It is weird were ideas can spring from or where insight can be gained. If you’re anything like me, thoughts will pop up seemingly out of nowhere. The other day I was working on a little project. Actually, I was trying to put some drawings on the fan art section of a site. I had a few drawings that I’d just done and I figured I’d scan the drawings and figure it out from there.
Any way, I was having some issues getting the images to scan. I would align the page all nice and then push scan….and the drawing’s head would get cut off every time. This was getting a little frustrating. I didn’t know why the head of the person in the drawing kept getting chopped off. Then I remembered that this particular printer would only scan if it thinks there is something present. In other words, a piece of paper with two words on it would only show up as those two words, not the rest of the paper. Does that make sense?
So I deduced that the head of the drawing was getting cut off because the printer did not “see” that portion of the picture. It was lightly done and certain pictures I did with simple pen-dot pointillism (composing a picture with only dots) so that also made it harder to see. I found the solution. I took a black Sharpie and sliced a line across the top and bottom of each drawing. I scanned again. Finally I could see the picture, and I could see I had another random topic for a ProgressiveU blog post.
My printer only sees what it wants to see. I had to trick it --force it--to see further in order to get the entire image. This could be applied to the real world. The printer is a narrow-minded person. The scanning process is perception. A narrow minded person won’t want to see more than they already do. It might be on the subject of racism or politics or some other topic where a person does not wish to see other points of view or heed someone’s opinion. If a prejudiced person were forced, like my printer, to see the whole picture, there wouldn’t be problems with racism or sexism.
How exactly do I propose this “forcing the prejudiced to see” ? Maybe it’s not so much that these people need to be forced to see another perspective, but still exposed to it. A personal experience would work best, not lecture. I think there should be programs in schools that promote ethnic diversity: perhaps it could be a certain day every year. There could be games and prizes…a regular ethnic carnival! Everyone would be paired with someone of a contrasting race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
I’m down right philosophical when I feel like it!
*snicker*
This is a really cute post; but people aren't printers. They aren't simple machines, and often will rebel against "being forced." In my opinion, the only way to promote ethnic diversity is through living it every day, and especially through teaching children by example. Aka don't be a teacher who is constantly saying, "My gay friend..." or "My black friend..." but instead actually demonstrate you are comfortable with these people, have them around, and then the kids will be comfortable and accepting too. That's real diversity, rather than fake, fa-la-la diversity.
This is what I meant to show. You can't force people to be accepting, but perhaps they can learn by example and interaction.