Otherness...

In class, we talked about "otherness". The articles we read deals with how society deals with that "otherness" to bring advantage to the majority group. The word "otherness" is such a relative term. In America, if you have big eyes and blond, you would not stand out very much. However, if you are walking in the streets of China or Korea, you would stand out, and people will look at you. It might be the stare of envy because of your large eyes, or stare of curiosity or something else. The point is that certain traits that is prized in one culture might be looked differently in another culture.

The movie clip "Talk" we watched in class portrays a good example of this. In our current society, people with disability falls under the "other" category. They are seen to be unfit for the society and burdens for the society. However, when the perspective is turned around, and everyone else but one person has disability, the person without disability becomes the "other". Some one in class mentioned that oftentimes we don't know what do to with differences, so people just put those who do not fall into the category of normal into the "other" category. But none us are the same. We are all different. We come from different parts of the world, we have different height, facial features, body sizes and speak different language. If we don't tolerate people who are different, and if we all strive for one idea, we are not human beings. We become cookie cutter factory product.