My thoughts on blog assignment #1

The quiz was an interesting interaction with the issue. I was marginally surprised I got most of them right (8 out of 10) but I think that says more about observation and educated guessing that anything else. The videos --one of which I inadvertently posted myself yesterday-- do a nice job of topically addressing the issue in an easily digestible fashion. As I mentioned in a previous post, there is a growing wealth of information out there for those who are interesting in this issue and would like to look at it more in depth; the potential for change in how we do business, as well as the legal ramifications are considerable.

In response to the questions poised in the assignment, I wonder if there is even a need to narrow the scope and ask why we discriminate based on dialect, when asking why we discriminate at all is basically the same thing. Discrimination due to dialect is just one facet of the larger problem, a sort of side note which details that yes, human beings will often take any and all available information and use it to further and foster their own short sighted and incorrect preconceptions, as opposed to trying to really understand and connect with one another. They both originate from sheer difference with what the discriminator is familiar and comfortable with.

People see or hear something different than themselves and their comfort zone, and then react negatively. Is there any basis for the negative prejudices and invectives that racism invariably promotes? Of course not. Can anyone then deny that action is needed? Apparently, as the angry responses to those who ask for equal and just treatment show in the 20/20 clip. But no clear sighted and equality minded individual can shrug off the fact that in order for all men and women to be treated equally, action and vigilance are essential, even in “progressive” 2007.