Favourism,partiality and discrimination

10Jun 2009 by Sanjay Kapoor No Comments

Obama s reaching the most coveted chair of president of USA,though seems to have shattered the myth as it partially did in India with a Dalit President,Muslim president,lady president and now a dalit lady as a speaker of look sabha

But isn’t this a part of the mankind’s total history...Discrimination on several grounds has existed since time memorable.Favors,partiality and Discrimination are stages of the same process and are seen every where and in all aspects of life.On class,creed,education,color,gender and social and economical status.

On international level it is on color and country of origin,and on national level it is on state,community,language,and religion.Even in religion it is on caste,and in towns and villages,on caste and power of land and money

Our mythology,including the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata are replete with favourism and discrimination
Discrimination has been seen in schools,and in the best of convents between the Christians and the non Christians.Surprisingly it is seen in the same community,between various sects,like the shias and sunnis in Muslims and Catholics and protestants in Christians.

And above all,discrimination is seen within a family,based on education,status,financial standing ,and in-laws,not only by relatives and siblings but often even by parents !
Much,that we would like such discrimination,which causes physical,materialistic,financial ,mental or emotional ,to be eradicated,it seems an almost impossible task. it has become an integral part of our society and somewhere may be a reflection of insecurity and a battle for survival

This is in fact often en courage by the so called guardians of society and religions,for power or merely for their personal existence and survival.I can just pray that with educational progress,we can fight this unwanted presence of partiality,favourism and discrimination leading often to disgusting violence and loss of innumerable innocent lives

Sanjay Lucknow

written in response the a write-up from my dear friend Milan Kamdar from London (Appended below)

Ethnicity, Color of Skin and People

Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 2:40am

Milan Kamdar

Last night’s election in America resulted in a ‘CHANGE’ that Americans first, followed by the rest of world woke up to. Hence, this little note about ethnicity, color of skin and people’s perception.

In the United States, as in much of the rest of the world, people are frequently thought of in different ways depending on their skin color or perceived membership in this or that ethnic group. This happens for a variety of reasons. Sometimes people simply harbor a hatred for anyone who is a different color or ethnicity from themselves. Others have had a bad experience with another person and assume that all other people who share some superficial characteristic with this person will behave in a similar way. And there are people who are simply naïve and inexperienced and believe some inaccurate story that they have heard or read about people whose ancestry is unlike theirs, of course, lead to actions, and bigoted beliefs can result in discriminatory behaviors. These can range from some people’s unwillingness to befriend, do business with, or live near people whose appearance or language they do not approve of, to physical attacks against people the assailants see as somehow alien and undeserving of the freedoms other people enjoy.

While few people’s prejudice is extreme enough to lead them to assault other people, great damage can be done to others when the bigotries of individuals are given a group expression through the state and the institutions it creates.

American governments have always practiced and promoted discrimination both directly and indirectly. And so have our own British governments at home. They have legitimized, at various times, unacceptance, segregation, and prejudicial immigration practices. In addition, they have promoted unfair practices in the private sector by favoring businesses that practice discrimination while disenfranchising the targets of prejudice and preventing them from setting up alternative institutions of their own.

It is nearly impossible, for instance, to start up an alternative to a bigoted store in one’s community if the banks refuse credit and a government monopoly of money prevents alternative financing arrangements. Over the years, government action has resulted in far more inequitable and harmful treatment of people than any bigoted individuals could ever hope to inflict.

The fact that flies in the face is its difficult getting resources from the state or other sectors like charitable institutions for an entrepreneurial venture. The same doors open quicker and easier when there is a demand for a religious or community project that is unproductive and drives the young creative mind away. Why?…is a question that seeks answers on its own.

Many people, of all colors and ethnic groups, reject discrimination and would like to see a society free of prejudice. Unfortunately, it is common for those who seek to eradicate bigotry to share some of the outlook of those they oppose. They tend to share an unwillingness to see others as individuals instead of members of groups.

Whether assigning people to groups is done with the intention of discriminating against or helping someone, classifying individuals based on the color of their skin or their parentage conflicts with the individualist idea that each person is unique. People’s beliefs and behavior are not determined by such superficial traits as ethnicity or primary language, and to assume that they are can only lead to misunderstanding. Individual personalities, desires, and habits are the result of an enormous number of different influences and people shortchange others when they try to reduce them to simply a sample of a larger group.

Viewing people as representatives of some ethnic “community” instead of as individuals leads opponents of inequity to support solutions to discrimination such as affirmative action. In such schemes, diversity is seen as more important than individual merit or fitness, and in order to make the ethnic numbers look good, institutions will ask people for their ethnic origin details promising unprejudicial treatment of the data. What these schemes fail to realize is that whether it succeeds in removing the barriers or creating some more?

In a world without ethnic discrimination, it is likely that many of our neighborhoods, workplaces, and social spaces would be far more heterogeneous than they are today.

The biggest change in perception now across the globe on both sides of the ‘RACE’ line, that of the people who discriminate and the ones who are discriminated would be whether to let the misconstrued and tunneled vision prevail or to let it fade and not restrict the flight of a fellow human being irrespective of who they are!

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