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Joshua Mickelsen

English 1050

Essay 2

Entitlement and Precedence

In our modern-day world, there is more information available in a newspaper than was

available to the general population in the 1600s. So much knowledge and wisdom is being

passed on to us all the time that it is oftentimes just plain silly that there are issues among

people of different races, genders, or even classes. The grand majority of people in this country

do not have a problem with differences between us, it is the small percentage of people on

either end of the spectrum that do. With that idea in mind, we know that historically there has

been a very big problem with treatment of others, and many have had to fight to be considered

equal in even the simplest of regards. While problems of race are not nearly as extreme as they

used to be, they still exist in some regard. However, it has been seen repeatedly that history

tends to repeat itself, and efforts have been replaced in other areas of life that people disagree

with because it is against the norm, and radical ideas have the ability to change the way of life

they feel entitled to, and the only wat to fix it is to continue fighting for true equality.

In order to understand mistreatment of others, one has to understand the idea of

precedent, that is to say the ideas that are accepted by society and difficult to go against. It has

long been a treatment of men to treat women as second class or beneath them. It makes it

easy to blame your problems on someone else in this case. In world war 2 propaganda posters,

women were portrayed as terrible illnesses because they were likely to contain STDs which

would prevent people from being able to fight in the war (221). It was easy to place blame on
women because it was acceptable at the time and not many cared to fight the ads. It was the

precedent, right by our modern standards or not. The posters showed women as the evil, even

though it takes two to make activity possible, thereby making both parties at fault. It cannot be

lead down to a simple genderization. People are unique individuals who need to be judged for

personal traits and not those that they happen to be born with.

Things have changed this precedent somewhat. Over time more women had to work

because the economy was getting worse and money was harder to come by. This led for many

women to take on roles that were considered more male oriented, which in turn spilled over to

other areas of life. One area that we have seen improvements in is in the field of boxing.

Delilah Montoya has stated, By crossing the ropes and getting into the ring, they enter into the

bastions of manliness to confront a brutal sport (211). This is by no means an easy task that I

am not certain I would want to undertake, and yet these women are doing it not to break

boundaries, but just because they love the challenge and love to do it. Delilah has also stated,

for the first time, in 2012, boxing will bring in Olympic gold for amateur female boxers (212).

Precedents can in fact be broken, they just need sufficient time to be broken. In recent times,

many will revolt when it comes to changing precedents, but precedents are changing on a

global scale which is a feat worthy of applause.

While aspects and reasoning of how to treat women as a society has become more

equal over time thanks to the grace of humanity, we see that the efforts of the societies hatred

has been focused elsewhere. A more recent critical view of humanity has been taking place in

the LGBT community. Haeyoun Park has stated, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

were already the most likely targets of hate crimes in America, according to an analysis of data
collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1). This is the remaking of a precedent in

action. A chart later in the paper reveals that while most hate crimes have decreased in

percentage, hate crimes against the LGBT community has stayed the same which means there

is a continually renewed interest in hurting their community. The precedent is therefore

changed to target the LGBT community.

These precedents are usually set by the older community and then passed on to the

newer generations. Gavin Grimm is a transgender high school student in Virginia who has had

some difficulty just trying to be himself. Gavin Grimm stated, I did not choose to announce to

the news media that I am transgender. My school board made that decision for me (2). In this

we see an individual whose decision landed him in hot water with others for simply choosing a

different path. Whats really interesting about this story is that Gavin was using the facilities at

the high school for a couple months before someone started throwing a fit. The kids may have

not been the most comfortable, but it was the parents who really jumped out and tried to stop

this radical action from changing. This helps one to point out the possibility that it is parents

who pass segregated behavior onto their children and then it is interpreted however the new

generation is able to digest the information. It really is quite a sad fate for the world to spin in

an endless cycle such as this where true freedom is always an elusive ghost because of our

unwillingness to except others. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Supreme

Court has had many great dealings that have helped to end this discrimination after they have

popped up. America was designed with this system to help give Americans equal freedom and

representation under the law. Equality may not be available at all times, but will be if we one

works for it over time.


There is always a problem with equality because people will feel entitled one way or the

other. Sirwa Shwani said in week 6, its not fair for both men and women. What is interesting

about these ads in particular is how clean cut and straight forward the process is its all about

how they sell their stuff. There are people who feel an entitlement one way or the other, and

when there are discrepancies, there will always arise problems. Sirwa was referring to some ads

when she wrote this, but that principle is so much bigger. Our world has it all cut and clean into

precedents. Many believe that it is just how it works, but we can change that if we only get up

and try. The key is to keep working at problems as they arise. It will hit from all sides and

extremes, but with the American system, the truth will be heard.

History has shown us many problems in our cyclic history, however, it also provides

means of an escape of which we can use if we are willing. Entitlement leads to a belief in a

precedent to treat others unequally, and when the precedent breaks, efforts are refocused

elsewhere. It can be caused by not having enough responsibility to own up to the things you

have done and move forward. This mean that often times, there is not even a problem

associated with race or identity, but people use it as a retort to handle their own problems.

These problems do not ever go away unless they are continually worked on to achieve the

more perfect union that our country is capable of. It is only a matter of willingness and effort

that will bring us to the forefront of our dreams and spirits of equality. We have seen it happen

with the women boxers, people of different races, and the LGBT community. There is a way

and we will achieve the perfect union if we fight for it.


Bibliography:

"World War 2 STD Poster." N.p. http://mentalfloss.com/sites/default/legacy/blogs/wp-

content/uploads/2012/03/a025392-549x800.jpg, n.d. Web.

Montoya, Delilah, Maria Teresa. Marquez, and C. Ondine. Chavoya. Women Boxers: The New

Warriors. Houston, TX: Arte Publico, 2006. Print.

Mykhyalyshyn, Haeyoun Park and Iaryna. "L.G.B.T. People Are More Likely to Be Targets of Hate

Crimes Than Any Other Minority Group." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 June 2016.

Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Grimm, Gavin. "I'm Transgender and Can't Use the Student Bathroom. The Supreme Court Could

Change That." The Washington Post. WP Company, 27 Oct. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Montoya, Delilah, Maria Teresa. Marquez, and C. Ondine. Chavoya. Women Boxers: The New

Warriors. Houston, TX: Arte Publico, 2006. Print.

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