Pigments and Personal Histories

Maybe it's because I'm in New York City. Maybe it's because I'm in a very liberal college. Maybe it's because I'm studying psychology in a liberal school and it, therefore, has a very liberal bias. Maybe it's me. 

We're all people. We have skin, it has pigment. We have history, it comes from different countries of origin. We have varying paychecks. We have internal or external sex organs. We all inhale and exhale. We all blink. We sleep and we chew our food. 

I don't watch Miss America, I admit it. You don't have to either. You can even dislike it. Dislike it because it's sexist. Dislike it because it stresses superficial aesthetics and standardized body sizes and shapes. Or you might like it. Do whatcha please.

However, though I don't watch the pageant and did not watch this last pageant, I have definitely heard more than enough about it. Miss New York, a woman of Indian descent, won. I did not know this until I heard about the repercussions from this decision and heard the racist, ignorant, completely unfounded remarks that people have been making about her. People have been calling her an arab, al-qaeda member, saying that it's a complete disgrace of a decision to be made so close to the anniversary of 9/11 (since we were obviously attacked by India, which is the same as al-Qaeda in case you didn't know - please note the sarcasm). 

I'm completely flabbergasted. Sure, I'm an eternal optimist, but the awful things that people have said sound so un-American (like it or not, we're a melting pot and always have been), so un-2013 (aren't we getting somewhere?), so un-human. This is by far the hardest post I've had to write so far for all of the constraint I'm using to not write exactly what I'm thinking.  

A Thought: Think about what you write, post, and/or publish before you do. Please. It becomes public, permanent, and is subjected to the eyes of people who may not know or understand you. You may also enrage a lot of people for a thought that could easily just stay in your own head.

A Find: A little off topic and a little nerdy, but I just received my DSM-5 in the mail and am so excited. Whether you're pro diagnoses or against them, the DSM-5 has some really awesome revisions (a sign of a slightly more progressive time) and is a fascinating look at what the human brain/mind is capable of (whether in positive ways or potentially negative ways).