I know that we like to keep things fun here (I like to keep things fun everywhere!) But it's been in the news so much and everyone's talking about it, so I may as well too!
We all know that there's been a lot of talk about race with regards to Harry and Megan and the race row between Lady Susan Hussey and charity founder Ngozi Fulani. Prior to that there was outrage about the World Cup being held in Qatar due to their stance on gay relationships. Then of course there's Islamophobia, mysogyny, misandry... the list is endless. It appears that these days, you can't switch on the news without hearing about some mistreatment aimed at a particular section of society.
I'm a straight, middle-aged white woman with two mixed race kids. I'm not at all naïve to think that bigotry and prejudice don't exist in the twenty-first century because they do. You only have to read/watch the news and listen to other people's experiences to know that it's still here. But the question is have things, got better over the years?
I was born in the mid seventies and grew up in the eighties. They weren't perfect times but they weren't diastrous either. At least not for me. I did experience what we now know to be xenophobia because I had an Italian dad and furthermore my mum, for a time, was a single mum, so there was a stigma attached to being a child from a divorced household. I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones despite this because i know other people had it worse. Today my children also have divorced parents but I've never known anyone to throw that as a slur at them. I also know children who have gay parents and they haven't been bullied or ostracized at school, whereas during my school days it would have been a very different story.
In some ways, I think that society has come a long way. But then in others I think that we still have a very long way to go. I'd like to know what everyone else makes of it. I know that this is a very sensitive topic so I apologize if anyone finds this post triggering. That was not my intention. Just one of my many ponderings!
A lot of you here are in agreement that things have got better over the years but there is still loads of room for improvement. Well I disagree. I would say that we're still at the same level of tolerance that we were say 60 years ago or so but in a different way. We are more accepting, no supportive of the LGTBQI community, but we call to cancel celebrities who don't share our views. We talk about equality but we look down on men who choose to stay at home and run the household while his wife goes out to work. We cut ourselves off from family and friends who don't share our religious/political views. Every day there's a growing list of words we're no longer allowed to use, and we shame people who use them even if they didn't know. There are TV shows that will no longer be broadcast for fear of causing offence.
I'm sure you all get the picture. It's like we take one step forward and another one back, so we're not really going anywhere. I think there will always be a level of intolerance and injustice in the world that will never go away. It's just that during different times, it will be felt by different sections of society.
I'm of Irish descent, born and raised in London. I remember a lot of older people who had arrived in England in the 50s talked about how hard it was to find a place to rent because nobody wanted to rent out their place to Irish people. And of course there are people of other nationalities who have said the same. Unfortunately I'm not just talking about the 50s but in more recent times. Hard to believe but it still happens. Yes there have been lots of changes and things have improved but as everyone says... Still a long way to go.
I would like to say yes on the whole but as everyone says there's still more change that needs to come before things get to be as close to perfect as possible. But I know things will never be perfect completely. When I was much younger there was a lot of racism, homophobia, sexism. We didn't really know much about trans people back then so there wasn't any transphobia that I knew of. That came along much later. Along with Islamophobia unfortunately. Also I grew up in a place where lots of kids had divorced parents and half or step siblings. A lot of those kids were given a hard time - especially if they went to a Catholic school like I did. My best friend at secondary school used to date boys outside of her race and as a result she got given a really hard time by her family who had their prejudices to put it mildly.
However all this was back in the 1980s-1990s, and I am a divorced single mother myself now. I was in a mixed marriage and I have two mixed race children and my kids are indeed half siblings. Once upon a time these things would have been frowned upon but now it's hardly the scandal it once was. It's not such a talking point and nothing for the neighbours to be twitching the curtains over. I would have to repeat what's already been said here in that, yes a lot of things HAVE changed but there's still more progress to be made.
The neighbours twitching the curtains! LOL! You still get a lot of curtain twitchers unfortunately but with regards to the subjects you've talked about, things have changed a lot and for the better.
I believe that the world is always progressing and changing for the better as we get new information, learn new methods for doing things and challenge attitudes that we once felt were acceptable. For this reason I do feel that the society we live in is much more accepting and tolerant than it used to be. A lot of times when stories make the news it's because of something or someone quite exceptional. Like situations involving Harry and Meghan for example. And then we feel that we're going backwards instead of forwards.
I grew up in a small town with divorced parents and my mom raised me and my sister by herself. While there was nothing catastrophic that happened, my mom did have to put up with whispers and stupid things being said as often happens in a small town. I am in an interracial relationship, and that's not something you often see where I'm from. I was a little worried when I first brought him there as I didn't know what he would encounter but I'd say for the most part, everything was fine.
So yeah I think things are getting better but as others have said we still have a ways to go.
Talking of Harry and Meghan, you're right. We had one of our top presenters here in Britain say some vile things about Meghan. In a civilized and advanced society, people ought to know not to say such things. Just one example of why everyone here has said that we still have a long way to go. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64080863
Times have got so much better with regards to certain issues and sections of society. But are we there yet? No! Do We have a long way to go? Yes! But that said the time we live in is so much different to say my nan's time or my mum's nan's time. My nan might be trying to get her head around certain things but I wonder how my great-nan might have coped with it all. The world we live in today is a very different one to the world she grew up in. And that's a good thing. It's great that people are so much more accepting of things like gay marriage and interracial relationships. But sadly there's a lot of incredibly stupid people out there who have no desire to live and let live, and until that changes, we're always going to have problems. Maybe not as bad as before but problems will still persist.
