Ignorance Is the Root of Discrimination

Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories ranging from race, religion, sexual orientation and gender seemingly smaller issues such as weight or height. Despite efforts at eliminating overt forms of discrimination through the years, it remains persuasive in society largely because of ignorance. Willful and/or unintentional ignorance is more often than not, the fundamental reason for discrimination and is the river from which all other reasons- such as tradition –flow.

Religion has been a hot topic in the last decade since the events of September 11, and Islam has quickly become a target for collective hatred and discrimination. There have been uproars in the West over religious attire, as well as stories of Muslims who have had to endure indignities when crossing customs. While these may be seen as forms of security, they are in fact blatant acts of discrimination and tar the image of all Muslims with the same brush. Despite the fact that not all Muslims are extremists, they are treated as such because of the West’s ignorance of Islam. When the general population and even the leaders has little or no knowledge about Islam, they become susceptible to fear-mongering and end up taking extreme, discriminatory actions. This allows individuals such as Fred Phelps (of the Westboro Baptist Church) to take advantage of their ignorance to create further divisions within society, so that it becomes a self-perpetuating problem. This also explains why Muslims are still facing constant discrimination a decade on from September 11.

Gender discrimination in particular, discrimination against women is also still rampant in our society despite increasing talks of gender equality. While discrimination against women is largely attributed to tradition, it is necessary to go beyond that to realize that many traditions are actually based on a lack of education and knowledge. One such example would be the blatant favoritism of males over females in traditional Asian societies namely because males were seen to be able to pass on the family name. Even today, women are still blamed for not being able to produce male heirs despite scientific evidence that males are in fact the ones responsible for the sex of the baby. Due to the abovementioned reason, women are also often far less valued and become victims of double standards and unfair treatment. It is particularly note-worthy that these cases of discrimination are more likely to occur in relatively backward regions where education levels are low, and where there are comparatively fewer opportunities for the public to be educated. Even in areas where people are slightly more educated, there may still be a stubborn desire to cling on to tradition and willfully ignore the new information

However, while less mentioned, there also exists positive discrimination which is on the contrary, a result of knowledge and information to at the very least, level the playing field in places where discrimination is too rampant and disadvantageous to certain groups. This is called racial discrimination. This type of discrimination can be seen in many areas such as businesses, which have to hire a certain number of women, or even universities, which have to accept at least a certain number of students from minority races. These decisions are made after considering the state of affairs, and are at the very least, efforts to counter the negative effects of ignorance that may still pervade the society.

In conclusion, while there may seem to be other sources of discrimination such as tradition, it is important to note that such traditions are usually a result of a lack of education that is passed on from generation to generation. Even in educated societies, it is sometimes still difficult to replace the collective pressure of tradition. However, education is without a doubt, an important step in eradicating discrimination especially in less developed regions although the process looks to be long and arduous. In addition, discrimination is not always definitely negative and a result of a lack of knowledge. On the contrary, informed measures can create jobs and opportunities for people who would otherwise be disadvantaged and discriminated against.