Many social problems today have to do with one’s inability to accept and understand the characteristics of other people and society as a whole. I find it strange and unclear why people fundamentally choose to hate other people, seeking to humiliate them in some way. Our particularities are a demonstration of the diversity of the world’s communities, yet they are not fully valued. The most critical social problem is discrimination and inequality based on race, gender, and orientation.
The distinction between communities and individuals begins with external characteristics, including face shapes, body shapes, and skin color. While I see a significant quantity of discrimination against people who are too thin or too big, I want to focus on discrimination based on race. Race is not an option and cannot be chosen: there is no way a person can affect the color of their skin, the size of their lips and nose, or the shape of their eyes unless they resort to surgery. Society nevertheless believes that people should be discriminated against for race. Racism has been around for years, and since slavery, society has rarely appreciated dark-skinned persons, considering them inferior in status. The forced segregation of black people in the United States has led to an artificially stratified society. Despite movements such as Black Lives Matter or movements to preserve the national identity of indigenous peoples, discrimination on social, medical, and everyday levels continues to be a problem.
Existing discrimination based on gender affects women of all skin colors and all physiques. No proven and reliable evidence points to the superiority of men as a social group. The continuing persecution of women and their discrimination in sports, schools, and universities lives on and blossoms because it is challenging to bridge the gap of many years of un-freedom. In addition, girls are often humiliated for lack of success, unlike boys; they are more often scolded and forced to do daily chores; there are demands almost everywhere. As a consequence, girls and women themselves value their worth less, and even their relationships with each other can be strained. In one way or another, white men remain the most privileged group with enough power to sustain discrimination against women, reinforcing the stratification of communities.
Finally, there are specific problems with society freely recognizing someone else’s orientation and attraction to a particular person. Along with homosexual orientation, conservatives mention bestiality or pedophilia, shifting the focus and essentially misrepresenting reality. Many teenagers are discriminated against, not accepted by their parents, or seen by their classmates as a cause for ridicule. Their relationships are not taken seriously, and society denies the reality of the LGBT+ community, believing it can be corrected or restored to normal. Harassment of teens is often brutal, and even as adults, not all people feel free. In addition, pressure from conservatives at the state level is worrisome because there is a possibility that “non-traditional” attitudes will not be available in states without liberal advocates. Harassment based on orientation destroys society by confining it to a framework and ridding it of deviant norms.
To conclude, I would like to express my concern about the lack of full implementation of anti-discrimination measures in the United States. We need people with different identities in politics, media, sports, and public life. This will help convince society that discrimination based on race, gender, or orientation is unacceptable. Each of us must strive for a tolerant view of the world for society to function organically.