On Modern Forms of Discrimination

Romualdo Antonio dela Cruz

Introduction:

Discrimination has always been a serious issue in our society. People can always be attacked by
others for being a different race, religion, and so on. This fighting can divide communities and
seriously hurt others. Let us not promote disunity through these issues, for this will leave our
society more vulnerable to further chaos, infighting, and ruin. Instead, let us seek to settle our
differences nicely and help ourselves form a strong and united society.

Definition[1]:

Discrimination is when people or society do not allow certain groups of people to enjoy a healthy
life due to a certain characteristic like LGBT status, gender, ethnicity, and so on. Such groups
can get harassed by laws that deny basic human rights to them like right to vote or work, as well
as people with certain prejudices against them through physical violence, verbal abuse, bashing
in social media, and much more. Prejudices are typically caused by what people are being taught
by society, especially when they are young. All forms of discrimination lead to psychological
harm for the victims in those situations. The most common characteristics that discrimination can
target are gender, race, sexuality, and religion.

Sexism[2]:

Sexism is the belief that one gender is superior to another. This is often used to refer to the
discrimination of women, but this can also be applied to men.

Females are often said to be the most common victims of such discrimination because they are
deemed by some as mere housewives that have no business helping men out in activities like
working to make a living. Some take this logic to higher levels and sexually harass or even abuse
girls due to their sex. This concept is called misogyny, or extreme prejudice against females.

Men are also said to be victims of feminists taking the concept of male oppression of women too
far to the point that they start developing hatred for them. Extreme feminists can harass men
vocally or through social media by using terms like “sexist” and “bigot” whenever they disagree
on something. Discrimination through these means can harm men as much as women. This
concept is called misandry, or extreme prejudice against men.

Racism[3]:

Racism is the segregation of people in a society based on certain characteristics of ethnic groups.
For example, a man can be labeled as an African if he has dark skin. A man’s ethnicity can be
used as justification for open discrimination against him, just like slavery in the Americas during
colonial times. A racist is a person that regards his own race as superior to others, and he uses
racial features of others like skin color to justify physical violence, verbal abuse, and
cyberbullying directed towards them.

Sexuality-Based Discrimination[4]:

Sexuality is defined as a person’s sexual thoughts and interests. Most people are
heterosexual/straight, which means that they are attracted to the other gender only. Some may be
homosexual, which means that they are attacted to the same sex only. Others may be bisexual,
which means that they may be attracted to both men and women. People who don’t really fit in
the heterosexual category usually fall under the LGBTQ+ community, which is short for
“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and more.”

People who fall under said community usually get verbally, physically, or digitally abused by
their straight peers due to their sexual “peculiarities.” This then causes depression and anxiety
for people in that community.

Religious Discrimination[5]:

Religious discrimination is when people of certain faiths are treated as inferior people by others
due to them not adhering to the beliefs of the majority. They are subject to many forms of
harassment like what I have mentioned earlier. For example, Christians and Muslims in India are
labeled as “dalits” or “untouchables” because they don’t fit in with their caste system, and they
do not enjoy political representation and protection from hate crimes.

We are called by Christ to stop hate against any group of people.

It is said in Matthew 5:44-45 that, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so
that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven.” We are all called, whether Christian or
otherwise, to love others as God loves us. We must not let ourselves be consumed by hate for
others because it will ruin the peace and quiet of our communities. Hate only leads to violence
and more hate, and if we promote that against anyone, then we are putting ourselves into a
vicious cycle of pain and hurt. Instead, let us promote peace and harmony by loving one another
and promoting peace in our society.

Discrimination weakens our people and nation.

If we persist on discriminating others, then our society will start ignoring other issues that persist
in our country, like poverty and national security. A divided state can be exploited by those that
seek to oppose and oppress us, like corrupt politicians and foreign nations. They can use our
internal fractures to assert their dominance over us by making us fight our fellow countrymen
over our petty differences while they grow in power. If discrimination against others persists,
then we will become weak and unable to deal with other problems that we have to face.
Education is the best solution against discrimination.

We can say that fear and prejudice against other people are made from false assumptions and
beliefs about who they are. Being ignorant about the bad effects of discrimination will lead
people to be fine with it, and it will let that problem remain rampant in our society. Therefore, if
we help others be knowledgeable about this issue and how we can show kindness to other people
to help stop this problem, then we can reduce significantly the chances of it being commonplace
in the community.

Conclusion:

Discrimination nurtures prejudice and hate against other people. These can lead to a divided
society that keeps on fighting itself. It also leads to further hardship and hurt for everyone that is
involved. Therefore, we must stop this issue and start helping one another heal as one people.
We must seek to set aside our differences and work together towards a better, more peaceful, and
more progressive society. The best way to do this is by educating the people to stop being
prejudiced towards others.

“A house divided against itself, cannot stand.”

Sources:
[1] Amnesty International – “Discrimination”
[2] Masequesmay, G. (2020, May 28). Sexism. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sexism
[3] Smedley, A. (2020, August 21). Racism. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism
[4] BetterHealth Channel – “Sexuality Explained”
[5] Wikipedia – “Religious Discrimination”