Are people really “bad” people? Technically, “bad” is a subjective term, no? For example, conservatives tend to see pre-marital sex as “bad” whereas liberals don’t always see it the same way.
I was thinking about this when a friend, MJ, mentioned that this girl, SS, wasn’t a “bad” girl. I found it a little odd to say, but I understood what she meant. See, to me, SS can be labeled as “bad” when comparing her to the social norms, but thinking about it, I don’t really hate her. Instead, MJ and I decided that SS had too many habits that clashed with our ability to be friends.
Back to the question though, are people really “bad” people? Especially if we compare them to our personal beliefs and values? If we put our personal morals aside, what would define a “bad” person? In a way, it’s all relative depending on the culture and social norms. Are there any universal norms which we can use as a base for this definition?
On a more personal level, when do you feel as if you’re a “bad” person? Does it depend on someone’s reaction and interaction with you? Or does it depend on something else? When did you feel your worst?
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[edit] For all my subscribers, sorry for all the new entry emails. I’m currently converting my files into WP pages and my plugin sends an email anyway. Thanks for understanding! [/edit]
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Are you tied to your heritage? Your culture? Are you prejudiced because of it? Do you feel as if you are placed at a disadvantage for who you are? Does your being of a particular culture define who you are or does it only make up a part of you? Are you proud to be what you are, despite the stereotypes? Do you consciously try to break those stereotypes?
I am an Asian American and although I love being what I am, I know that only in California can I exist in peace. I cannot go to my parents’ home country for in their eyes, I am an American. I cannot go elsewhere in America because in their eyes, I am Asian. Only in California do I feel accepted and appreciated to be this mixture of both, to be looked at as both American and Asian. Am I scared to leave? Yes. I am afraid that if I go elsewhere, I will have to start all over again as a foreigner, never truly accepted and always compared to the stereotype.
But I don’t want people to be blind to my culture or anybody else’s for that matter. We are who we are and we cannot change what is obvious.
Unfortunately though, there are always lost cultures, cultures that no one pays much attention to or no one puts much emphasis on. All the Asians, Blacks, and Latinos are clumped into those three major categories. And only briefly have we started to care about the Middle Easterns. But what about the rest? What about the Europeans, the true Americans, and all the missing people in between? Where do they go and how do we properly acknowledge their existence?
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