(no subject)
Philosophical Idea
I think that every single social issue and every single problem with the world can be traced back to prejudice. The fact that individuals pre-judge groups or ideas or symbols based on what was said to them a long time ago is a problem in today's, yesterday's, and probably tomorrow's societies. I think that any type of "drama" or mutual/one-sided hatred between two people is based on prejudice. Pre-judging situations before you have all the facts or know all the people or lack common sense is a common problem. I'm guilty of it. Prejudice brings about hypocrisy, hatred, ignorance, and war. I'm not even talking about the war in Iraq. A prejudice brought about the Revolutionary War, The Civil War (I'm not even talking about slavery), WWI, WWII, the Korean and Vietnam wars. Every single war, lynching, burning cross, public outcry, news story, political move, regulation, protest, or anything else that could be seen as bad has been created by prejudice. People pre-judging a situation and automatically thinking that they are right and anyone else with a dissenting view must be wrong.
Now, to get to how this relates to today. George W. Bush feeds off of this idea. He feeds off of the fact that people are prejudice against things they don't understand and are ignorant about. It took three years for 56% of the country to disagree with the way Bush has been running this country. Why? Probably because they didn't have all of the facts. But it's mostly because he fed on their prejudice. He's fed on their prejudice against Arabs (a group that, unless you live near Dearborn, you probably didn't know existed). He's created a prejudice against a country that was no threat because he said that they were a threat. He's fed on this prejudice so well that he was able to divert the forces looking for the man behind 9/11 and send them into a place with oil and the guy who TRIED to kill his father. He actually said that he doesn't spend much time on Usama bin Laden anymore and noone batted an eyelash! That's how much this guy has the remaining 36% of the country by the balls.
He's also fed on the prejudice against homosexuals. That's what actually won him his second term. He simply said that he doesn't believe that Gay PEOPLE don't have the same rights as straight PEOPLE. And even the Democrats gave in to him. They said that rather than letting Gays marry, they should get Civil Unions. It's all so very well done that you can't even tell that he's done it.
He's also fed into the less intelligent groups' prejudice of more intelligent people. If you've ever seen an interview of George W. Bush before his Presidency, when he was just trying to be an oil tycoon, he was actually very well-spoken and didn't make up words. After winning his Presidency and during his campaign, he kept on the same issue and often made up words. This was to get people to believe in two things; that he was a more "down home good ol' boy" and that he wasn't very smart and his opponent was badgering him and making him look bad. This is what he does. He feeds on the inborn prejudices people have against other groups and he's done it like no other man I've ever seen. Besides, of course, Hitler.
Not to mention his skillfull feast on the prejudice against change. He's created a whole Conservative movement based on people's fear of change. I mean, if it weren't for him, we'd all be using bio-diesel by now and there'd be more work into different alternative fuel sources. He's somehow gotten people to believe that change is a bad thing in a constantly changing technological age. He's stopped stem-cell research. He's cut the funding for research into alternative fuel sources, all the while, he's changing social security and welfare.
Somehow, he's even managed to build a prejudice against hypocrisy. Especially hypocrisy that doesn't exist. Another tactic he used to build up his vote count in the last election.
Prejudice against adulterers, prejudice against traitors, prejudice against the middle class, and prejudice against war protestors. He's fed on it all. Finally, people are beginning to see that, but it's all to late.