Racism

As aforementioned in my article about the meaning of life, this is going to be a piece all about the ignorance of racists.

The common perception of a racist is a person who discriminates against another because of a different skin colour and/or ethnic background. Racism, of course, actually covers a much larger ground than just skin colour: racial discrimination usually derives from highlighting taxonomic differences between persons or groups. This could include weight, religion, sexual orientation and, well, just about anything. In a sense, it’s simply bullying somebody because they’re different.

I’m fairly sure that most of us in our lives can hold our hands up and admit we’ve been racist to someone at some point. Quite usually, though, it’s a harmless jibe and not intended as anything hurtful. Unfortunately, in some cases, the roots to racism are much, much worse, and the results can be sickening.

The worst case of racism we’ve seen in recent years was the culling of the Jewish faith during the second World War. Around an estimated 6 million Jewish people died during Hitler’s regime. If we add in the Polish ethnic, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, the disabled, soviet civilians and prisoners of war, the actual loss of life could be anywhere from 11-17 million people who died for Hitler’s racism.

Hitler believed he could purify Germany into a master race called the Aryan race. According to Theosophy, the Aryan race was a master race that ruled the world from Atlantis some 12,000 years ago; around 10,000 BC. They were one of seven ‘root’ races that man descended from, the originator having lived some 18 million years ago. They are widely believed to be of northern European decent; the Teutonic knights were thought to be offshoots of the fifth race. What is also widely believed is that they possess a far higher intelligence than any other race. This was undoubtedly Hitler’s, as well as many other Nazis and theosophists, incentive to create this master race once more, believing themselves to be of this sacred blood.

This was the justification for Hitler to implement the Final Solution through Heinrich Himmler. This is the whole essence of why racism is so unimaginably wrong. A select few had opinions that the weaker of the race and the people believed not to be of Aryan descent should be preened from society, and millions upon millions of people lost their lives. The idea of  creating a blonde haired, blue-eyed race is beyond belief. Besides the fact that it’s impossible to trace bloodline back 18 million years to a legendary race, which in all likelihood was a myth, genetics don’t work that way either. This is showing the very worst side of racism, how the ignorance of a few can destroy a world.

In the modern-day world, not much has changed. There are those out there who still believe the Aryan race should separate from the rest of the world and create one super-race. The Jewish faith is still as discriminated against because of age-old stereotypes and cultural hatred. Homosexuals are riddled with abuse for a sexual orientation they are born with. Coloured people are stereotyped as thieves and thugs: in many countries they are still treated no better than farm animals. And vice-versa: white people are discriminated against by coloured people. The latest racism is Islamophobia, because of the extremist few who caused atrocities in the name of religion. It’s never-ending.

To change the views that some individuals and cultures harbour would take generation upon generation upon generation. Yet that would be far too optimistic. Some people are far too set in their hatred of anything different to accept and teach the ways of acceptance and understanding: some cultures often uniting together in the hatred of a shared perceived enemy.

Regardless of where you were born, what religion you follow, what colour you are or what sexual orientation you have, you are you. They way you were born is the way you were meant to be, and nothing in the world should make you feel differently about that, the same way that you should embrace all the different cultures around you, and certainly not discriminate against them.

It’s mindless, ignorant bullying. There is no justification for racism, it’s an abomination which destroys lives and cultures.

The only racism I’d like to see is against the racists themselves.