The Five Pillars of Discrimination

In recent times, many people feel that global ideology regarding discrimination has evolved. While it has to a certain extent, there are still many issues in each form of discrimination. Some of the most common forms of discrimination are racism, religious bigotry, xenophobia, sexual orientation related, and gender-related. Due to the overarching significance of these five forms of discrimination, the project and community will be based upon these five pillars.

Arguably the most spoken-about discriminatory issue in the world is racism. Ranging from the BLM movement to simple school and workplace policies, people from many different backgrounds make an effort to combat racism, but in what ways does that differ. BLM believes in an “inclusive and spacious movement”, which is in line with the idea of respecting and including the other, and not just coexisting. The UN often mentions racial equality as what we should strive for; however, is equality truly enough? Equality would be more on the level of tolerance, meaning equal opportunity for all, without truly accepting the other.

In recent years, religious bigotry has become a more secondary form of discrimination in the eyes of many, yet it still holds the most historical significance. Whether looking at the holocaust in the 1940s, or the much more recent Muslim hate in France, which has taken the form of segregation, religious discrimination has always been an issue. This demonstrates that despite the almost unanimous thought that the holocaust was arguably one of the most horrific events in human history, people still feel ok belittling others because of their religion, putting into question if ideas are truly evolving for the better.

Xenophobia is a form of discrimination that is often confused with racism. While racism applies to a race, (ie. Asians), xenophobia applies to a country (ie. Chinese). A recent example of xenophobia within the US came during COVID, when many Chinese people received verbal and sometimes even physical abuse because “their people” caused the problem. In essence, people were associating COVID with Chinese people, and no matter if they had never been to China, they were all the cause. This is similar to associating a disease with a cause such as a punishment from god in the middle ages, only ideas have evolved from blaming god to a specific country.

For centuries women had been viewed by men as being a lesser being, an object, or even something they owned. The late 20th century saw women begin to get the rights they deserved, and today many would consider them to be equal to men, which is sadly not yet the case. In most developed countries, women are guaranteed maternity leave after having children. However, in the United States they are not. Another example is gender-based income inequality. Regardless of the progress most countries have seen over the past half-century, many countries, even those viewed as being developed, still have a long way to go.

The final central form of discrimination we want to cover is the issue of discrimination regarding one’s sexual orientation. When covering the topic, people generally think only of homophobia. However, while being the biggest form of this type of discrimination, there are others such as biphobia and heterophobia. While many societies have made significant progress by passing laws such as making homosexual marriage legal, there still are many issues. Even further than that, the fact that many people and societies refuse to even acknowledge the existence of certain sexual orientations is in and of itself a serious form of discrimination.

These five pillars are the roots of most forms of discrimination in our society and basing our project on these allows us to expand in whatever direction we wish to.