I have witnessed bias and prejudice online.
I recently experienced a family member's oppressive comments on Facebook. This family member was making comments aimed at Muslim people.
His comments were Christian-centric and quite hurtful. They diminished equity by taking the stand that America is for English speaking Christians, and anyone else can "go back to where they came from."
As a non-Christian, I often feel the pain of comments like these, even though they are not being directed at me. I also have Muslim friends who are extremely important to me. The combination of feeling offended on behalf of my Muslim friends and feeling the impact of the comments myself made me quite furious.
I decided to act at the time. I commented on the thread, "I AM A MUSLIM." I wanted to show my family member and his friends that it is very possible that they were making comments about people they know and care about.
I don't believe the individuals making these hurtful comments have meaningful relationships with a diverse group. In order to create an equitable environment on Facebook these individuals might need to experience different perspectives in order to understand that theirs is not the norm, the standard, the correct, or the only way see the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment