The truth is racism and homophobia is rife on the internet and more interestingly , behind closed doors . unfortunately for the subjects of homophobia and racism there’s nothing that can be done about it ,and nothing thst can be done about peoples personal opinions. That will never change. Even more unfortunate is the way that the victims of such behaviour try to get inside the homes and minds of the people who hold these thoughts , which just alienates them further.
I don't agree with that. I agree that its difficult to get people to change, but personal opinions do change as the culture changes. It just takes a long time and trying to force people to change entrenches opinions and can make it worse in the short term.
When i was at school in the early 80's, homophobia was normal and while racism wasn't tolerated in schools, my parents were still casually racist.
By the 90's, i had non white friends, and my parents generation where no longer telling the same racists jokes. Homophobia was still normal, and calling someone gay was a perfectly acceptable insult.
30 years on, my son's class is a mix of a number of races, and he is pretty much colour blind to it. He understands there are differences, but more down to culture than colour of skin. Homophobia isn't tolerated in schools in any form, and i'm not quite sure what my 11 year old son's take on it is as he's only just starting to understand there's a difference, but i've never heard him call someone gay as an insult.
My group of friends (late 40s-early 50s) remember the learnt prejudices from when we were young, but know that its not acceptable to make homophobic jokes etc or discriminate against someone on the grounds of their sexuality. Personally, i still find it repulsive to see men kissing in public, but i wouldn't not offer someone a job or discriminate in other ways against someone on the grounds of their sexuality. Consequently, i avoid situations where i'm likely to see the sort of thing that i don't like eg tv programmes or gay bars. But i accept it's my problem, not theirs.
Its taken a long time for culture to change to that point.
The next battle ground is going to be the trans debate. I do not agree that a man can claim to be women, just by saying that they feel like one. I do not agree that children should be allowed to undergo any kind of gender reassignment treatment until they have turned 18. I am genuinely concerned that this current push to educate children about gender fluidity just confuses them more when they're already going through a puberty and finding out about how they fit in their own, changing, bodies and the world around them. I am concerned that in 20 years time, we'll have created a very confused generation where the whole pro trans movement has created more problems than its solved.
Do i think that general view will change in the next 20-30 years? Probably.
Will my view change in that time? Probably a bit.
Will the current generation of kids have different views to me when they get to my age? Definitely.
