Quantcast
Channel: hate speech Archives - The Good Men Project
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 95

‘Isms’ Are Word Parasites

0
0

There are as many as 234 words that have the suffix ism in the English language. It is hard, if not impossible, to find one or more of those words positively supporting others. The fact of the matter is that ism is attached to words to make them powerfully negative.

Isms are a collective ideology, a set of practices, and a cooperative movement. Isms serve as a call to action for hate speech and violent acts. We don’t have to go very far to find how racism and sexism impact our everyday lives. People live in fear in unprecedented numbers based on the rampant isms that are a part of everyday life.

The roots of isms that take hold and drive all of the hateful words and violent actions come from judgment, not facts. People who perpetuate isms are quicker to judge rather than learn about people who are different from themselves. They cannot think for themselves and subscribe to groupthink without critical reasoning.

Isms are fueled by people who are closed-mindedness, fearful and confused.

People who are unwilling to learn new things about people they don’t know might very well default to an ism rather than take the time to open their minds and get to know someone on a one-on-one basis.

Fear is an unconscious motivator that many people are oblivious to when caught up in the frenzy of feeling unsafe. Many people fear differences and change.

People who are confused about someone different from themselves are frequently afraid of being exposed. It might be that their confusion is ignorance, and they don’t want to come off that way to other people.

Isms come down to one group or individual judging another group or individual rather than learning about them first hand. Tha lack of understanding might very well lead to hateful speech and violent actions that result in death and destruction.

IF people would be willing to open their minds when encountering people who are different from themselves, they might just see that we have more in common than those perceived differences.

The way to end the hate speech and violent acts of isms is to stop making it about how we are different and make it more about what we have in common.

With each new place I visited in the world, I faced the stereotypes and my own biases to get to know the people and their culture on my own. I came away from places like China, Bali, Brazil, and Kenya with new friends in nearly every case.

Being open to new experiences that feel different became a practice for me that eliminated the confusion in believing that we did not have enough in common to get along with each other in respect and acceptance.

Isms are word parasites that cannot survive without the suffix. Words like race and sex are not likely to perpetuate hate speech and violent acts without the ism suffix.

Let’s all stand against racism and sexism and all of the other 232 isms that divide us in modern society.

With much gratitude.

This post is republished on Medium.

Shutterstock

 

The post ‘Isms’ Are Word Parasites appeared first on The Good Men Project.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 95

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images