False Perceptions in Life

Race

In our modern world, people develop false perceptions of others that are sometimes based on learned behaviors, or things that they have witnessed in life. These false perceptions continue to dominate the contemporary world at a time when societies are becoming more diverse. Modern societies across the globe comprise of people from different nationalities, races, and ethnic backgrounds. The diversity has had positive impacts since it contributes to increased interconnectedness of people from different parts of the world including the remote parts. However, diversity is also associated with some negative impacts that translate to its discontents, particularly in relation to the development of false perceptions of others. As globalization continues to dominate today’s world, its important to examine these false perceptions and develop measures to address them in order to promote unity in modern societies. This paper discusses a false perception people have in life and how those beliefs extend from individual attributes or factors.
A False Perception
An individual’s growth and development is characterized by development of perceptions about others that could either be true or false. Perception is a powerful tool that creates a person’s truth through determining his/her beliefs and actions upon that belief. In essence, perception not only determines an individual’s view of life and others, but also influences his/her behavior. Consequently, when an individual refuse to allow flexibility in his/her perceptions, he/she closes his/her mind to possibility and even truth in some cases. People treat others and behave in certain ways based on the perceptions they have about life and other people. In light of the increased diversity of the modern society, people have continued to develop false perceptions about others based on their experiences in life and learned behaviors.
An example of a false perception that people have in life is racial categorization that is based on the physical attributes of an individual rather than who they really are. Even though the modern world is increasingly diverse, racial categorization is a false perception that has continued to dominates societies, particularly in the United States. Racial categorization continues to dominate modern societies despite the fact that race and gender are social constructions rather than physical attributes. Racial categorization has in turn created racial tensions, which have affected how people from certain races treat others from different races. At the center of racial categorization is the belief that whites are superior than people from other races such as Hispanics, Indians, and blacks. The consideration of whites as superior is rooted in the history of the United States, particularly during slavery. While numerous efforts have been undertaken to deal with racial tensions and discrimination, racial categorization is a false perception people have in life.
The 2005 film, Crash, highlights this negative false perception through portraying the struggles of the district attorney of L.A. to find an African American he can reward publicly in order to salvage his public image among African American voters. The district attorney identifies a certain “black” firefighter who was recently heroic in his job. However, while the district attorney is told that the firefighter is actually Iraqi, he proceeds with his plans by convincing himself that he looks black. Therefore, this district attorney makes his decision about the firefighter based on his physical appearance instead of his (the firefighter) real cultural or national heritage. The movie also has another scene of racial categorization in which a detective refers to his lover as Mexican. According to the detective, his lover is Mexican because of her physical attributes rather than actual cultural or national heritage. On the contrary, the detective’s lover has no Mexican heritage and is neither Mexican since her father is from Puerto Rico while the mother is from El Salvador (Haggis, 2005).
These two scenes in the movie highlight a false perception of racial categorization in which people are considered to be from certain races on the basis of their appearance or physical attributes instead of their heritage. In these incidents, people make judgments of others based on the color of their skin and presume to know them based on their appearance. This demonstrates how racial categorization is a false perception that is influenced by physical attributes and appearance instead of the cultural/national heritage.
In his article, Diversity and Its Discontents, Madrid (1990) highlights how racial categorization is a false perception that creates racial tensions through his experiences. Despite being American, people do not consider Madrid to be American because he has different physical appearance, speech patterns, name, and profession as a professor of Spanish (Madrid, 1990, p.15). People use his physical attributes, appearance, name and speech to classify him as non-American despite his strong American heritage that is traced back to his great-grandparents whose roots can be traced back to Plymouth Rock. Madrid is not considered American by others simply because of his physical appearance instead of his national/cultural heritage.
Beliefs that Shape the False Perception
Racial categorization is a false perception that extends from physical appearance, race, ethnicity, and group affiliation. As previously mentioned, one of the major aspects of racial categorization is the consideration of certain races as superior to others. This has been a major issue, particularly because some whites consider themselves superior to other races, which in turn results in unfair treatment of others and racial tensions. Based on the consideration of superiority, it is assumed that people from other races cannot speak fluent English or have similar capabilities as whites. The experiences of Madrid highlights how race, physical appearance, ethnicity, and group affiliation influences racial categorization. Despite being American and possessing similar attributes to whites in terms of speech, Madrid is not considered American. This is primarily because of the belief that people who look like him in terms of physical appearance, race, and group affiliation do not have abilities to speak or behave like whites. His physical appearance is used as the premise for judging him without consideration of his national or cultural heritage.
Similarly, the two scenes in the movie portray how racial categorization is influenced by physical appearance and group affiliation without consideration of the individual’s cultural or national heritage. The district considered the Iraqi to be African American simply because he looked black and without consideration of whether he was actually African American. In this case, the firefighter is considered to be affiliated to the African American race simply because he looks black. Similarly, detective considers his lover to be Mexican simply because of physical appearance and group affiliation instead of actual national/cultural heritage. Therefore, physical appearance and group affiliation is used as the premise for determining the race or ethnicity of the detective’s lover.
In conclusion, people develop false perceptions in life based on their experiences and learned behaviors. These perceptions continue to dominate interactions between people in today’s society despite rapid technological advancements and increased globalization. While diversity has helped to enhance interconnectivity of people across the globe, it has also facilitated false perceptions of others. An example of a false perception that people have in life is racial categorization, which is depicted in Diversity and Its Contents and the film, Crash. This false perception is fueled by beliefs regarding physical appearance, race, ethnicity, and group affiliation as shown in this discussion.
References
Madrid, A. (1990, Nov-Dec). Diversity and Its Discontents. Academe, 76(6), 15-19.
Haggis, P. (Director) (2005). Crash [Motion Picture]. United States: Bob Yari Productions.