Privilege, Oppression, and Difference

In Howard Zinn’s “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference,” the thesis of the chapter is “What makes socially constructed reality so powerful is that we rarely if ever experience it as that” (20). The main point of the argument is that there is no color difference between people but it is how we make it out to be.
As we grow up everyone is taught things differently through their families, friends, and where they grow up. Zinn says, “For all its popularity, the idea that everyone is naturally frightened by difference is a cultural myth that, more than anything, justifies keeping outsiders on the outside and treating them badly if they happen to get in” (13). This is saying people are welcoming to new things that are unknown but once they learn things about them they decide to not like them and treat them terribly. Like the Native Americans accepted the Europeans when they first met with open arms. The wheel created by Marilyn Loden and Judy Rosener, explains physical characteristics of humans but does not explain the personalities. This is a problem because every one has different personalities and is unique in their own way. People are just judging on their looks and not who they are but what they are. Certain words also create distance between liking someone or disliking them. An example from the book being the word disabled. Being in a wheel chair makes the person disabled because they cannot walk but people all the time get their eyes adjusted to make them have better eye sight (18-19). This could be classified as disable but since they are the popular crowd it is not considered being disabled. Privilege is something everyone enjoys when they have them but get angry when they are on the downside of the privilege. One of the main privileges that people say is being male. This is slowly declining and women are on the rise so both men and women have the same privileges. There will always be privileges on both sides that only men and women can have but most will be the same one day.
Why does racism come into play in separate countries? I agree with Zinn saying that when you visit other places you become the outsider. This is because you are new and they are afraid of what actions you may do. This comes from past actions of the race you part of and people usually expect the worst and do not give everyone an equal chance.
I was familiar with much of this chapter. Not all the details but had a general idea of everything that was told in this chapter. I agreed with Zinn and his ideas. It is terrible to believe that the world is like this but there is not much that can be done to prevent this.