Somehow I came across this website today while I was perusing through another website that was not related at all to height but on that website’s forum there was a thread which caught my eye where people were talking about the issue of height and how some people will discriminate against people who are short in stature.
Because of my intentions and this website I would say that I do not support heightism in any way. I actually am extremely against the issue of heightism. To me, heightism may be one of the greatest social evils that stills occurs today.
My arguement: That almost no other form of discrimination is still as publicly allowed as the discrimination on height, short stature.
1. It used to be about race, and racism was the big topic. However race discrimination is no longer accepted and not politically correct.
Now in the 21st century, being 2013 I feel that most people have been able to move beyond race, look past the skin color, and more or less at least be able to tolerant the different types of races. Racism still exist but it is definitely no longer so in-your-face or blatant as say many decades ago. Maybe a white female might be uncomfortable getting in an elevator alone with a black guy even if they are say coworkers in a white collar, fortune 500 company but it is extremely unlikely she will ever dare to express her personal bias opinions out loud without the fear and possible social ostracizing of the current political correctness way of viewing race in these days. With the increase of how the world is becoming more connected and becoming even closer, I would say that the issue of “race” is less of a concern, at least in public. One can still hate another group of ethnicity due to their skin color alone in the privacy of their own homes and write troll-like and hateful speech under fake and anonymous profiles thinking they have complete privacy and security (when they are not since Google does track a lot of what a person does online and if they had to would cooperate with the US government agencies and enforcement agencies if they wanted to find someone). However almost no one except self described supremacist group would publicly state such prejudice ideas in crowds without fear that the group of people they don’t like won’t want to defence their race and fight them. To keep the general peace these days, since the USA has become such a racially cosmopolitan and multi-colored nation, race bigotry is not longer allowed, at least in public.
How about discrimination towards people with a physical disability like a wheelchair or something similar?
This type of public discrimination is frown upon as well since it is consider very cruel and insensitive to make fun of people over something that they were born with and have no control with. For the last few decades, with consistent effort in lobbying by special interest groups, most public places now have an area where people in wheelchairs can use.
Not only that people with disability have special privileges in terms of parking. The disability sign on any car means that people with disability get a few public benefits at least.
While it is not public that people would make fun of people with disabilities, it is more likely that people don’t want to associate or spend to much time with people with certain disabilities, since they might be very uncomfortable around them due to not understanding the medical condition the person is suffering from.
What is more likely to happen is that there would be a lot of sympathy and compassion by the people around to genuinely want to help the person who might suffering from a very debilitation condition.
The best example might by the Astrophysicist Stephen Hawkings, the former Lucasian Chair at Cambridge, whom so many people consider the smartest person on earth and who has become the inspiration and role model for so many aspiring physicists. HIs disability has been one of the most severe suffering for over 5 decades with Lou Gehrigs Disease (spelling?). However his life has been turned around to show it in an inspirational light and showcase the indominable human spirit.
So people with disabilities these days are not ridiculed. either people try to avoid them out of ignorance, become curious at learning more, or try to help out the person in need.
How about the discrimination over mental health like a learning problem?
With all the talk these days about how 20% of all child have some type of Autism, the portrayal of people on popular television shows with Asperger’s Syndrome, and so many famous and successful people coming out and admitting that they suffer from the learning disability known as dyslexia, it seems that public support for people with mental health issue are reaching an all time high.
Uptight strong willed, perfectionist people would openly admit that they seem to have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or at least some of its symptoms. People who have just seasonable depression will flaunt the fact that they have Bipolar Disorder. Women who go through pregnancy might claim to have suffered from Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are now multiple support groups for all of these people.
If a person did make fun of someone who might have a learning disability or suffering a serious psychopathology, and they were found out, they would be severely socially isolated and be shamed about their insensitivity.
What about the discrimination of gays and homosexuals?
In the last few years there has been so much talk about gay marriages and equal rights. Our current president Obama supports gay marriage and has been trying to make it legal in all of the states. Many more famous celebrities and people on television have come out of the closet with almost all of their friends and family members fully supporting their lifestyle choices.
Attractive females now all claim that they have gay male best friends who they love going shopping with. Even heterosexual men these days at least in the US are becoming more comfortable around the gay and have them as close friends.
Can we still make fun of and mock people of certain religions?
