May 1, 2009  

This is my third installment of four that address the racism and prejudice problem. If you have gone through Stage One and Two already, I know that you will be equipped to a good job with Stage Three.

I have assembled a list of racism roots. I know already that many of you have been conditioned to reject the very idea that many of these promote and sustain prejudice. Many of you will take it personally. I won't apologize. My job for the last 50 years has been to solve problems — not make friends! I have few friends. I solved dozens of problems.
    Delusions abound and as they do, their deleterious effects on our community and our world are taking their toll. With that introduction, here is my list of roots that need to be destroyed — or at least begin to pay their way. I guarantee that when they have to pay their way, many of them will disappear.
    Our world is learning to come to grips with economic bail outs, bankruptcies, stimulation packages, unemployment, loss of homes, loss of health coverage, and the dissolution of artifical wealth. It might as well deal with racism and prejudice. It is about time.
    I welcome your suggestions for additons to this list:

Eliminate tax free status for all real estate

Eliminate tax free status for all cultural, religious, and fraternal/service organizations*

Eliminate special tax status for all citizens*

Eliminate government grants, subsidies and financial support for individuals, groups, and corporations including those devoted to heritage, religion and the arts or levy special taxes equal to any monies these groups receive from Provincial or Federal Governments *

Introduce a 50% surcharge on real estate taxes for any organization which restricts membership based on race, nationality, colour, creed, education or any other form of racism. Entities which rent facilities to such organizations are also subject to the 50% surcharge on their annual tax bill.

Create a policing agency for directors of not-for-profit organizations to enforce the requirement that they, their families and their friends are not allowed to personally profit from their post. (The rule may be on the books but Canada, Ontario and Thunder Bay have no enforement agencies for this injustice.)

Extend municipal boundaries in order to eliminate creation of tax havens

* A municipality would have to create special rules and by-laws to cover these items as they are normally governed by Federal and Provincial governments.

It may not be immediately apparent to the casual observor that the above actions will reduce prejudice and racism, especially if they haven't been through the first two stages. Until my next posting I will have to ask you to trust me that they will. I will explain more then as I address the final stage of my solution.

Stage Four – Bring our society together with healthy replacements for those divisive and/or inequitable conditions.

    I encourage you to leave a comment or question below, or send me an e-mail. I do know that the religious world will be more receptive to these changes if their congregrations will accept concepts from one who lives . . . without gods!  

                            Anton Kozlik
   

To view list of all posting that deal with prejudice, hate and racism, click here

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        *Terms and            Definitions
My articles may contain words or phrases that may infer different meanings to different readers, or the reader may be unfamiliar with the term or its definition. I feel it is important to know what the writer meant when he used a word or term.

racism and prejudice — Most definitions focus on racial superiority and miss the point that prejudice is really the root of racism. For example, one group may dwell in a swanky section of town. They are undesirable to the other townspeople who apply various forms of prejudice against them.
     Another more obvious example deals with religion. One religion exercises prejudice against members of another religion even when both religious groups are of identical racial, economic and national backgrounds — and worship the same God. They may never come into open conflict with each other but they are, in effect, practicing a form of prejudice — just a more civilized version so they believe it is acceptable. Families, however, will exert pressure to make sure that its members do not associate with the other guys, especially when it comes to finding a mate. Modern social practices have almost eliminated this one.
     Some forms of prejudice are difficult to isolate, as in this example. Most Italians will rally together as they defend Italy. But, among themselves, a serious prejudice becomes apparent when northern and southern Italians are forced together. Prisoner of war camps attest to this situation as Italians split into two encampments. Ask an Italian from the camps if this situation ever happened and they will deny it. You will get a different story from their prison guards.

cognitive dissonance —
Filtering out information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one’s beliefs.

Editors note: I will be repeating the “cognitive dissonance” definition for quite a while since it is practiced by so many — known by so few!