I'm sure that many have heard of Albert Einstein's Relativity Theory at some point of their lives. To break it down, it means nothing is set in stone so therefore everything is up for interpretation. With that said, anything seen, heard, done can be percieved differently by different people.
An important thing to remember is someone's perception is their reality. Perception can be influenced by past experiences, environment, culture, the media, beliefs, attitudes, genetics...a number of things. For example the delusions and hallucinations a person with schizophrenia experience is their reality because they see and hear them. It doesn't matter if no one else does because that's how the world is to that person because the hallucinations and delusions are how their brain is percieving the world making it their reality.
Now let's apply this to everyday life. Let's use both people that are very well off and the impoverished. I say both groups live in bubbles because neither group is exposed to much outside of their immediate environment. Because of this lack of exposure, the rich are unable to see the poor's plight and the poor are unable to see a way out of their situation because they're not percieving these things in their immediate environment...it's a part of their "reality".
I'm also going to apply this perception is reality to stereotypes and prejudice. If a person's knowledge of a certain race, culture, sexuality, or socioeconomic status comes from the news, media, the prejudices of people of their life and good or bad the prejudices they are percieving are the person's reality. Reinforcements in the form of news reports, media, life experiences, etc., are stregthening the reality of the prejudice causing the person to generalize that all people of that race, culture, socieoeconomic status are what they percieve. Prejudice (coming from their reality) can create assumptions, which may or may not be true, and that can create some disasterous situations.
How can we prevent such situations? Two things have to happen: New information has to be presented and the people have to be open to the new information. Ignorance is bliss and new information may not be what they want to know. People get comfortable with their reality. It may also help to stop glorifying and reinforcing negavive stereotypes regardless of your culture, skin color, or how much (or little) you make. People are not going to see things differently if they are percieving the same things over and over. For change to happen a lot of people have to get involved and create enough stir to create a situation that change is the only option (peacefully).
With that said, what are you going to do to change reality?
Take care,
-Kimmy
An important thing to remember is someone's perception is their reality. Perception can be influenced by past experiences, environment, culture, the media, beliefs, attitudes, genetics...a number of things. For example the delusions and hallucinations a person with schizophrenia experience is their reality because they see and hear them. It doesn't matter if no one else does because that's how the world is to that person because the hallucinations and delusions are how their brain is percieving the world making it their reality.
Now let's apply this to everyday life. Let's use both people that are very well off and the impoverished. I say both groups live in bubbles because neither group is exposed to much outside of their immediate environment. Because of this lack of exposure, the rich are unable to see the poor's plight and the poor are unable to see a way out of their situation because they're not percieving these things in their immediate environment...it's a part of their "reality".
I'm also going to apply this perception is reality to stereotypes and prejudice. If a person's knowledge of a certain race, culture, sexuality, or socioeconomic status comes from the news, media, the prejudices of people of their life and good or bad the prejudices they are percieving are the person's reality. Reinforcements in the form of news reports, media, life experiences, etc., are stregthening the reality of the prejudice causing the person to generalize that all people of that race, culture, socieoeconomic status are what they percieve. Prejudice (coming from their reality) can create assumptions, which may or may not be true, and that can create some disasterous situations.
How can we prevent such situations? Two things have to happen: New information has to be presented and the people have to be open to the new information. Ignorance is bliss and new information may not be what they want to know. People get comfortable with their reality. It may also help to stop glorifying and reinforcing negavive stereotypes regardless of your culture, skin color, or how much (or little) you make. People are not going to see things differently if they are percieving the same things over and over. For change to happen a lot of people have to get involved and create enough stir to create a situation that change is the only option (peacefully).
With that said, what are you going to do to change reality?
Take care,
-Kimmy
No comments:
Post a Comment