was talking to ryan on msn on wednesday when somehow we came onto the subject of assumptions we make about different racial groups and nationalities. ever since i came here i havent really been a victim of racial discrimination but i do know it exists.
i havent really been a victim of racial discrmination but i have been a 'victim' of assumption. like when people refuse to talk to me cos i'm asian and they simply ASSUME that i am not able to speak english and that it is not my 1st language. really surprised when my health and social care teacher who teaches us about discrimination and not to assume things and stuff suggested for me to write in my coursework that i do not have english as my 1st language. *fumes* quite cut by it.
and u know those books which u read about other people and religions and things? i've learnt not to really believe them. cos when i read the bit about chinese people, i really want to laugh. like really? are u absolutely sure we act like that? are u absolutely sure that we are all the same and that u can simply condense us all together and label us as this and that?
things to keep in mind while we are reading stuff about other religions and other nationalities:
1) do keep in mind that all that only applies to the highly committed or the highly religious. (of whichever one u happen to be reading about)
2) bear in mind that if it is just a few paragraphs, most of it is prob not very true. and it prob only applies to whichever one the ignorant researcher was researching on.
3) read it with an open mind and only believe about..30% of what they say
4) no matter what u read, try to see that person as a PERSON no matter what nationality, race etc they are.
yepz yepz. when i 1st came here. i was really intimidated by all the white people here. but as i get to know them, i have come to see them not as 'whites' but as just people like me. and i really do hope that my friends here have come to see me not as an asian but as a person too.
see right, it all started when one day i was looking at my friends and i just sorta thought "heyy..a few weeks ago i was afraid to talk to them cos they are different. but now i'm so comfortable with them it's unbelievable" and i tried to see them the way i did when i 1st came. but i couldnt. i have well and truly stepped past the boundary where i see people in colour. i have started to see people as people and not as 'blacks' or 'whites' or 'yellows' in a way, i truly hope in terms of racial harmony i have become 'colour blind' so i may see people as who they are inside.
yepz yepz. so there u go. my thoughts for today.
OH and ryan told me to say this "the weather is really cold here but luckily i have ryan over here to give me warm hugs"
there u go ryan. happy? :P
