The world is dark and full of terrors.
There are people out there who hate us for no other reason than where we come from, what we stand for, and how different we are from them.
Religious fanaticism, racial xenophobia, and flag-waving jingoism - extreme forms of hatred shedding the blood of innocents on the streets. But let's not even go as far as that.
Each passing day, we suffer discrimination, in a thousand little cuts. We line up patiently at the counter, and some other dude cuts in with a wink and smile to the counter lady of similar heritage. Expressions change when our appearance don't meet conservative expectations. University and job applications are filtered by 'affirmative action' quotas.
Deep inside, they hate our guts because we've got guts. They feel threatened because we work hard enough to threaten their livelihood. They stab us from the back as we're outrunning them in a fair race.
Yes, it's normal to favour people of our 'own kind'. In your own private social relations, that's fine - you're free to be friends and date whoever you please.
But it's not right to discriminate people, not when there's a big prize at stake, not when your bloody job is to serve everyone equally regardless of origins. Meritocracy must prevail, otherwise productivity and equity are lost.
We Deserve The Leaders We Get
It's pathetic seeing political leaders selfishly protecting their own community at the expense of others. But it's also pathetic seeing lowly office clerks abusing their administrative powers to make the lives of normal folks a living hell.
Hateful discrimination operates at all strata of society. So much so that the feeling is that the leaders are imitating their followers, and not vice versa.
We deserve the leaders we get. If our leader is rotten, that's because society itself is rotten to the core. Leaders are racist bigots only as long as we allow them to be. There isn't any point hunting down megalomaniacs, if a new megalomaniac will take his place even if he is toppled. What matters is changing mind-sets, at the individual and communal level.
We should not allow ourselves to tolerate the small injustices we face on a daily basis. We should not avoid confronting the neighbourhood bullies. We should not tolerate discrimination, no matter how small.
Moral Courage
As with all my other rants, this one is provoked by a recent event that left me quite emotionally disturbed.
Why have I not flesh it out in greater detail? Why have I not spin a story to drive my point home? Why have I resorted to rhetoric?
The honest answer is - I'm scared.
I'm scared that it would hurt my personal interests. I'm scared I'll attract even more hate. I'm scared that people can't see pass my good intentions and burn me on the stake.
Last week or so, James Manore was fired by Google for writing a 10-page memo exploring the issue of whether the male and female minds are equally able to manage tech-related jobs. So much for freedom of speech and diversity of thought.
I've previously received a lot of heat on a previous gender-race article: "Why White Dudes Dating Chinese Chicks Make Me Sick". And just like Mr. Manore, I have some empirical data to back up my outlandish claims, as posted in a follow-up article stubbornly entitled "Why White Dudes Dating Chinese Chicks Still Make Me Sick (Part 2)". (Also note the careful choice of words in the title. I never said that I hated white dudes or Chinese chicks. All I'm saying is that the sight of them hitching up hits me hard, because it reminds me of the social stereotyping and biological inequalities that happen in society.)
In short, I lack moral courage to speak out more.
And I'm quite ashamed about it.
How Now, Brown Cow?
So where do we go from here? Honestly, I don't know.
How do you stop people from discriminating against you?
How do you call out against discriminative people having the power to destroy your life?
How do you turn singular hate into universal love?
If you have some helpful tips, please let me know. But chances are, your advice would likely be somewhere along the lines of "Deal with it, that's life".
Yes, discrimination is part of life. We deal with it daily. But do we have to accept it? Or do we fight it, till the very end?
Maybe one day, I will know the answer.
Or rather, maybe one day, I will have the moral courage to tell you the answer which I knew all along but was too afraid to speak out...
There are people out there who hate us for no other reason than where we come from, what we stand for, and how different we are from them.
Religious fanaticism, racial xenophobia, and flag-waving jingoism - extreme forms of hatred shedding the blood of innocents on the streets. But let's not even go as far as that.
Each passing day, we suffer discrimination, in a thousand little cuts. We line up patiently at the counter, and some other dude cuts in with a wink and smile to the counter lady of similar heritage. Expressions change when our appearance don't meet conservative expectations. University and job applications are filtered by 'affirmative action' quotas.
 |
| Hate is hard to shake off |
Deep inside, they hate our guts because we've got guts. They feel threatened because we work hard enough to threaten their livelihood. They stab us from the back as we're outrunning them in a fair race.
Yes, it's normal to favour people of our 'own kind'. In your own private social relations, that's fine - you're free to be friends and date whoever you please.
But it's not right to discriminate people, not when there's a big prize at stake, not when your bloody job is to serve everyone equally regardless of origins. Meritocracy must prevail, otherwise productivity and equity are lost.
We Deserve The Leaders We Get
It's pathetic seeing political leaders selfishly protecting their own community at the expense of others. But it's also pathetic seeing lowly office clerks abusing their administrative powers to make the lives of normal folks a living hell.
Hateful discrimination operates at all strata of society. So much so that the feeling is that the leaders are imitating their followers, and not vice versa.
We deserve the leaders we get. If our leader is rotten, that's because society itself is rotten to the core. Leaders are racist bigots only as long as we allow them to be. There isn't any point hunting down megalomaniacs, if a new megalomaniac will take his place even if he is toppled. What matters is changing mind-sets, at the individual and communal level.
We should not allow ourselves to tolerate the small injustices we face on a daily basis. We should not avoid confronting the neighbourhood bullies. We should not tolerate discrimination, no matter how small.
 |
| The leader the world deserves |
Moral Courage
As with all my other rants, this one is provoked by a recent event that left me quite emotionally disturbed.
Why have I not flesh it out in greater detail? Why have I not spin a story to drive my point home? Why have I resorted to rhetoric?
The honest answer is - I'm scared.
I'm scared that it would hurt my personal interests. I'm scared I'll attract even more hate. I'm scared that people can't see pass my good intentions and burn me on the stake.
Last week or so, James Manore was fired by Google for writing a 10-page memo exploring the issue of whether the male and female minds are equally able to manage tech-related jobs. So much for freedom of speech and diversity of thought.
I've previously received a lot of heat on a previous gender-race article: "Why White Dudes Dating Chinese Chicks Make Me Sick". And just like Mr. Manore, I have some empirical data to back up my outlandish claims, as posted in a follow-up article stubbornly entitled "Why White Dudes Dating Chinese Chicks Still Make Me Sick (Part 2)". (Also note the careful choice of words in the title. I never said that I hated white dudes or Chinese chicks. All I'm saying is that the sight of them hitching up hits me hard, because it reminds me of the social stereotyping and biological inequalities that happen in society.)
In short, I lack moral courage to speak out more.
And I'm quite ashamed about it.
 |
| No, red does NOT denote hotness |
How Now, Brown Cow?
So where do we go from here? Honestly, I don't know.
How do you stop people from discriminating against you?
How do you call out against discriminative people having the power to destroy your life?
How do you turn singular hate into universal love?
If you have some helpful tips, please let me know. But chances are, your advice would likely be somewhere along the lines of "Deal with it, that's life".
Yes, discrimination is part of life. We deal with it daily. But do we have to accept it? Or do we fight it, till the very end?
Maybe one day, I will know the answer.
Or rather, maybe one day, I will have the moral courage to tell you the answer which I knew all along but was too afraid to speak out...
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