Adrian Seucan, Period 5, 11/16/2020, Day B

Socio-Political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

   

Like most people I find the concept of inequity frustrating, especially monetary inequity. I know that not all humans were created equal, but the disparity between the poorest people in this world, and the richest billionaires is so drastic (the eight richest men in the world are as wealthy as half of the human population), that its almost laughable. In addition, whenever I watch/read sports news, I am incredulous at the amount of money many sportsmen/sportswomen are being paid, compared to people who have professions that are more necessary for our society such as engineers, doctors, journalists, plumbers, teachers, healthcare workers, etc. 

Moving on to oppression. It makes me sick to see the many different ways people come up with, to harm each other as a result of differences in ideals, religion, race, ethnicity, etc. A recent conflict in the Caucasus region at the border of Europe and Asia, exemplifies how far people are willing to go in order to crush their enemies. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for almost thirty years over a small territory called Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). Countless lives have been lost in this war, apartments bombed, civilians killed, entire families uprooted and eradicated. Even though the conflict seems to be coming to an end, a deep hatred remains between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis, one that may never heal, all because this small piece of land had cultural significance for both ethnic groups. This shouldn't be the way people treat each other. Ethnic differences should be celebrated, not seen as an excuse to kill your neighbor.

Touching a nerve closer to home, we must take into account the injustices that have been committed in our own country. This past year has been turbulent not only because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also because of the straining of race relations domestically. The fact that the oppression of African Americans still occurs even 150 years after the Civil War is baffling. Double standards still exist in this country, which is ironic considering that America has always self-styled itself as the "home of the free.'' A change needs to happen, not only here in America, but worldwide as well. I don't care how different, people look. A person should be judged on their actions, not anything else. Until peoples' mindsets change, this world is going to be filled with hypocrites, racists, sexists, and maniacal dictators who would use peoples' prejudices for their own evil causes. 

Power on the other hand can have a positive connotation. If used the right way a person, or group of people can help those less fortunate, such as a working class individual buying a homeless man a loaf of bread, or a teacher introducing new material (and maybe even a new mindset?) to their students. But most often, when we think of people in power, we think about the abuse of power, or power being directed away from areas in need. We live in an world where the leaders of most countries are more focused on doing anything in their ability to maintain power (through sabotage, slander, murder, war, etc.) rather than heeding to the needs of the people they rule or represent (which is what a leader should do). If anything, the concept of a country can be seen as inefficient, since only a select few are actually having their needs/wants met by the respective government. We would be better of if we lived in smaller administrative units, where it is easier for people to rally behind a common goal. But leadership positions aren't the only places where abuse of power occurs. Take a playground, for instance. Kids at a young age have a mean streak in them. Some feel the need to pick on or even physically abuse other kids who they know don't have the ability to fight back (if the victims are handicapped, or even just physically weaker), as a way to make themselves feel better. These actions reflect on the innate evil within humans, who are so easily corrupted when finding themselves in a position of power, that you could almost expect them to use this newfound power as a tool to quash their competition, or anyone else who disagrees with them. 

• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

 

Before I reflect on my own beliefs, assumptions, values, experiences, etc. I have to remind myself that observation is key. When interacting with different people it is important for me to understand their motivations, intentions, and actions, so that when I do formulate an opinion on them, I use these basics to judge them. However you can't really judge a person after just one interaction. For example, if you meet a person wearing tattered clothing, looking ragged, and constantly being fidgety, you might assume that they're somewhat crazy. But maybe this person was having a really bad day, going through an ordeal, or experiencing a nervous breakdown. But if you got to know them better, you might find out that they're a kindred spirit, a talented artist, or a stellar soccer player. Who knows? That is why I try my very best not to be so hasty in judgement, even though it can be really hard at times. This mindset influences my perception of others because I try to be open-minded, seeing the many different sides to a person if I get a chance, and like I mentioned above personality is more important to me than race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. As for perception of self, this mindset doesn't always work because I can be quick in scathing myself for committing an unforced error, or I can end up in denial when I feel that I'm in the right, even though I later reflect that I never was. However my biggest influence is the fact that I come from a multiracial family, and I try hard to understand the individual characters of other people because I know that I wouldn't like it if people took one look at me and formulated an entire opinion without getting to know who I really am.