To answer this question I think it depends on where you live, the kind of people you are around and your experiences. I have only lived in two places: India and America. As a child living up in India, I would say that things there were not so tolerant. People couldn't accept even if you married another caste let alone another religion/race/nationality. And as for gay and transgender issues, forget it! Then of course there were issues around women's rights. But it was another time and I'm pleased to say that in the last ten to fifteen years, such ideas have started to change. Unfortunately there are people who live in remote villages or have little education and don't have much understanding of life today. But there are a lot of very open minded people in India who are changing the way they view things.
I would say that America has always been more tolerant and open minded with certain issues even though my Montana born and raised girlfriend will disagree saying that there are many parts of America where people's viewpoints are somewhat behind with the times.
And I'm right. There are parts of America that have quite a ways to got before they reach the twenty first century. LOL! But we didn't fare too bad when we took a trip back to the old place again.
A lot of you here are in agreement that things have got better over the years but there is still loads of room for improvement. Well I disagree. I would say that we're still at the same level of tolerance that we were say 60 years ago or so but in a different way. We are more accepting, no supportive of the LGTBQI community, but we call to cancel celebrities who don't share our views. We talk about equality but we look down on men who choose to stay at home and run the household while his wife goes out to work. We cut ourselves off from family and friends who don't share our religious/political views. Every day there's a growing list of words we're no longer allowed to use, and we shame people who use them even if they didn't know. There are TV shows that will no longer be broadcast for fear of causing offence.
I'm sure you all get the picture. It's like we take one step forward and another one back, so we're not really going anywhere. I think there will always be a level of intolerance and injustice in the world that will never go away. It's just that during different times, it will be felt by different sections of society.
I'm of Irish descent, born and raised in London. I remember a lot of older people who had arrived in England in the 50s talked about how hard it was to find a place to rent because nobody wanted to rent out their place to Irish people. And of course there are people of other nationalities who have said the same. Unfortunately I'm not just talking about the 50s but in more recent times. Hard to believe but it still happens. Yes there have been lots of changes and things have improved but as everyone says... Still a long way to go.
I would like to say yes on the whole but as everyone says there's still more change that needs to come before things get to be as close to perfect as possible. But I know things will never be perfect completely. When I was much younger there was a lot of racism, homophobia, sexism. We didn't really know much about trans people back then so there wasn't any transphobia that I knew of. That came along much later. Along with Islamophobia unfortunately. Also I grew up in a place where lots of kids had divorced parents and half or step siblings. A lot of those kids were given a hard time - especially if they went to a Catholic school like I did. My best friend at secondary school used to date boys outside of her race and as a result she got given a really hard time by her family who had their prejudices to put it mildly.
However all this was back in the 1980s-1990s, and I am a divorced single mother myself now. I was in a mixed marriage and I have two mixed race children and my kids are indeed half siblings. Once upon a time these things would have been frowned upon but now it's hardly the scandal it once was. It's not such a talking point and nothing for the neighbours to be twitching the curtains over. I would have to repeat what's already been said here in that, yes a lot of things HAVE changed but there's still more progress to be made.
I believe that the world is always progressing and changing for the better as we get new information, learn new methods for doing things and challenge attitudes that we once felt were acceptable. For this reason I do feel that the society we live in is much more accepting and tolerant than it used to be. A lot of times when stories make the news it's because of something or someone quite exceptional. Like situations involving Harry and Meghan for example. And then we feel that we're going backwards instead of forwards.
I grew up in a small town with divorced parents and my mom raised me and my sister by herself. While there was nothing catastrophic that happened, my mom did have to put up with whispers and stupid things being said as often happens in a small town. I am in an interracial relationship, and that's not something you often see where I'm from. I was a little worried when I first brought him there as I didn't know what he would encounter but I'd say for the most part, everything was fine.
So yeah I think things are getting better but as others have said we still have a ways to go.
Times have got so much better with regards to certain issues and sections of society. But are we there yet? No! Do We have a long way to go? Yes! But that said the time we live in is so much different to say my nan's time or my mum's nan's time. My nan might be trying to get her head around certain things but I wonder how my great-nan might have coped with it all. The world we live in today is a very different one to the world she grew up in. And that's a good thing. It's great that people are so much more accepting of things like gay marriage and interracial relationships. But sadly there's a lot of incredibly stupid people out there who have no desire to live and let live, and until that changes, we're always going to have problems. Maybe not as bad as before but problems will still persist.
To answer this question I think it depends on where you live, the kind of people you are around and your experiences. I have only lived in two places: India and America. As a child living up in India, I would say that things there were not so tolerant. People couldn't accept even if you married another caste let alone another religion/race/nationality. And as for gay and transgender issues, forget it! Then of course there were issues around women's rights. But it was another time and I'm pleased to say that in the last ten to fifteen years, such ideas have started to change. Unfortunately there are people who live in remote villages or have little education and don't have much understanding of life today. But there are a lot of very open minded people in India who are changing the way they view things.
I would say that America has always been more tolerant and open minded with certain issues even though my Montana born and raised girlfriend will disagree saying that there are many parts of America where people's viewpoints are somewhat behind with the times.