Prejudice

Prejudice

How do people of different classes treat each other? This week, our group analyzed our independent reading books to search for evidence as to answer the question. I found the answer in the book series Gone by Michael Grant where a leak in a nuclear power plant has created mutated animal species and led humans to have unforeseen powers. Right before the nuclear leak all the adults disappear. The mutants or “freaks” are loathed by “normals” who are  forced to play defenseless. The protagonist, Sam, who is a mutant, is left in charge. Sam is dealing with urgent governmental issues and is now faced with a civil war. This book portrays the danger of prejudice and how it can escalate to unfathomable levels when there are no adults around to intervene.

My view is that such prejudice is inequitable because it leads to morbid violence and the powers were a complex mutation that the “freaks” had no control over.

For example, in the middle of the book Vic (a normal) begins to act on the tension building up between “freaks” and “normals”. He takes a red-hot poker straight out of a burning fireplace. He then forces Hunter (a freak) to bend to his will. All the while, Vic is screaming about how the freaks keep running around and feeding themselves. He said that the freaks think they’re so much better than everybody else just because they have some mutant powers. This caused a violent outbreak in which there were physical and mental injuries as well as a casualty. Had the two learned to work together, not only would it would have saved a life but, it could have relinquished the fight that grew to fuel a type of civil war.

Hunter got challenged again by a group that called itself “The Human Crew”. They accused him of using his powers for unjust reasons when in reality he had only defended himself against Vic. They try to hang him in the church before Sam intervenes. Such prejudice in the name of power is a complex issue. It is twisted that one who never asked for power but is suddenly given power will then be loathed by the others without power. The population who did not mutate and acquire powers is unrelentingly hateful and resentful toward those who have the mutated powers. 

The human crew decides to finally attack Sam, the protagonist and most powerful “freak”. They do so by attacking the gas station and setting the town on fire. Not only is this act violent and unnecessary- but it threatens to tip the balance between argument and full on battle with casualties. It causes an even bigger debate to spark up between the two groups. A sort of prejudice forms within them.

This inequitable justice connects to me personally because of the multiple appearances it makes in everyday life. I see kids struggle with power issues daily.  I observe how people who care less about academics disrespect those who care deeply for academics; and how people who do well academically  act disrespectfully towards those who struggle academically.  I see people look down on others for the way they are dressed, and people who are concerned with only fraternizing with the popular crowd. These actions, the disrespecting of others,  sprout from fear, envy, and jealousy.  The people out there who are listening, learning and trying to understand will learn that our differences are our strengths.  The roots of envy, jealousy, and fear attempt to uproot us all.  

Social Justice

It’s spooky to see and hear about all the darkness in reality. For example, at the Las Angeles airport, a 23-year-old man named Paul Ciancia entered the airport, shot and killed a security guard, and injured two other people. People want to be famous, they want to be remembered. They fear death and how it will end their story, so they do bad things. Don’t they realize the person they shot had a life, a family? Paul did much more than simply shoot a man, he uprooted the very roots of the lives of the people around him. Paul traumatized the US and ensured the recognition of the shadow of darkness reality seems to have cast.

My mom told me that she and my little brother Sully had been walking down the street when a car ran a red light and hit a biker. Then, the car driver got out and yelled at the biker for denting his car. Isn’t that scary? The biker could have been seriously injured and while a life is something that can’t be repaired the driver went on about his car which can be repaired or replaced. In addition, in the book Cherub: The Fall by Robert Muchamore, Lauren is doing a training exercise in the woods with some other kids when her instructor has a heart attack. She runs to the road to try and get a ride, but the lady who pulls over refuses to allow their instructor in the car because she is afraid he will throw up in her new car. These two observations seem to show that moral values have been seriously twisted- now a car is worth more than a life.

If you shine a light into reality, you might find that there are good things if you search for them and act on them. One thing I observed was in the subway, a beggar limped into the car and asked for money. The man next to me leaned over and gave him some money. I’m not saying you need to give money, that is just a physical observation. If you look into the thought you can see that this man had no duty to give this man money. He had no connection to this man. He had no responsibility and yet he helped the man to try and help him get a better life. In addition, a woman was trying to parallel park but kept backing out towards the end. A man walked up to her and said, ” You’ve got three solid feet behind you.” He helped the woman park and sacrificed his own time. He asked for no reward and had no responsibility or obligation to help the woman, he simply tried to spread good karma. Throughout my observations I found that reality was cloaked in darkness, but it faded if you used a flashlight. By lighting your own lamp or searching for good and adopting its ways the cloak will begin to fade and soon darkness will have no shadow nor reputation.