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Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Uncanny Reviews
How Are Minorities Portrayed in Books?
While collecting for my reading inquiry, I noticed minorities in general were not being portrayed as
stupendously as the other characters in some books. This shows that the worlds we read in and the world we live in are full of inequality.
In the book The Gunslinger by Stephen King, Jake is a young boy who travels with the gunslinger. The gunslinger allows Jake to be fairly independent, but mostly he treats Jake like a child. Jake has a lot of potential but the gunslinger only views him as expendable. Now, just because he's young doesn't mean he has to treat him like a child, and no one is expendable. People usually see those younger than them as lower than them, which is where the seed of inequality is planted. Difference.
Again, in The Gunslinger, the gunslinger and Jake run into a group of people called the "Slow Mutants." These "Slow Mutants" are people with physical mutations, and the book strongly implies that they are quite close to the definition of 'monsters.' If you were to come face to face with one of these mutants, you would be sure to agree. However, even though the mutants may look and act and think differently, they're all still people. People with feelings and needs, even if they're not all that human.
So when you look upon it like that, does it still seem right to treat others who are different from you like you're higher than them? Is it right to treat someone lesser than equal to everything around them? True, people are not all equal, in terms of finance or politics, but when it comes down to the basics, will any of that matter? It shouldn't, because our shells may be painted different colors, but our insides are very similar. Everyone is intuitive in their own way,
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Doors
So over the period of gathering observations on Social Justice, I noticed a few things. I noticed a lot of Social Injustice. I noticed how there seemed to be very little done about it. And I tried to think, well... how can this be changed? And I realized there's not a lot I can do as a 13 year old to make a difference. Sure, people say you can do this and you can do that, but that won't really change much of anything. What you need for change is a whole movement, but nobody tells you how to create that.
In the environment I spend most of my time in, I can look around and see kids, students, of all ages. And they all have their own key. The key to one door, or the key to many doors, they were given the mold, and they helped shape it. But you look around at all the doors, and that key might not fit in any of them. But all hope is not lost, because maybe the door you're looking for is farther away than other people's and it'll take a while to get there. On the train, the bus, the street, I see people that found their doors quickly, people who fought for their doors, and people still looking for their doors. Each key is unique,each door is different, each person set on their own path. But they're not entirely alone. You get to have family, friends, rivals, and followers on the path right their with you, because you're not all going to the same place but they're bound to be close by. These doors, they just connect you to success. With that success, you can do anything, be it alone or with support you'll find the door. It may be small or it can be grand, you'll get somewhere.
There is so much more, but this seemed to be the most significant to me. The search for success with various factors pulling you down or pushing you to the prize. It can be hard, it's a different experience for everyone. Failure can feel so imminent, it's scary. But it's possible to push through it. If you can't do it yourself, then someone will help you through it. That's the way Social Justice works. The Injustice is the people leaving the others behind and only committing to their own concerns. That's what needs to be changed. People need to open their eyes and look at the people behind them instead of themselves.
In the environment I spend most of my time in, I can look around and see kids, students, of all ages. And they all have their own key. The key to one door, or the key to many doors, they were given the mold, and they helped shape it. But you look around at all the doors, and that key might not fit in any of them. But all hope is not lost, because maybe the door you're looking for is farther away than other people's and it'll take a while to get there. On the train, the bus, the street, I see people that found their doors quickly, people who fought for their doors, and people still looking for their doors. Each key is unique,each door is different, each person set on their own path. But they're not entirely alone. You get to have family, friends, rivals, and followers on the path right their with you, because you're not all going to the same place but they're bound to be close by. These doors, they just connect you to success. With that success, you can do anything, be it alone or with support you'll find the door. It may be small or it can be grand, you'll get somewhere.
There is so much more, but this seemed to be the most significant to me. The search for success with various factors pulling you down or pushing you to the prize. It can be hard, it's a different experience for everyone. Failure can feel so imminent, it's scary. But it's possible to push through it. If you can't do it yourself, then someone will help you through it. That's the way Social Justice works. The Injustice is the people leaving the others behind and only committing to their own concerns. That's what needs to be changed. People need to open their eyes and look at the people behind them instead of themselves.
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