09/14/2011

this whole thing with eric’s mom really has me thinking about judgement. we’re talking about culture in composition and we did an activity today that i did once at colorado state. at csu our teacher wrote stereotypes on the board and we filled in the spaces about who would fall into that group. racial slurs, adjectives, you name it. today, our teacher asked us about cultures on the tsu campus. when we had about thirty of them up there, he gave us all post-its to write what or who we associated with those groups.

a while ago i started questioning who i would be if i didn’t have any societal constraints on me. as i think more about that, i realize that the fewer groups i identify with (religion, politics, clicks, etc) the more open minded i can be. obviously i still identify with lots of groups…i’m a woman, i’m a student, i’m a daughter and sister, you get it.

i think the only way for me to combat judgement is to stop being so judgemental. this is idealist me. i feel like so many of our differences are based on stupid opinions that our society and culture have taught us.

take homosexuality. i don’t understand why people are so anti-gay. it’s not going to hurt anyone if gay people are allowed to marry everywhere. it’s not going to harm your kids or ruin the country. the only thing that can harm your kids is the way you raise them. the country is already pretty messed up and gays have nothing to do with it. on top of that, this whole anti gay thing is pretty new. almost all men in greek and roman societies were homosexual. women were weird, alien objects used almost entirely for reproduction. socrates, plato, aristotle — all gay. that means that everything our country is based on — western architecture, art, politics, philosophy — comes from a bunch of gay guys.

we complicate everything so much.

as i listen to the things people wrote about gourps on campus, i wonder how many of them will stay in that mindset their whole lives. how many people actually grow? choose to see the world differently? love someone they never thought they could love? agree with different shit than what they’ve always been taught?

i talked to my mom about eric’s mom last night. she, like you guys, told me to stand my ground. my religious beliefs don’t make me less of a person and anyone who thinks that probably isn’t worth my time.

i think tristan prettyman said it best with, "love, love, love."