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Discrimination and how it affects society
Discrimination effects on society
Discrimination and how it affects society
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The Need for a Pariah Exposed in Those Who Walk Away From Omelas
Affirmative action is perhaps the political hot potato of the decade. Its divisiveness has escalated racial tensions all across the nation, in forums political and academic. It also creates problems on a daily basis for millions of Americans in the workforce, education, housing, and so forth. Affirmative action, by its very definition, uses discrimination to attempt to create equality. Its ultimate goal is to make everyone equal to everyone else- intellectually, ability-wise, and (dare I say?) socially. What the proponents of this racial and gender communism do not realize is that society can only function in the absence of complete equality. Society is always in need of someone - be it a nationality, religion, or gender - to look down on. This point is most clearly made in the short story Those Who Walk Away From Omelas, a 1973 work by Ursula K. Leguin. The central message of Omelas is that society needs a pariah- someone to look down on in order to maintain its own happiness.
Omelas begins amidst a festival in the seemingly utopian city of Omelas. People are in a holiday spirit on this day, as they are every other day in Omelas. Mirth and good cheer seems to be the moods of all of the citizens. Though blissful, these people are by no means ignorant: They were not simple folks, you see, though they were happy...They were not less complex than us. The seemingly perfect city offers something to please every taste: festivals, good-natured orgies, drugs that aren’t habit-forming, beer, and so on. The citizens of Omelas have a complete love of life. There is no war, no hunger, no strife; in short, Omelas seems like the pinnacle of perfection.
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...t this system is branded a racist or narrow-minded. Hence, those who would oppose affirmative action are becoming the objects of scorn and derision; this coupled with the fact that they are discriminated against by affirmative action policies means that they have become the pariahs! Leguin’ss story is now an allegory for them- they are now they small child, trapped and abused in the closet. So, in its attempt to eliminate discrimination and the oppressed society, affirmative action has created one instead! Few who support affirmative action because they loathe bigotry realize that by doing so they are themselves bigots. Leguin’s powerful statement that the pariah culture is omnipresent rings true when one considers that the pariah culture is merely perpetuated by the attempt to eradicate it.
Works Cited:
Ursula K. Le Guin, 'Those Who Walk Away from Omelas'
A place which is flawless and is free of sadness, distress, and unhappiness. The story states how there are no conflicts, violence, or negativity in the Omelas society. The author visualizes and describes everything that goes on in the Omelas Society in a really fantasy way and uses persuasive language to convince the audience to believe that whatever is going on is true. The author also shows the joyous celebrations of people for the Festival of Summer. The genre of this story is introduced as to be more of an imagination then being realistic at the beginning. According to the author, “In other streets the music beat faster, a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing. Children dodged in and out, crossing flights, over the music and singing”(Guin 1). The author states that everyone is enjoying the festival, people are happy, and everything is perfect, but changes happiness into
3.The term Affirmative action has played a huge role in the past one hundred years of American politics. It is simply defined as an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer. Civil Rights of American citizens have drastically changed because of Affirmative action. With almost anything in politics, there is a debate for and against Affirmative action. Supporters of this say that this helps encourage e...
How would you feel if a white boy couldn’t apologize to a grown black man because it goes against his faith? If I was in the black man’s position I would feel disrespected but I wouldn’t blame the white boy because he was brought up like that and it’s in his mentality to look at African Americans as property and with disgust. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain incorporates racism and slavery to show how and why it is wrong. He uses Huck, one of his man characters, to demonstrate how a white boy breaks forth from society’s racist ideas and the people around him to have a strong friendship with a slave name Jim, who becomes a fugitive. He uses Jim to demonstrate humanity and how it has nothing to do with the color of your skin. He also shows the struggle African Americans had to go through during that period of time in order to be free. Through friendship Huck learns that Jim is a regular human being just like everyone else.
...though they were happy” (Le Guin 380) shows the reader that the Omelas were happy with their extravagant life. Le Guin states in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” that the “boys and girls were naked in the bright air” (380). An allusion to the Garden of Eden in biblical times, the nakedness represents the freedom, happiness, and utopian attitude of the people of Omelas.
After long years of suffering, degradation, and different sorts of discrimination which the disadvantaged group of people had experienced, the “Affirmative Action Law” was finally passed and enforced for the very first time on September 24, 1965. The central purpose of the Affirmative Action Law is to combat racial inequality and to give equal civil rights for each citizen of the United States, most especially for the minorities. However, what does true equality mean? Is opportunity for everyone? In an article entitled, “None of this is fair”, the author, Mr. Richard Rodriguez explains how his ethnicity did not become a hindrance but instead, the law became beneficial. However, Mr. Richard Rodriguez realized the unfairness of the “Affirmative Action” to people who are more deserving of all the opportunities that were being offered to him. Through Mr. Rodriguez’s article, it will demonstrates to the reader both favorable, and adverse reaction of the people to the Affirmative Action, that even though the program was created with the intention to provide equality for each and every citizen, not everyone will be pleased, contented, and benefit from the law.
