That's the ultimate question to every conflict, isn't it? What do we do? Who do we throw into the burning pit of culpability? There are some cases where the answer is quite simple. Who is responsible for...say...the Holocaust? It was Hitler and his cronies. Right? Well, wrong. I mean, right, but also wrong. Take a look at the only blog post that doesn't have an English title. I forgot how to say it and am not feeling motivated enough to find out. Anyway, let's go on to another more complicated, more abstract topic: bigotry. So, most of us reading this are not (or at least we'd like to think we're not) bigots. We don't care about the color of someone's skin or their gender or their sexual orientation or their religion. No, we judge them by the content of their character. Or at least, let's pretend that that's the case. I know that many people don't behave this way. For those of you who do not feel that you belong in these groups, I understand, but let's pretend for argument's sake that this is morally right. We need some sort of starting point.
So here we are, absolutely disgusted by people who are bigoted. Oh? You don't like gay people? Fuck yourself! You're a terrible human being! Right? Well, let's step back for a moment. Where does the culpability really lie? En masse, the majority of the people who get so offended are people who reside in fairly liberal-minded places like New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. They live in theses ivory towers of acceptance and tolerance. I mean, I live in Los Angeles, CA. I understand this. I used to be this way, but then I started to thinking. There's a whole world out there beyond our city, and not everyone has the same ideas as us. Not everyone thinks the same way as us. Still, we're used to our Los Angeles-confined world. When we hear someone say something insensitive, we think "Oh god, what a backwards prick! Doesn't he know?" Well, no. It doesn't even have to be on such a big scale. Even within our families! If we live in different families, it's difficult to forget that different people do different things in different ways.
So, on both levels, both macro and micro, we have this world set up. The point I'm trying to take a long time to get to is simple. If a person is taught something their entire life, both by their family and by their surroundings, can they really be held culpable for thinking what they think? I mean, you were taught tolerance. Trust me, I really don't think that if you were taught things a different way by your family and surroundings, you'd be different. Ideas need to be spread around and shared.
So, say we accept that this person is not culpable for thinking something (note, I said thinking, not doing) by virtue of the fact that they were taught it their whole lives and it was beaten into their brains. So, who do we blame? The parents? It was probably the same with them. The media? Well, it is made by people who were taught to think these things. Mind you, hate is a very learned thing. So, I guess we go way back to the time when the first person introduced (successfully) their ideas into social doctrine. I mean, can we even judge that person? They were responding to a vastly different time. Things were very different for everyone in every way. Even if it ended badly, it was well intentioned. So who do we blame?
Uh...how about no one? How about we start practicing what we preach about tolerance? You cannot be considered tolerant if you summarily denounce everyone who has a different opinion than you, simply because your opinions are considered to be progressive. I think we should stop fighting and just accept that people do not agree with us? How about we just get along because you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
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