Jake Thomas Essays - Discrimination, Emotions, Abuse,

Jake Thomas Modeling Hate In the ideal America, our celebrated, ethnically diverse populous would overlook and not even recognize such socially developed stigmas such as race, sex, color, and religion. The ideal American would not even look at another and classify that person as black, white, Asian, Indian, Mexican, Irish, Jewish, Catholic, Jewish or; well, my point is made. But America is far from ideal. The ignorance that reigns in this country is unfortunately passed on from generation to generation with little regard for what effect it may render on its audience. Sadly, fear is created from ignorance. Sadder still is that hate spawns from fear, and as represented by the staggering domestic abuse rate, violence is handed down from previous generations as well. The probability and means to cultivate hate crimes is now present and the formula is potent enough to guarantee that they will happen. Hate crimes are happening in America at a disturbing frequency. That being a given, it is time we as a society look to the roots of hate crimes in America. I believe these roots lie in our society's notion and practice of family structure. More so in the way we pass down our ignorance, fear, unacceptance, and intolerance to future generations. A hate crime in itself is defined as a criminal act with intent to defame and slander another person. At further introspection though, I think that we will find that there is more underlying issues than just committing a crime with malice towards someone different than ourselves. The human mind at the time of birth has no prejudice. A baby does not look at another human being and feel afraid or angry with that other individual. The human infant has no predators in these times, therefore there should be no fear instilled naturally. I would like to think that these minds could be viewed as "clean slates". So where does the fear and hatred needed to commit a hate crime, and dirty that slate, come from? All social science research has come to a solid conclusion that parents, or the primary caretakers, of a child are the single most influential stimulus on that child's development. The answer is that we as a society, both internationally and in America, have found ways to continually and regeneratively brainwash and condition our children. We teach them to classify humans with titles that have no real biological worth such as Asian, American, Latin, African, and European among others. One fairly publicized hateful incident involved some Texaco executives who were caught slandering black and Jewish employees and making derogatory references and actions towards them. One remark an executive made was " I'm still struggling with Chanukah, and now we have Kwanzaa... Poor Saint Nicholas, they have sh-tted all over his beard." What caused this person to have these points of views? How long has this idea been in his head? Where does this idea develop if it is not genetically created? The answers lie with the majority of all non-biological dysfunction present today; the individuals upbringing. These same questions and same answers can be applied to almost any incidence of hate and violence today. Especially prevalent is the incidence of the dragging murder in Jasper, Texas in which a black man was beaten, and dragged, and decapitated. This was perpetrated by two white supremacists, making it a violent hate crime. How does a person's inner frustrations become so great that they can control behavior to the point of making that person take another life? It is directly related to the perpetrator's upbringing and the views and ideals that were passed on to him since day 1 in his life. In many of these scenarios, justice has been dealt to the assailants or perpetrators by our federal law system. But it seems that in just as many instances justice was not dealt to all, or it was too little too late. In any case though, the legal system has taken a reactive approach. Justice in itself is reactive in nature, and consequently that may be why hate crimes and crime in general continue to happen with great frequency. America has taken a reactive approach to hate crimes. As a country and as a world we need to take a proactive approach to prevent hate crimes. Prevention is the key to stopping further hate crimes in America and around the world, and it can be done. People just need to stop the influential modeling and passive teaching to their children and future generations that certain people are