Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Cultural Misunderstanding and Religious Conflict

Racism

            One incident where I came in contact with racism was at train station at upstate New York. A group of young white boys came saw an African American man seated by a snack dispenser. The young boys aged between 12 and 16 threw banana at the man and began to chant like monkeys would do. It is highly likely that the white boys were likening the African American man to monkeys, which is a form of discrimination based on race.

A separate incident included soccer players from Africa playing professional soccer in Europe. These Africans face several discriminatory acts such as chanting and assault from fans because of their race. In Russia for instance, Black soccer players are hosted in specially secured location because of the violence against them from white locals.

Another encounter associated with racism was during one of the stops made by a police. It is apparent that police stops are normal, especially when the person being stopped looks suspicious. However, after observing a police stop a number of people, the idea of racism on the criminal justice system. On this particular incident, of the five stops made by the law enforcement officer, two were black whereas three were white. All the Blacks were ordered out of the car and had their cars thoroughly searched by the police officer. This was not the case for the white people who were stopped by the policeman. Personally, the Whites looked more suspicious than the Blacks, yet the policeman opted to search and frisks the Blacks. The manner in which the Blacks were treated is a typical example of racial discrimination against Blacks, which in criminal justice jargon, is referred to as racial profiling.

Sexism

In incident of sexism was once reported on media where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not allow women to participate in works or sports deemed to be for men only.  For instance, the Olympic committee of Saudi Arabia did not recognize women participating in the Olympics competitions, which is a form of discrimination based on sex. The first to participate in the Olympic was in recent 2012 London Olympics. In the same country, I once heard from a news network that women are not allowed to drive or hold other manly jobs such as engineering and other forms of handy work. This is an outright form of discrimination against women based on their sexual orientation.

I have encountered sexism both at home and the workplaces. During the course of performing daily activities, I have witnessed several women being victims of sexism when interacting with a service provider of the opposite sex; for instance, I once witnessed a contractor refusing to a woman’s suggestion on where to place the wall and then demanding to speak to her husband; a bank accountant speaking abusively on the phone to a woman. At the home set up, I have witnessed sexism associated with the unequal distribution of labour within families, whereby women are often exploited as caregivers, mothers and wives.For instance, there was a case of one family in the neighborhood whereby the woman remained at home taking care of the house and the children while the man went out to seek resources to run the family.  In this particular setting, a woman is seen and expected to be the subordinate of the man and thus obeys what the man expects. This stereotype has been long practiced in several cultures around the world.

 

Ageism

A type of ageism that I have experienced is an insurance policy that some companies in the United States are offering.  Some insurance firms in the United States do not target the elderly as they are considered economically useless. Similarly, in general relation in the United States, we tend to sympathize with the elderly and consider them as retards. Insurance firms provide different offers and services to elderly and in most cases in a derogatory manner For instance, it is common to see and old people neglected in their homes and are considered a burden.

Ageism is also exhibited in the work place. For instance, at the local police department, older police men and police women are left at less important units at the department such as filing reports and cataloguing. Such ageism was also displayed in the 2008 United State Presidential elections whereby a majority of the young voters chose not to vote for the republican presidential candidate John McCain simply because of his age.

However, in more reserved societies such as Japanese, Chinese and in some African societies, the elderly are treated rather differently as compared to their western counterparts. I witnessed this in movies and literature from these regions of the world. In these cultures, elderly people are both revered and respected. It is the belief of these communities that the elderly are a source of inspiration and a center of unity. They provide a society with a point of reference and in cases of conflict they play the role of judges and arbiters. The elderly also play a significant role in the political leadership of these nations.

Religious Conflict

            Religious conflict can come from religious diversity or within a single religious affiliation. I have encountered both first hand and second hand cases of religious conflicts involving both the aforementioned domains. For instance, in the context of Christianity, there is religious conflict between religious conservatives and religious liberals with regard to contentious topics such as abortion and same sex marriages. It is apparent that there are Christian factions, especially from the protestant and modern churches that support these two issues whereas religious conservatives are of the opposite view. Similarly, I have encountered religious conflict in the context of Islam, wherein two Muslims were arguing in favor of and against the use of Jihad basing on their different interpretations of the Quran. One Muslim held the view that Jihad was divine and the other condemned the practice.