When a book uses the "N-word" 213 times (Carey-Webb 24) and portrays the African American characters as inferior to their white counterparts, it becomes easy to assume that the book’s author Mark Twain is using this novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as a form of racist propaganda to display upon America in the late 19th century post-Civil War Era. By the late 19th century slavery had finally ended across the United States, but racial tension, discord and discrimination were still very much at large. For those opposed to slavery in its original iteration, and, therefore, opposed to its continuation in this form, the only thing left to do was to continue fighting the battle for equality and rights in any way they knew how.
In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” Ursula K. LeGuin depicts a city that is considered to be a utopia. In this “utopia” happiness revolves around the dehumanization of a young child. The people of Omelas understand their source of happiness, but continue to live on. Oppression is ultimately the exercise of authority or power in a cruel or unjust way. LeGuin demonstrates the oppression that the child of Omelas holds in her story. LeGuin articulates the damaging effects that oppression can cause. In addition to LeGuin’s renditions, Chris Davis, a Los Angeles writer, further
Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to expose the hypocrisy of racism and religion in society. In the period he wrote the book, there were two contradictory belief systems regarding race: one stated all men were equal, while the other stated the exact opposite, as it stated all blacks were inferior to whites. This divided society into two groups: the “civilized” (whites) and the “savages” (blacks). Through his writing of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain displayed his opposition of this arrogant and hypocritical belief system, a belief system that unfortunately still exists in today’s world.
be said that this book was anti - slavery and did more disrespect to whites than
Before the start of the Civil War, there were around 3.5 million slaves laboring in the American South. The majority of the slaves working in the South were field workers on large plantations. Slaves held jobs in other areas but the working and living conditions on average tended not to be as severe as it was for the plantation slave. Enslaved people on plantations had harsh conditions in their work and home lives as well as being sold, which was always a continuous nagging fear.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and women.” However, despite its well-intentioned policies, it has been the source of much controversy over the years. Barbara Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz mention that “proponents of affirmative action argue that given that racism and discrimination are systemic problems, their solutions require institutional remedies such as those offered by affirmative action legislation” (298). Also, even though racism is no longer direct, indirect forms still exist in society and affirmative action helps direct. On the other hand, opponents to affirm...
Today there is considerable disagreement in the country over Affirmative Action with the American people. MSNBC reported a record low in support for Affirmative Action with 45% in support and 45% opposing (Muller, 2013). The affirmative action programs have afforded all genders and races, exempting white males, a sense of optimism and an avenue to get the opportunities they normally would not be eligible for. This advantage includes admission in colleges or hiring preferences with public and private jobs; although Affirmative Action has never required quotas the government has initiated a benefits program for the schools and companies that elect to be diversified. The advantages that are received by the minorities’ only take into account skin color, gender, disability, etc., are what is recognized as discriminatory factors. What is viewed as racism to the majority is that there ar...
Huckleberry Finn didn’t have a father to look after him, therefore he did not have all of the knowledge he was supposed to for the real world. Instead, he lived with the Widow Douglas. “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me. I got into my old rage and my sugar hogshead again, and was free and satisfied” (Twain 1) Huck feels like he does not fit in and that Widow Douglas is always trying to change him to make him just like everybody else. Huckleberry is more an independent person, “Don’t gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry…Why don’t you try to behave” (Twain 3). Huck didn’t know what to do or how to act. He was his own person and he had his own motives because he had no role model, nobody to look up to. “He was most free – and who was to blame for it? Why, me. I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way… it...
By the middle of the novel, anyone could believe that Huck Finn learned a great lesson of equality and made a complete 360 in becoming a new person. However, this is not so because from the time that Tom Sawyer, Huck’s friend from St. Petersburg, returns to the picture, Huck goes back to his indecent ways and disregards Jim as what he once believed him to be, an equal. They both toy around with Jim as they plan his escape from the Phelps. In conclusion, his hard work to fight against the hypocritical ideals of society at the time came right back and sucked him into their beliefs, all to impress his friend. Once he comes back to living in their society, he would no longer feel like he would have a say in his way of life and ideals especially the fact that Aunt Sally was going to civilize him. This idea of being captivated and made to be civilized does not suit Huck, he plans to run away to the west to escape all that burdens him in this society.
Though it may be received as controversial as to why Mark Twain presented so much racism, it can also be seen as a way to put the reality of racism in the eyes of others. Most white people in the 1880s supported the establishment of slavery and saw it as acceptable to say the N-word. Mark Twain wanted these attitudes to change, and his book furthered this mission. In today, many of these beliefs have changed, and people now realize how wrong slavery was. Though the establishment may be gone, many stereotypical thoughts have yet to be diminished. In chapter 26, the duke says; "Because Mary Jane 'll be in mourning from this out; and first you know the nigger that does up the rooms will get an order to box these duds up and put 'em away; and do you reckon a nigger can run across money and not borrow some of it?" (Twain 26) The duke basically tells Huck that all black men are thieves, even though he is a thief himself. Many people in today’s society fear black people, and often accuse them of crimes they did not commit. We can see this today through the cops who continue to shoot and kill innocent, unarmed black men. The book without even knowing it, offers us proof as to why certain things are believed today. People back then thought of back people as thieves, and this has yet to