As the presidential elections grow closer and closer, the tension between everyone and their different opinions seems to be growing. You know what else seems to be growing? The sensitivity everyone feels about literally everything. By god, people, we can't go a single day without making a random situation an attack against us or a group we identify with!
Within the first paragraph, I've already offended the most sensitive people of the bunch. Honestly, though, us Americans can complain and start uproars about anything when it benefits us. The people who seem to be constantly offended are people claiming they are oppressed at every given opportunity. Now, I get that there are still many problems our country needs to work out and there are idiots out there constantly putting others down for one reason or another, but really? Are you the victim in every situation that the media feeds you?
Recommended for you
The major problem with our country, or at least one of the apparent problems, is that the media has become a true master of manipulating what we view and how we view the groups/individuals they are covering. Everything is a racial issue, everything is a gender issue, everything is a sexual issue, everything is an issue! How about we step back and realize for one second that we are blowing most the things we hear about out of proportion.
I can't go a day without someone getting upset for being shot down or oppressed for one reason or another. Without the mention of it, they resort to the fact they are "a woman" or "black" or "trans". Clearly, people are only told they can't do something or that they're not good enough for something because they're one of the things listed above or they come up with another reason for it.
I heard about an African-American woman whose check at the bank was declined by the front desk employees. Frankly, the man who denied her was an idiot, but nowhere, and I mean nowhere in the article I saw did it mention her skin color. Actually, the only reason I knew her skin color was because of her picture used as the cover. She claimed it was a racial issue, despite not a single thing being mentioned about it! True, there are people out there who are racist, ignorant jerks, but don't jump to conclusions about it! Many people don't like me too, but I don't immediately assume it's my color! No; I quickly assume I insulted them or maybe, just maybe, our personalities don't mix.
How about this? A gay, teen couple were approached by the clowns going around the state. The car pulled up and the clowns scared them. Why? Well, from what I've heard, it was because they were holding hands. Clearly, that was their only motivation! What?! These clowns were going around scaring anyone they could find! Why did we have to bring the fact that they were a gay couple!? Actually, if I had not mentioned they were gay, we would assume they were just a batch of unlucky teens. Nope. Now that we know they're gay, that must be the reason they were approached. No other explanation, it was because they were gay. Seriously? That had nothing to do with it.
And my personal favorite, women who are constantly throwing a fit about anything that involves "men being superior." I'll just say it now; men are better are some things as a majority, women are better at other things as a majority. Did I say either sex couldn't do what the other is doing? No! But someone will assume that's what I'm implying because I said men were better at something! Heaven forbid men do anything well anymore.
I can't say anything complimentary about men without someone somewhere telling me a woman can do it just as well, if not better. Oh, my good golly gosh, calm down! Apparently, from what I've heard, men can't do anything or say anything with the fact that a woman can do it too being mentioned. Moreover, women, apparently, have to constantly prove themselves day in and day out and show the world how great they are. Don't you ever get tired of trying to prove your worth?
If I say, "It's more of a guy thing," I've suddenly offended anyone who wants to make sure I know how capable a woman is of doing it too! When I say "guy-thing" versus "girl-thing", I often mean that the majority of people doing the said activity are of that gender! I never said you couldn't do it too, I just know more of one gender does it! Why is that so complicated and offensive to people?
Let us not forget about how if a man receives a position, promotion, or anything before a woman does, it's because that person believes men are superior and can handle the position better. Here's a crazy concept: maybe that man is just better than that woman at the position! If it were the other way around, no one would bat an eye. Hell, we would probably celebrate our sudden breakthrough in the workforce! I've lost to men before and I never assumed it was because I was a woman! Actually, the thought never occurred to me until I got to college and it was the only thing people could think of to explain an unfortunate situation.
Listen, I'm not a rich, white man whose opinion no longer matters because we've allowed their opinion to be the only one that matters for too long. I'm a bi-racial woman with sub-par intelligence, a big mouth, little patience, no political experience, and the unfortunate luck of being a millennial. Why did I say unfortunate? Because the majority of people who are constantly complaining about life and how awful it is are, you guessed it, millennials. Am I complaining right now? Sure, but maybe it's a race or gender issue, I have yet to decide which one I'm going to pull.
I'm at the point where literally anything I say is going to offend someone somewhere and I'm over it. If I upset you for a legit reason, tell me, but don't pull the race card, the sex card, or the whatever card you can come up with in that moment. Why does everything have to be a personal issue for everyone? Why can't we accept the fact that when something happens, there is probably a reason for it and the gender, sexual identity, or race of the person is just a side note. When was the last time we looked at someone's personality and judged that rather than looked at the situation, saw a minority, and assumed it was for that reason someone is being "oppressed."
We've made great strides in trying to fix equality in our country, but we still have a long way to go before it's perfect. True, there are plenty of people in this country who berate the minority groups; one of them is running for president! And yes, there are hate crimes targeted towards a minority group. These are the things that will never go away. It's not what we like to believe, but it's true. There will always be someone in the world who hates another person for a stupid reason like gender, race, etc. However! As a whole, in this country, we are not doing that bad, especially compared to where we were only 50 years ago! It's no help that the media fuels this anger and that our generation eats it up because we want to feel important! How do we feel important? By making the situation apply to us and consider it a personal attack. The reason? We usually come up with the most convenient one.
Quit forcing our country to take the big steps back just so you can feel like you're pushing us forward.
