Ok, Joe, but why the notion of a group? 'Apart' not a part from other living systems,
let alone other human beings? What rights do humans really have? What obligations? I
like that you say the problems we face do not lie with them. I don't know, maybe I'm
ready for the loony bin, but in my mind, there is no them, there is only us.
/donna
> Well, we can start by acknowledging among ourselves that all persons, whatever
>complexion, ideology, gender, sexual orientation, or disability, should have the
>right and the duty to own equivalent rights, obligations, and responsibilities, and
>to realize that the problems we face do not lie with them, but with those who
>consider membership in any of these groups as indicative of weakness, decadence,
>inferiority, hostility, or incipient character flaws, and therefore consider them
>incapable or unworthy of such rights, obligations and responsibilities. Membership
>or nonmembership in any group should not give anyone a free pass on the display of
>prejudice or bigotry. Judgements about groups are always overgeneralizations, and as
>such are prejudicial against all members of the judged group which the person making
>the judgement has not personally met. Different is just that; different, and should
>carry no connotations of better or worse. All groups have their own share of ass!
es!
> !
> and saints, and sometimes the two are found seamlessly integrated in a single
>individual. It is impossible to be color or gender blind, so long as we have eyes,
>but we can be aware of that fact and refuse to allow someone's color or gender to
>influence, either positively or negatively, our interactions with them, and refuse to
>allow someone to treat us any differently because we belong to different groups. If
>they get called on it enough, sooner or later, egalitarianism will reinforce itself,
>and bigotry and discrimination will crumble against the wall of diminishing returns.
