The question was asked after I had voiced my disapproval of a blatantly sexist remark made by the same person who threw the question at me in reply. My answer seemed to catch him off guard. I stated, "In this instance, yes." After he gave me a puzzled look I continued, "I am against all forms of hatred towards any person because of who they are. What you said was sexist against women so in this instance, I could be considered a feminist." Our class started and we were unable to continue our "discussion" but I hope I made myself clear.
It is my belief that everyone should be judged individually by their actions and not by gross stereotypes or generalizations. I have an intense aversion towards hatred and violence stemming from hatred. It is when people make judgements based on stereotypes and generalizations that we get so much hatred. Furthermore, as I stated to my classmate, I am against hatred towards people because of who they are. In most cases, who a person is is not a matter of choice. I am a white heterosexual young woman born and raised in Provo, Utah in an LDS home. I don't have a whole lot of choice in any of those circumstances (yes, the argument could be made that I can have a sex change but since I do not have any desire to do that & for the sake of argument, it can be considered a non-choice). I was white the day I was born and I'll be white the day I die. Same goes for my sex. There isn't anything I can do about my upbringing either, considering I'm 22 and those days are long gone. I'm heterosexual. I was born that way and have not real inclination to change. All of these qualities are out of my control. There is very little I can do to change them. Therefore, any hatred towards me for any of these qualities is wrong.
The same goes for everyone else. A homosexual black man who grew up in California can't do anything about his qualities and neither can a bisexual asian woman from Georgia. It is wrong to judge or hate anyone based upon things out of their control. In my argument, you may have guessed that I am claiming homosexuality is not a choice. This is my belief. A person who is truly homosexual has no more control over their sexual orientation than a heterosexual person has over theirs. It's just the way a person is "programmed."
However, I do believe in fair judgment placed upon people based on their actions. It is actions that determine who we really are. We may claim various things about our personality or our mind but these all mean nothing if our actions do not reflect those claims. If a person is caught molesting children, I don't give a damn what race, sex, age, or sexual orientation they are. They are the scum of the Earth and no punishment is harsh enough for their actions. Same goes for anyone else who purposely and/or maliciously hurts another human being.
There is so much hatred in this world today and even more violence stemming from that hatred. And so much of that hatred comes from judgments based upon qualities the "judged party" has no control over. This upsets me so much. All human beings on this planet have DNA that is 99% identical to every other human being. On this molecular level, only 1% makes us different from anyone else. Why, then, are we so hateful towards other people whom we perceive as being different? We're not that incredibly different and most of the qualities that make us different are things we have no control over. I don't understand it and I'm not sure that I want to.
But I'm calling out to anyone and everyone who reads this blog. Please, please love others around you. Show kindness to someone who is in need of it. Let go of hate based upon differences that cannot be changed. Refuse to perpetual hatred towards individuals because of who they are instead of what they do. Stand up and stop violence against innocents. Please, just be kind.
Love you.
Mean it.
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