Racism

Dear Journal,

We have been discussing the big topic of racism in History class and I don't know why anyone complies to such terms as many people do subconsciously. We are all humans and that is all we should ever be to each other. No one should be treated any differently because of the color of their skin. We have come such a long way as a society, some of that being good and some bad, but the mindset that somehow a person is different because of the color of their exterior has not much wavered and that includes the animal kingdom as well. I hope future generations of humans, at least, can see what mistakes are presently being made and take a stand so that this world can be free of racism.
There are lots of different groups who are discriminated against each other; one in particular in America is the African American group. One of the reasons these "blacks" are looked down upon even in today's society is found in the word black itself. First of all, to start us off is a big one, the "black" plague helped to start a stereotype of black meaning bad, because there is just nothing good about this horrific disease. Then there's the black sea, an unpleasant place. Another huge example would be black symbolizing death in many poems and novels throughout history. All of this leads to the average white man, not all of them, looking at the black man as being a disease.
Another awful thing about racism, because I don't see anything good about it, is that there are examples of such a thing in the animal kingdom as well which shows how unreasonable it is for humans. There have been accounts of white dogs disliking dark colored dogs more just because of that difference. All dogs want to attack, but these accounts are of vicious fights, worse than any seen before by the owners. This is real bad, because dogs are colorblind, so apparently they looked hard for this difference, found it, and hated it, just as we humans tend to do. As the human race we should be different than the animal kingdom by having the ability to reason and understand, but I guess we are all just animals in the end. This occurrence of such hatred may be slightly understandable if it were only in certain groups, instead it seems like a natural thing for man kind. Any person, whatever the color, finds a difference in someone and dislikes her for it.
The amount of today's United States' population that I have encountered on the subject of racism will tell u they are not racist, but the truth is many of them are and don't realize it. A lot of times the idea that another group is worse than another comes from your environment or the way you grew up. Whether people believe it or not, you develop a lot of your political and moral beliefs from your parents. Long ago most of the country was racist somehow and that has been passed on and shouldn't have been. I hope my generation doesn't do the same thing to their children and teach them to pre judge as my peers do today, usually not noticing it.
I have a great expectation for this country of mine as well, to be racism free. I want to be able to walk into a room of 50 people, being the only Caucasian there and not be looked at oddly once. That is a far fetched dream for even this century. We are already entreating a second millennium and have so many problems that everyone needs to come together on and refuse to. WE all come from the same God, made in his image. Who cares what the sun did to the human race's skin thousands of years ago. Maybe one day with so much radiation, we will all be as dark as the night sky, but until then we need to all look past the exterior and to the inside. No one should comply with the terms of racism. Everyone needs to treat each other as they would themselves, that's something we were to learn in kindergarten, no matter what the color of their skin.

Celebrities: Another Species of Human

Dear Journal,

I have noticed that people are more concerned with the lives of celebrities than their own lives. People scream and yell at the sight or thought of meeting someone with more talent, money, or good looks than they have. Why is that? Do we people admire these celebrities so much that we must worship the ground they walk on? What makes these people different from the average Joe? We are all created the same as humans, yet we still see certain people as being much more important and watch their every move or action, judging them at every chance possible. There have been occurences to illustrate this and more are happening everyday for the next issue of YM or The Inquirer to report.
One occurence of celebrities being "more than human" has occured in the media recently, Oprah's jury duty. This one person out of of the thousands that recieve jury duty every year got tons of publicity just for interacting with a court of law. Now Oprah is a powerful and rich woman who doesn't need this extra attention, yet the public gives it to her anyway. All she did was do something a "normal" person would do and newsreporters report it like it was the greatest sacrifice of time for humanity ever by one woman. It makes no sense to obsess over the life of this one woman just because she is "famous" in the public eye.
Fans of the famous send thousands of flowers, gifts, e-mails, and letters to the actors, singers, and hosts, they clame to be in love with or idolize. How can anyone "love" someone or admire them when they haven't even knowingly been in with a 100 yards of them. We see faces on TV and so called perfect bodies in magazines and then assume we truely know these people through interviews and talk shows. None of us really know the celebrities that are out there and probably never will, so why devote so much time and money, in many cases, to their lives?
Another thing that occurs is the invasion of celebrity privacy which is the greatest example of celebrity obsession of have seen going on today. Not only are gifts sent by the thousands, but people have been recorded sneaking into hotels celebrities are staying at just to catch a glimpse of a person who should mean nothing to you, becuase you have no personal relationship with her at all. Many fans attempt to sneak back stage or fight past security just to get an autograph or touch the hand of a perfect stranger. Why do people go to these great lengths just to be able to tell others they met famous people or even worse, to satisfy their own unreasonable want to meet these people?
One other occurence, which people tend to over look, is the collection of autographs from "the rich and famous." Why are people so eager to get the signature of someone they have never met or held a conversation with? I can gaurantee that if all these people who do collect autographs had a personal relationship with a "star" she wouldn't want their signature any longer. Do any of us want a signed picture of our friends and family? Of course not so why should we want one of a singer or actor? The only good thing that can be done with an autograph is to ebay it to a member of the group of those hopelessly obsessed with celebrities.
I will never understand how a numorous amount of people who have money and fame can ultimately create their own world that a whole of the human population want to be a part of. Again I ask what makes these celebrities different from you and me? Also, how did this strange world of fame come about and why do we let ourselves get so caught up in it? The human population needs to stop worrying about the lives of the famous and worry about what is happening with themselves, their friends, families, and neighbors. There is no one with a perfect life so they should get to work on making their lives better instead of talking about who's dating Brittney Spears and other celebrities.