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Ethnicity, Race and Religion
By Dario Diorio, Torrington
The topics of ethnicity, race and religion have been debated for many years from a range of perspectives. I think "enough is enough." These topics, to say the least, have been hyper-discussed or even resolved.
In the year 2002 we still heard talk about affirmative action, hate speech, and remarks about race, religion, color of the skin, etc. To give importance to these conventional and stereotype remarks is really nonsense. To me, if a person demonstrates good behavior, he or she can be Catholic, Protestant, Moslem, Buddhist, Jewish, atheist, or of any other belief.
We should be more concerned about problems which, when solved, will improve the general welfare of our society rather than be concerned about where people come from or their place of worship. Let us not forget that many Americans are without health insurance, that the drug culture is very serious, and that alcoholism, violence, crime, prejudice, child abuse, pornography, illiteracy, etc. are all still problems.
I think that the range of similarities and differences within and among ethnic groups is what provides diversity and beneficial outcomes. Furthermore, the acceptance of varieties of culture enriches our life and is very important because we can learn from diversified cultures, which finally will bring us to a global awareness, which is of vital importance for our existence today.
I think that ethnocentrism predisposes a person toward prejudice and intolerance. We learn social attitudes from our family, age-mates, teachers, and community leaders. For example, in the schools we are affected by the attitudes shown in the books we read and the lessons we are taught in history, literature and geography, even if the educational system is a means for promoting social integration and for improving inter-group relationship.
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