PREJUDICE and HATERS!!! BY Ron Kolsky.

PRE/JU/DICE

So far, you’re right.  That’s the way the word is separated in the dictionary, by syllables.  Understand – the first one’s meaning is obvious in that it stands for “prior”.  The “ju” means “judgment” and the third one, “the existence of prior judgment”.  Bet you knew that already, didn’t you?  But you won’t get much of a dissertation of its roots, causes, evils or havoc wreaked throughout the globe from neighbor to neighbor, locality to locality, city to county to state to country to continent and back again.

Now, let’s start with the root of prejudice.  When you’re born, you know nothing but what you’re taught by your parents and teachers.  Depending on their prior experiences, including what they were taught by THEIR parents and teachers, and so on…that’s the beginning of YOUR learning and experiences from which you will slowly develop an outlook on life as well as gaining general knowledge of the way the world is shaped, governed, was formed, where country’s are, what folks are like in those countries and how the whole mess intermingles.

As you gain knowledge you are exposed to the prejudices, if any, of people around you, what you read in the media, watch on television and hear on the radio and, to repeat a phrase – so on and so forth.  Of course, your exposure depends somewhat on where geographically you live.  Some places still hate black people, Jews, Catholics, Mormons, etc.  If you hear the word “Colored”, ask that person “which color are you talking about?”

I personally despise that word since, other than an albino – one very unfortunate person born without melanin – a total lack of pigment in his skin, hair and eyes.  Those people face prejudice in various forms including superstition or fear, so life is tough for them.  But other than that, show me someone without color in his skin.  White folks are colored from shades of beige to dark tan and everything in between so why are they called white folks when Caucasian is the more accurate term?  And why are Black folks called black when they also vary from black to dark brown to tan to beige to off-white when Negro is the more accurate term?  I will concede that Black is now the accepted word to describe them in most societies.  But hell, many of them appear to be slightly tanned Caucasians.  And the truth of the matter is that regardless of race, all humans feel hunger, pain, joy; they bleed when cut, they have hopes and/or ambitions – this is not to say that some who are born into poverty have no one to look to for the encouragement required in order to form an ambition or life goal.

But why the hate?  Why look down on a Black because of his color?  In case you haven’t noticed, many Blacks are scientists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, college professors, theoretical physicists and even just plain smart.   How’s that for an expression when one runs out of superlatives?  Some are just ordinary workers, as in blue collar employees, but the same is true of Caucasian Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Southern Baptists, Mormons – you name it.  And let’s face it: we are not all born equally – physically or mentally, that is.  But to hate the less fortunate?  Bullcrap!

Let me bring on the subject of prejudice between religions.  This is the world-wide malignancy that causes most of the wars in the world.  Why, for example, would a Catholic hate or want to avoid a Protestant?  Does the manner in which one believes in Jesus justify an anger or irritation?  Logically, no one on earth can come up with a reason for prejudice here.  Okay, so maybe a mild annoyance that one doesn’t believe in the same manner as another does.  Big friggin’ deal.  The highly religious Jewish folks have been known to despise the barely religious Jews.  Now, you ask, what does “barely religious” mean?  Glad you asked.  Jewry ranges from Hassidic to Orthodox to Conservative to Reform.  Women, for example, are not allowed to be seen in the most religious synagogues since the men believe that the sight of a woman is distracting to the men praying.  No insult meant to the women, but that’s the way the religion teaches, so tough nuggies – the women have to sit either upstairs or separated by a curtain.  Not so in the Conservative or Reform shuls.  Many of them even have women as rabbis and/or cantors, chanting away the prayers for the congregation to follow.  And that’s the way it is.  They’re practicing the same love of God, but in different manners.  Now some Conservatives and Reform look down on the more religious, and some of the more religious look down on the others.   (These are the stupid ones, of course.  Sure, they have their reasons basically founded in the Torah, but that’s what I’d define as purely radical.  What a waste of energy.)  Fortunately, this is not a problem in that no wars are waged between them.  They either get along with each other or simply ignore their opposites.  NOTE: I said NO WARS ARE WAGED BETWEEN THEM!

Now pay attention: here’s where I bring in the Muslims.  They all practice the religion of Islam and worship a God to whom they refer as Allah.  But different tribes exist, such as the Shiites, Curds, Sunnis and many more less known to the Western World such as Quraisy, Mu’tazilah and Khawarij.  The tribes, by the way, are considered races.  How about that?  Here’s another red flag for prejudice.  You can’t miss it if you read the newspapers or watch TV.  In Iraq, for example, the Shiites kill the Curds, or the Sunnis bomb a different tribe’s mosque.  When these acts occur, the perpetrators are referred to as either “militants” or “extremists” who follow the teachings of the Qu׳ran literally.  Too bad the Qu׳ran, in its original form(s) teaches so much hatred.  Then again, Deuteronomy teaches similar beatings, stoning, etc. which were allegedly followed by the Biblical Jews, but they’ve learned from their mistakes and no longer practice such evils.

But as for the extremist Muslims who live in every Middle East country, not to mention more other countries in the world than I can name; have you ever asked yourself “what the hell is that all about?  Why, for example do the militant leaders of Hamas use their rockets to kill Israelis only yards away, but launch those rockets from either schools, private homes or even mosques filled or surrounded with innocent women and children when they know damn well the Israelis will counter attack their launching sites?  Even worse, why do they kill their own people?”  I’ve always wondered, if you’ll pardon the expression – what the Shiite difference does it make if one is a Sunni or a Curd, but then I came to learn of the problem posed by the different tribes – or “coloreds” as it goes?  That’s either a damn shame or just plain stupid – or both.

And if that weren’t enough, the leaders of these hate-filled so-called “minds” of theirs with their soldiers of these various armies within the Arab world professes to hate the Jews.  Israel, because of its location – with Lebanon filled with the militant group Hezbollah to the North, Gaza, filled with Hamas militants to the South, Jordan, Syria, Iran and too many others just East and Northeast of it is in the perfect spot to eliminate the Jewish State completely as far as the extremists are concerned.

Nuff  said.  I should sum up at this point, so let me make an observation or two.  If you happen to be prejudiced about someone or something – examine your inner feelings and check it out: are those feelings justified at this point in your life?  More importantly – does hating someone actually make you feel better, or does it cause aggravation that takes its toll on your health?  Believe me – hating others absolutely does take a large toll on your health, like it or not.  And I speak from personal knowledge as well as what every M.D. has told me.  Sometimes I’ve slipped with saying I hate someone so much…and I curl my fists only to be told by my wife, daughter, son or anyone within hearing range that hating will bump up my blood pressure, as well as eat away at my stomach, heart or God knows which other organs in my body that I ought to stop hating…and instead – begin to ignore those feelings so I have time to, as they say “smell the roses”.  Now I’ve done exactly that and have to admit I feel much better, both mentally and physically.  In fact, that’s why I chose to write this article.

I’ve even come to hate haters, but that’s a good type of hate!  So relax, stop it with the moronic prejudice, enjoy everything you’ve accomplished, and ease up, old buddies – you’ll live much longer.  And that’s the way it is.

RON KOLSKY

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