While Christianity and Islam may be the dominant religion is the world today, there are other smaller religions that are widely practiced. However, difference is religion may be viewed as difference in ideology. A difference in ideology is recipe for conflict. Thus, the world has faced several conflicts based on differences in religion. During a television interview involving a Christian priest and a Muslim Sheikh, it dawned on me that Islam and Christianity read from different scripts although there are a number of viewpoints that are common to all the religions. For instance, it became apparent from the interview that Christianity and Islam do not agree over the identity of Jesus and his death. Regardless of the fact that both religions believe in the existence of one God, Muslims do not agree on the view that God can be three persons. In addition, Islam allows a number of secular practices such as smoking and marrying many wives, aspects which are against the idioms of Christianity. These differences highlighted during the interview pointed out a religious conflict existing between Islam and Muslim.

When watching the History Channel, I witnessed a form of religious conflict in the forma a documentary that detailed the Crusades where European Christians fought non Christians, especially Muslims because of their refusal to accept Christianity. In the wars termed the crusades, the entire continent Europe joined forces in fighting non Christians in vast locations around the world. Movies and history depictions have indicated the manner in which most of Europe was engulf in war because of religious affiliations.

In addition, one of the latest religious conflicts rocking the Muslim world is experienced is Jihad. I encountered this form of conflict in the media highlights following the September 11 bombing, whereby the concept of jihad referred to war meted against ‘infidels’ who do not believe in Islam. The result of jihad is terrorism becoming the leading cause of conflict and threats to international peace and security. The September 11^th 2001 attacks are perhaps the most profound incident of conflict based on religion.

Today, every nation in the world faces the threat of a terrorist attack with several armed radical groups posing such threats. The leading groups of terrorists are composed of extremist Islamists operating in different locations in the Middle East and Africa. Several Jihadist groups such as Al Qaida, Taliban, Al Shabaab, Hezbollah and other organized groups around the world have continued to pelt terror killing thousands. The main target of these terrorist attacks have been Western nations and there economic interest, key installations and embassies. Of great concern is that perpetrators of these terrorist acts profess Islam. The leading argument for such groups is writings found in the Quran that call for the elimination of non Islamic infidels. Whether these writings are misinterpreted or not, conflict exists in the name of religion.

A more profound conflict between Christians and Muslims is exhibited in Northern provinces of Nigeria. I once witnessed a global news network reporting that the Northern Nigeria has become the heart of a long conflict between Muslims and Christians. Each faction has meted conflict towards the other with unending retaliatory attacks. The government of Nigeria has not been able to tame a war that is now claiming thousands of lives.

Cultural Misunderstanding

Cultural misunderstanding is common occurrence in a community such as that of the United States. This is so because of the fact several communities have to live together. A cultural conflict that I have experienced is the issue of early marriage among the Indian community. Indian culture requires that one’s life partner or spouse should be determined by the parents and therefore one is bound to the person identified by the parent. However, in the United States, marriage is a liberal concept that is left to an individual to determine who, when and where to marry and the parents are to oblige. However, in an incident whereby an Indian met an American partner, there is bound to be conflict. Whereas the two partners were willing to get married, Indian culture demanded that the parents approved the marriage. Therefore, in a case where the Indian partner had been promised to someone else, there will be conflict.

I often encounter Cultural conflict through dressing and dressing etiquettes. For instance, Arab and Indian communities require that women dress in a hood-like dressing. This issue created acrimony in France as the government legislated against such dressing. Arabs and Indian communities were unhappy. The French on the other side were against dressing that seeks to hide the identity of the person. Therefore reserved cultures such as Asians have to contend with more liberal tendencies associated with western cultures.