If you are tall, short, fat, skinny, old, young, have red or blonde hair, wear glasses or have some other physical trait, then you have probably been negatively stereotyped for it. How did that make you feel?
For most of us, there is at least a fleeting moment where we feel not so good about ourselves, and perhaps even question our own self-worth. This is especially so for kids, and can have a long-lasting affect.
These are all forms of discrimination, and every single one of us will experience it at some time in our lives. For most of us, we learn to deal with it, and just get on with our lives. But for many people, that is not so easy.
Society has conditioned us to believe that if we are white, then we hold the power. This is especially so for white men, and all sectors of society seem to have been indoctrinated with this belief.
A famous experiment that has reinforced the negative power of stereotyping is Jane Elliott’s Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Experiment. Let’s have a look at this episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, featuring Jane Elliott.
In the experiment, Elliott puts forward the notion that brown-eyed people are smarter and superior to blue-eyed people, and segregated the audience into two groups based on their eye colour. The brown-eyed people were given better treatment than the blue-eyed people.
It didn’t take long for the brown-eyed people to adopt this notion as fact, and start openly discriminating against the blue-eyed people. Of course, the blue-eyed people became hostile about this, and claimed it was unfair. Elliot reacted that this just reinforced that her statements were true.
In a matter of minutes, this became a free-for-all. Elliot later explained that this was the sort of discrimination that coloured people were subjected to every day of their lives. In fact, all of us exercise similar discrimination and biases every day of our lives, depending on what groups we socially identify with.
Parents will say that their children are better than other children. A family will believe that their city is better than other cities. A nation will believe that their country is better than other countries.
A sports fan will say that his or her football team is better than other teams. In some places, this bias is so extreme it degenerates into physical violence.
These are all forms of bias recognised by the Canadian Academic Dr David Suzuki, who claims that such biases are inherent in all of us, but that the civilised person knows how to control them. The reality is, however, that we will react the way society has conditioned us to react.
In western society, the conditioning is that white people have the power. Even if we are discriminated against because of some other physical attribute such as height, body shape, age or hair colour, we still believe that the white person has the power in our society. The physical attributes are of lesser importance in that respect.
Jane Elliott’s experiment is powerful in showing this conditioning. Even after experiencing how discrimination has a negative effect, many white people refuse to accept that there is discrimination in society. They have been conditioned to believe that they have the power, and to accept that discrimination exists would mean to accept that their power is not legitimate.
Elliott’s experiments started back in 1968, and were the catalyst that led to today’s concept of workplace diversity and diversity training in the workplace. While her experiments have had moderate success in reducing long-term prejudice, they have led to more successful dialogues in addressing such prejudices and the debunking of false myths.
However, this false myth of white superiority is still ingrained in western society, and there is a lot of work to be done to before it is eliminated.
So next time somebody calls you tubby, shorty, dumb blonde, old man, stupid kid or four-eyes because you wear spectacles, dwell a little longer on how hurtful those statements are to you. This is the same hurt that people of colour have to deal with every day of their lives.
Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
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