Sunday, August 29, 2010

have you ever noticed....

that the things we hate most about other people are things they have
little to no choice or control over? i don't mean hate on an
individual basis, like i hate libertarians and ayn rand fans, but
oppressive, institutionalized group hate. we hate people based on
race, gender, poverty, health, nationality, sexual orientation,
etc,etc. even religion, to some extent, is not a choice in most cases
(and in many cases even if you weren't a practicing irish catholic or
a practicing jew in germany, you were still treated like you were)
i wonder why that is? i wonder why our most heinous biases aren't
based on something people can control, like favorite foods or musical
taste? but maybe i just answered my own question. if we could control
the things about ourselves that make others hate us into oppression,
then there would be no way to restrict the flow of resources to an
oppressed group.

--
The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
Willem de Kooning

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