TE 250: Reading Response 1

As I began to read the article “The Trouble We’re In: Privilege, Power, and Difference” by A.G. Johnson, I was caught off guard by the fact that people judge others based on what they don’t know or understand about other races, genders, or ethnicities compared to what they have learned througout the years growing up. We subconsciously judge because of the fear of difference. If someone is different from us either by race, gender, ethnicity, etc. we find ourselves wondering why that person is the way they are and why they are not like us. This fear also stops us from being able to get along with those of different race, gender, ethnicity, etc. because we do not know how they will act or treat us because that is not what we learned in our society growing up.
Johnson discusses a diversity wheel in his article with different discriptions of people inside it. He tells the reader to look at each group and see where you fit in. Johnson then continues to tell the reader to think what would happen if you woke up the next day in a completely different social group either by race, gender, ethnicity, etc. As I did this, it made me realize that if I was a different gender, race, or sexual orientation I would be privaleged in some areas but less and it would be uncomfortable for me to adjust to such a change because of how I was raised. It is not easy for a privaleged person (even if they are only privaleged in one area) to give that up for a less privaleged social group.