Isn't it ironic how in western society, we crave darker skin (as seen by the surplus amount of tanning salons), but white supremacy still exist?
Isn't it ironic, how in Eastern society, we crave lighter skin (as seen through the surplus amount of bleaching cream adverts), but there's still stigma surrounding white culture?
Having lived in England for pretty much all of my life and having grown up attending an all girls school, I've become accustomed to the popularity of fake tans.
Party coming up? Fake tan.
Birthday? Fake tan.
Summer? Maybe go for a real tan.
People lust over achieving that sun-kissed look because they think it helps define beauty what beauty is.
On the flip side of things, certain places in South Asia (namely Pakistan and India), people dream of having whiter skin, because in their society, this is what is considered the epitome of beauty. (Seriously, it's like someone could reject your hand in marriage because your skin is more pigmented- *rolls eyes forever*)
So, just to recap:
- In white society, people crave darker skin
- In brown society, people crave lighter skin
And this tells us:
- Both societies put us down for not having the perfect skin tone
- which in turn makes us feel like crap
- so we turn to tanning salons and bleaching creams to fill the growing void inside us
- but we should really just accept ourselves as who we are
- screw you society
So, in Western society, we may love being tanned, but we also love being white: white supremacy.
Note: this is not an idea all white people, or even the majority of white people seem to agree with.
You may think racism is over, but boy are you wrong!
Did you know there were more than 87 000 racist incidents in schools across the UK in 2012? That's pretty much teaching kids that it's okay to make fun of someone because of where they're from (boo).
Now, back to South Asia: when I visited there this summer, I couldn't help but notice that people there were less open change, I guess.
Note: this again does not apply to all Pakistanis and Indians.
For instance, the LGBT community is something which is a lot more accepted in England. This is probably down to a few things: the media not including lesbian/bi/trans characters in TV shows; religion; etc.
So, don't you find it ironic that:
- In white society, people crave darker skin
- But some (not the majority) of these people may believe being white is the same as being the best
- In brown society, people crave lighter skin
- But, white culture may not be accepted by many
So, what I'm trying to say is that, society will supply you with a vast amount of crap, and all you've really got to do it accept yourself and others for who they really are.
All my thoughts are prayers go out to those affected in Paris.
Going through my timeline on various social media, I've seen mixed responses to the monstrous attack that happened yesterday. Most-if not all- people have changed their profile picture, showing they stand behind Paris. This makes my heart swell a little; maybe not all humanity is lost.
However, over the last couple of years,we've witnessed an unfortunate amount of terrorist attacks , and in most cases, the victims did not receive nearly enough support.
Do you remember the 2014 attack on the Peshawar school? 141 killed. 132 of them were children. We dismissed it pretty fast, assuming atrocities like this to be the norm in somewhere like Pakistan. But did you know that during this attack, masked murderers poured fuel over a teacher's head and made ten year olds watch as she was burned to the stake? This is not the norm.
More recently, hardly any media coverage was given to the families of the 282 victims of the Lebanon attack, where corpses were found scattered all over the streets. Do these lives not matter?
At least 19 were killed in Baghdad, attending a funeral on Friday. A funeral.
And what about the numerous cowardly attacks that go on in Syria every day? Why do we only recognise the absolute horror of them when they hit close to home?
Why did we not change our profile pictures when these unjust tragedies happened? Why did countries worldwide only light up their buildings when terrorism hit France? No one life holds any greater importance than another.
So, of course I am praying for Paris, but I am also praying for Pakistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and wherever else terrorists have struck.
The second thing I noticed as I scrolled through Facebook and Twitter was the incomprehensible amount of Muslims actively saying they condemn what happened in Paris, and that they are not terrorists. This goes unsaid.
It's sickening to think that every time something awful happens in the world, the majority of the time, Muslims are at the backlash of it. Why should they have to keep defending themselves if they're innocent?
As much as Fox News would hate to admit, not all Muslims are terrorists and not all terrorists are Muslims.
That's all there really is to it.
