Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination on the Web Essay

People think that racism and discrimination doesn’t exist anymore, but surprisingly they do; both existed throughout human history. Discrimination may be defined as a negative, harmful behaviour toward people based on their group membership. Whereas prejudice which is an opinion rather than a fact; is a negative attitude toward members of a group, that is often very strongly held. Stereotypes are individuals’ beliefs that members of a group share particular attributes; someone might think that Arabs are terrorists, or doctors are intelligent and compassionate. Unlike prejudice and discrimination-terms that refer to negative attitudes or actions- stereotypes can be either positive or negative. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict will never end, and each individual has a different opinion about it. Ahmed Ramie is a Moroccan-Swedish writer and Holocaust denier, also the founder of the radio station Radio Islam which now operates as a website. Radio Islam is a website owned by a group of freedom fighters from different countries in support of Ahmed Ramie’s global struggle. Radio Islam is a website that is trying to promote better relations between the â€Å"West† and the Arab and Muslim World; it’s against racism of all kids and forms also against all kinds of discrimination of people based on their color of skin and faith. Meta-Stereotypes are a person’s belief about the stereotype that out-group members hold concerning his or her own group; for example Arabs would believe that Jews hold a negative stereotype of their group (terrorists). Meta-stereotype differs depending on each group; Arabs may hold negative stereotypes against Jews (Occupants). Each group may hold different opinions; Palestinians may consider that their victims of the chosen people (the Jews). Each group believes that they hold the right opinions about others and some of them would never change their opinion. Another hate site that depicts hate towards Jews is Kinsman Redeemer Ministrie, Pastor Mark Downe is strongly honest with his opinion towards Jews, and his title is why we hate Jews. Scapegoat theory is a theory proposing that prejudice occurs because members of dominant groups use discrimination against members of weak target groups to vent their frustration and disappointment. People become frustrated during difficult economic time and tend to take out their frustration on weak targets, for example Jews in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s when Hitler roused anger against Jews by claiming they had too much economic power and blaming them for the impact of the worldwide depression on Germany. Jews were an outcast that many Germans disliked, but when Hitler started his campaign of propaganda, some Germans followed his league. But there’s a difference between these two sites; Radio Islam is against Zionism not Judaism, where Kinsman Redeemer Ministries talks specifically about Jews and lists different reasons why people should hate them. One man started this propaganda and changed the whole world, now Hitler is gone but people still carry on with his campaign and spread the hate and racism among others. People should be more considerate about other peoples’ opinions and beliefs and not hurt them by hate websites or picking on them. Each person in this world is a unique individual who shouldn’t be judged based on his/her religion, color, sexuality or ethnicity. Prejudice against overweight women is common now a day, people who are overweight are the targets of widespread prejudice and discrimination, and they may find difficulties finding a job or travelling. Some groups hold hate towards other overweight people, they believe that the fat gene is not an excuse and obesity should not be common among us. If an obese saw a hate website about overweight groups they would feel ashamed and upset that they would eat more rather than fixing their problem. â€Å"Old-Fashioned† Prejudice is one of the forms of prejudice; the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is name of three distinct past and present right-wing organizations in the United States. After the American Civil War the KKK was created on December 24, 1865, this group represents the White Christian civilization they believe in many concepts and rights that should be essential to civilized and moral society. Some people might find them as ignorant and racist but they are certainly convinced about their beliefs and actions towards illegal immigrants and black people. On one of the hate websites KKK they mention white all the time that others might be offended and bothered, their mission is to live in a country with white people only. Again Frustration caused this group it started after the War before that people didn’t mind black people. Martin Luther King has become a human rights icon and he represented all African Americans; he fought for their rights since the 50’s. Throughout the history till the present African Americans still might feel discriminated and an outcast. Stereotypes is a huge effect on people and how they feel about others, a kid might not think of a Black man in the middle of the night as a killer or a thief but as this kid grows older and starts watching television and surfing the internet this persons’ thoughts will change and develop hate towards Black people and somehow fear. In all I would like to wrap up this assignment with saying that I’m totally against judging a book from its cover, some people might hate all Jews because some of them occupied Palestine or some Jews would hate all Germans because some of them slaughtered them. But I think that’s not only racist but it’s ignorant, all people should be treated the same and those hate websites can convince teenagers to turn into a hater and I’m surprised how they exist from the first place. Websites I visited: -http://radioislam. org/islam/english/index_zion1. htm -http://www. kinsmanredeemer. com/WhyWeHateJews. htm -http://ihatefatpeople. wordpress. com/ -http://www. kkk. bz/.