many different forms. There is no one way to define it. The hate pyramid digresses hate and it’s many properties, in which we will understand the dangers of its existence through understanding the bias, individual acts of prejudice, and discrimination. Intense feelings of anger can make a person blind to the reality of things occurring in the present world. Much like being biased, hate disables a person from using their critical thinking skills. For example, I know of people that have shared with me their dislike for black citizens. Now, I have yet to see reason for such a dislike to be present within them. Perhaps they have had a bad experience with someone who just happened to be black, however whenever the question of why they don’t like that particular group of people answers like “I just don’t” or “Because” are usually their go to excuse. This biased way of thinking has led them to believe the stereotype of black citizens which is: baggy clothing, rap music, gangs, ect. Is how all black citizens are. Which is just obviously untrue. It is quite sad seeing the deterioration of some individual’s thinking and questioning abilities be reduced to simple one worded explanations. Growing up I didn’t really see or notice any signs of racism. Wether it being a white individual discriminating a black citizen or vise versa. It wasn’t until recently that I have fully
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noticed how racist not just Arizona, but some people can be in general. I have witnessed my friend being blatantly mocked due to his skin color being too dark. Such childish comments don’t bother him, however that is no excuse for someone to say such things or belittle someone on a characteristic that is natural. Sometimes acts of discrimination aren’t so obvious. Many companies and organizations will design or market their products to fit only a specific group while mocking another. This can be found in stores at the mall that only have select sizes for their ideal sized customers. Discrimination is a part of everyday life, now more than in the past ten years has it been more easy to cast it upon people without consequence. With new technologies like Iphones and computers, someone could easily create a page or blog discriminating a select group of people. The previous mentioned topics all tie into one theme, discrimination. It has become so easy to hate and discriminate, but so hard to accept and respect. We as a society must ask ourselves “How did this happen?” The lines separating dislike and disrespect have become blurred to today’s society. The dangers of such are enormous, this makes way for racism to become more apparent and tolerated, violence becomes a means to obtain something. These are just two of the many ways discrimination and the other factors of the hate pyramid can corrupt people.
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In our history on this earth humans have had trouble controlling their hatred, one example that is commonly known is Adolf Hitler and his mass killing of the jews. This example shows how the factors of the hate pyramid can lead to devastation. Hitler was engaging in biased thinking, discrimination and prejudice throughout his reign in germany. His followers weren’t confident enough in their own critical skills to see just how one sided and irrational he really was. Being a critical thinker, seeing how the hate pyramid is used in so many people is not only terrifying but saddening. Hate can be expressed in many ways,, and there is not one guaranteed way to rid it from this world. We humans are sentient beings, capable of great things if we don’t start to use our energy for greater things than we will surely crumble as a society. If biased thinking, acts of prejudice, and discrimination aren’t monitored than respect and acceptance will become just another lost theory. It is up to us as critical thinkers to enlighten and guide those who have given in to hate, to a much more reasonable and healthy way of life.
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