In this age of information, any ignorance that someone possesses is by choice. We are constantly inculcated with messages of diversity and the idea of a bi-racial America. While we are in an age of cultural diversity that hasn’t been seen since pre-imperialism Africa, we still have people in this society who fail to understand how ignorant it is to judge someone based on their superficial differences.
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Anyone who has any semblance of intelligence should either educate them on their ignorance, or ignore them. We should never let the ignorant bring us down to their level. Just yesterday, an attendee at the Republican National Convention threw nuts at a black camerawoman and called her an animal.
The last time I went to a zoo, the only ones I saw throwing food at each other were the monkeys. Some psychologists suggest that this behavior is due to cognitive dissonance and as a coping mechanism for anger at their self.
Cognitive dissonance is a term psychologists use to describe a person’s mindset when they have conflicting morals, ideals, ideas, or emotion reactions. For example, if you belong to a religion that tells you to love everybody equally, yet you hate a specific group of people, you will feel cognitive dissonance.
As a coping mechanism, some people tend to ascribe the negative traits they feel about themselves to other people or a group of people. For example, during the age of Manifest Destiny, the conquerors described Native Americans as savages, even though they would do things like scalp the natives and kick their scalps around like soccer balls. That tradition was part of what became Thanksgiving, by the way.
Regardless of how much success these people seem to have, they are usually the saddest people who have severe hate for themselves.
You should never let these people get to you. As soon as they do something like throw food at you and call you an animal, they have just shown you that they are not on your level. Mentally, these people are children. You should handle them in the same fashion. No matter what they say or think, they are your intellectual inferiors. Never, ever let the ignorant bring you down.
Garvey Ashhurst is a young up and coming poet, songwriter, and blogger. He is the reason that the system is afraid of a black man in a library. His aim is not to be Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, or Ghandi, but he hopes to make them proud by keeping their ideals alive through his lifestyle. He hopes that one day young brothers will one day say I want to be the next him.