Ever since 9/11 the world has become much more careful of at least joking about or making fun of Islam and people who are Muslim due to fear that it could cause riots, public protests, and more terrorist attacks. The term “Islamophobia” has become last decade’s focus on why discriminating against religion is still not a good idea. These days if a person mocked the society of Scientology, they might get civil suits thrown at them.
Sure, some people do make fun of Christianity like the creators of South Park and Family Guy but most people these days feel that the faith of Christianity is rather benign unlike the more violent prone Islamic faith. Comedians might use the horrible priests & young boys abuse scandal in their joke routines and that is something which I feel is being resolved these days. The new popes have been expressing that this problem with the modern Christianity is something that needs to be dhelt with.
Is there still open, blatant, public discrimination against women?
In some ways, it seems that women have become the more social affluent, stronger gender in recent years. More women are graduating universities and graduate schools than men. The jobs women have had got hit less hard than the jobs that men had. In terms of economic power women are the new force to recognize. many decades of feminists jostling the government and society for equal opportunity and equal pay with men have pushed the women further ahead of men. Women these days account for 65% of all the initiators of divorces. 55-60% of initiations for relationship separation are being done by the female. With shows like “Sex In The City” during the 2000s years, it shows that women have finally been able to display the amount of power and privilege their mothers and grandmothers fought so hard for.
If anyone did try to discriminate against women, specifically men, say in the work place, they are likely to get a civil suit thrown at them. Any inappropriate behavior results in sexual harrassment suits. Some women have even begun to make fake rape accusations to put innocent men in jail or extort them for money.
If there is any discrimination against women these days, I have not seen it. Women Rights and Girl Power has changed the landscape on how at least the Western Nations act and any type of disrespect against the female gender is not longer allowed with severe social and financial consequences.
How about “ugly” people?
I would have to agree that this might be a still prevelant problem but we must realize that the concept of “beauty” is very subjective, at least for women. Every culture has their own definition on what constitute beauty and what constitutes “ugly”.
I personally would cite the example of Robert Pattinson, who I find extremely unattractive as a male but somehow because he was given the leading role in the hugely popular “Twilight” movie series has gained a reputation for being attractive to legions of teenage females and adult women.
It does not take a lot to change either one’s face or change the way people see oneself. For any men, a good hair cut, clean shave, some teeth whitening, more time spent in the gym in losing weight, some tweezing, and a good suit would change the way people view them dramatically. The same can be said of the dramatic make-over done on plain jane girls which one also finds on tv these days.
The thing to know about discriminating against “ugly” people is that the concept of beauty is very subject. If one is truly dissatisfied with one’s appearance. one can improve on it with a quick trip to the plastic surgeon for a few thousand and get a completely new face That is what they do here in Seoul on a very regular basis.
Can we still discriminate against “poor” people?
Ever since the 2008-2009 major economic crash, more people than ever have been brought down from the middle class to the lower class. With so many people lossing their jobs and or not able to find another job, more anger and resentment are being developed against the “upper class” or the rich 1% od society who seemed to actuall get richer from the recession by seizing on the horrible times to exploit people for cheap labor.
If anyone these days were found to be discriminating against the “poor” people, they would be laughing at the large majority of the American population. If theire real identity was found out, they would get death threats on them since they are laughing at the mis-fortune of other people and some spiteful people would want to harm them.
So making fun of “poor” people these days is something no one is willing to do in public due to fear that there would be some type of action taken due to vengeance.
How about the obvious discrimination seen towards overweight, fat, and/or obese people?
Discriminating against overweight individuals is something that I would admit is still sort of a prevelant social problem. However, of all the type sof discrimination that is done, this is the type that is most easily solved.
There are thousands of diets, and millions of gyms and weight loss drinks sold today which help anyone who is angry at people making fun of them loss the weight even in a few months. Once they loss that weight which had been used to make fun of them earlier, they have a hug increase in confidence, feel better, healthier, and can go back to the person who discriminated against them and show off how they change their body to prove the initial harasser wrong.
So what type of discrimination is still being publicaly done today which people can still get away with and the person being discriminated can’t really do anything about it?
It seems to be towards the group of people who are suffering from “heightism”. Below average in height people these days are the last real group of individuals who are still targeted on a regular basis of discrimination and it is still socially accepted to a large degree. Most other groups of people who might have been traditionally discriminated against are not longer socially allowed or there is something that they can do to easily change their situation.
