One of the cultural myths that I have fallen into would have to be the ‘colorblindness is progress’. I’ve always seen past people and their color, or where they came from. I enclosed myself in the mindset of ‘I’m not racist because I don’t look at people’s skin color or background’. After learning about color blindness, and realizing that I was apart of it, I now know that this is the wrong way to view humans. Color blindness may seem like a good idea, and the intention might be of good intent; it does more than ‘blind’ you from color. I used to look at people and think that I wouldn’t be racist if I ignored, or looked past their color. Color blindness is not progress, it’s separation. Color blindness separates the person being looked at with
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The person may be standing in front of you, you see them, but because you are ‘color blind’ you refuse to know them. Where are they from? Is English their native language, if not, what is? Were they born in the United States? These are the questions we separate ourselves from when we choose to be ‘color blind’. This is how I felt when I was color blind, I felt as though if I didn’t see a skin color, and didn’t form an opinion, I would be free from being racist. I’m not a racist, but being color blind made me turn away the culture of the other person, instead of disregarding that person as a human being with history, I chose to ignore it. Warren and Fassett write, “In the end, the choice to try to be color-blind is usually a reflection of whiteness and white privilege.” (page 181) This quote summarizes how we as a society paint a picture of how color-blindness is effective, but we are unaware of how it casts a spotlight on white privilege. When being color-blind we strip the person of their heritage and put a label on them saying, “You aren’t white, but you are in the U.S so I assume you have to be from the U.S; I don’t want to be racist, you have no …show more content…
I don’t disagree with any of these myths, but I will explain about another time I did fall into one of these myths. Just like color-blindness, I have fallen into the ‘We’re all making a big deal out of nothing!’ cultural myth. Warren and Fassett write, “Anyone who tells you that you’re making a big deal out of nothing is probably part of the problem. Again, telling someone that she or he is exaggerating only insults that person and diverts the attention needed to fix the problem to some off-topic issue.” (page 183) And I have done this a few times. Before taking my Introduction to Communication class I used to be unaware of what I said to people, and I’ve fallen into the ‘shaking off’ someone’s problems because it doesn’t seem as huge as the problems I faced. It was wrong of me to do this because I didn’t realize that I pushed someone’s disclosure to the side and invaded with my own to make mine more important. This combined with color-blindness made me rarely accept the world around me as it really was, or accept people’s feelings as they really were. Now that I can put a name to these crimes, I can work on them; making myself a more aware and less ignorant person to the ideas, cultures, and people around
The person may be standing in front of you, you see them, but because you are ‘color blind’ you refuse to know them. Where are they from? Is English their native language, if not, what is? Were they born in the United States? These are the questions we separate ourselves from when we choose to be ‘color blind’. This is how I felt when I was color blind, I felt as though if I didn’t see a skin color, and didn’t form an opinion, I would be free from being racist. I’m not a racist, but being color blind made me turn away the culture of the other person, instead of disregarding that person as a human being with history, I chose to ignore it. Warren and Fassett write, “In the end, the choice to try to be color-blind is usually a reflection of whiteness and white privilege.” (page 181) This quote summarizes how we as a society paint a picture of how color-blindness is effective, but we are unaware of how it casts a spotlight on white privilege. When being color-blind we strip the person of their heritage and put a label on them saying, “You aren’t white, but you are in the U.S so I assume you have to be from the U.S; I don’t want to be racist, you have no …show more content…
I don’t disagree with any of these myths, but I will explain about another time I did fall into one of these myths. Just like color-blindness, I have fallen into the ‘We’re all making a big deal out of nothing!’ cultural myth. Warren and Fassett write, “Anyone who tells you that you’re making a big deal out of nothing is probably part of the problem. Again, telling someone that she or he is exaggerating only insults that person and diverts the attention needed to fix the problem to some off-topic issue.” (page 183) And I have done this a few times. Before taking my Introduction to Communication class I used to be unaware of what I said to people, and I’ve fallen into the ‘shaking off’ someone’s problems because it doesn’t seem as huge as the problems I faced. It was wrong of me to do this because I didn’t realize that I pushed someone’s disclosure to the side and invaded with my own to make mine more important. This combined with color-blindness made me rarely accept the world around me as it really was, or accept people’s feelings as they really were. Now that I can put a name to these crimes, I can work on them; making myself a more aware and less ignorant person to the ideas, cultures, and people around