Discrimination is not only a major problem in the book, but in real life as well. it is a very big problem in our society because it can really affect a person, mentally because it could give them anxiety or depression. Discrimination can physically affect a person because if they are being discriminated for their weight, they could decide to stop eating so that they lose weight which as a result, could cause an eating disorder. Situations where there are acts of discrimination is very common in our society mostly with racism, ageism and sexism.
Racial discrimination is one of the most common types of discrimination and probaly one of the oldest. For example, a situation where a person was discriminated because of their race is in an article where a woman named Natasha was forcefully arrested when a police officer thought she looked like the criminal he was after, even though Natasha did not come close to fitting the description of the person other than the fact that they were both black. Natasha was not engaging in criminal activity or doing anything suspicious and was just dropping her son off at work so this incident angered her and as a result, she sued the police department for $700k.
This happens a lot in our society because often, police officers assume that all black people are suspicious or are engaging in illegal activity, which is very racist and deceptive because white people commit crimes too, but are less likely to get harassed because of the way that they look. Discrimination from the law enforcers also happens often in court, for instance if a judge see’s that the suspect is black they will automaticlly assume they are in the wrong, and if they are, they get punished more seriously. For example, Richard from The 57 Bus was an African American male who participated in adolescent crime and went to court. In court they saw on his records that he had already committed a minor crime before the incident, so the judge assumed that he was a bad kid and would probably do it again so he was sentenced to 7 years in adult prison, even though he was only 16 years old. Undeniably, If Richard was white, the judge probably would not have given him such a big punishment.
Discrimination can happen anywhere, in the workplace, court, schools, stores or even on the streets. This can cause a great impact on ones who are getting discriminated, and also the children who are growing up watching people discriminate others, thinking that it's okay to do that. Another common form of discrimination is with sexism, also known as gender discrimination which happens often, but specificly inside of the workplace. Often, men get paid more than women and men also get more promotions than women, even if they aren’t as qualified. This a very common occurrence because years ago, women had no rights and men got to do everything and provide for their families while the women stayed at home to clean and cook dinner. Now that women do have rights, they still get belittled by men and are discriminated in the workforce.
An example of this was in an article from CNBC that I found where a group of women are suing Nike for discrimination because they claim to have been treated deameaningly by the men then intentionally and willfully discriminated against the men who were getting bigger pay cheuqes, promotions and more respect in general. The women voiced their complaints to the human resources at least four times but got no response. The CEO of Nike went out and apologized to his female employees and stated that a lot of people felt that they have been treated with respect at Nike, but it may not be the case for everyone and he wants everyone to have the same opportunities. Gender discrimination can make someone feel very poorly about themselves and can cause serious mental illness. Women are nearly twice as likely to suffer from mental illness compared to men.
Another form of discrimination is ageism also known as age discrimination. Age discrimination is basically when a person discludes or sterotypes someone because of their age and it mostly affects elders. In an article I found Andrea, a 52 year old woman is the manager of a Starbucks. Unfortunately, Andrea has a medical condition where she cannot stand for long periods of time or she will get a sharp pain that shoots from her feet to her back. In the past, Andrea applied to multiple jobs in Starbucks that would let her spend less time on her feet but got rejected to every one. Andrea has seen several of her colleagues who are over the age of 40 get fired or suddenly leave the company and as a result, she started to suspect the reason she has been getting rejected for all of the jobs she applied for is because of her age.
If Andrea was to get fired from Starbucks, which she fears might happen it would take a big toll on her life because she is a single mother trying to support herself and her 23 year old daughter who still lives at home, Andrea states that she would go bankrupt in less than 6 months if she lost her job. Ageism is most common inside of the workplace and unfortunately, there are many other people who are like Andrea and are being treated this way at Starbucks. Multiple other Starbucks workers who are older have been interviewed and all have said that they have had similar age discrimination treatment, like not getting job promotions and being given less responsibilites.
All of my points are proof that discrimination can cause problems, mentally and physically. Our responsibilities and duties as a society is to treat everyone with respect and be good role models for the children who look up to us. If we as a society do not take action and help reduce discrimination, there could be consquenses such as people going on strike, protesting or even war, which would be a big inconvience, especially for schools because if the janitors were to go on strike, school would become too unsanitary and unsafe for children to go to, so their education would get affected. Ways we can reduce discrimination is educating children and workers about the effects and consequenses of it and how it can physically and mentally affect someone. I also suggest that the workplaces actually take action when a worker voices their concerns about discrimination to human resources, because if people see consequenses happening, they will be less likely to discriminate in fear of getting in trouble. Even small acts of discrimination can affect someone, so hopefully people realizse the consequenses and think before they discriminate.
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Mental And Physical Effects Of Discrimination.
(2022, Jun 29). Edubirdie. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/mental-and-physical-effects-of-discrimination/
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Mental And Physical Effects Of Discrimination [Internet]. Edubirdie.
2022 Jun 29 [cited 2024 Dec 22].
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