 Sadly and all too
often, people have a learned predisposition to think, feel and behave towards
other human beings in a particular way. Many people have a distorted view about
the world and human race. PREJUDICE - being prejudiced however tells us
a bigger tale of the perceiver than that of the perceived. A sad but prime example of this was the view of a columnist who has a weekly column in our local evening newspaper, and every week he airs his views on different topics in the local news via his column. In August, the headlines told the story of a local 8-year-old boy who had been out playing when he found and pricked himself on a used hypodermic needle. Unfortunately, the boy and his mother are facing the agonising wait to see if the needle has infected him. A couple of day's later the columnist’s topic for the week was that of the drug user. His comments and opinion on the subject however were undoubtedly outside the ' Latitude of Acceptance' of prejudice. His comment fuelled anger within myself and indeed others, as it was the topic of conversation for a long while after publication within the THOMAS organisation. He didn’t hold back his feelings and thought about drug users, he had them labelled as SCUM, LOWLIFE, and SELFISH THOUGHTLESS DRUGGIES. If that wasn’t bad enough he then went on to criticise all the organisations and the people who work within them, by labelling them as DO-GOODERS. Not being satisfied by these contentious remarks, he then blamed the taxpayers because unknowingly, it is the taxpayers that fund the organisations concerned. Blood boiling, I put pen to paper and wrote to the Editor of the paper regarding this article. Well I must have hit a nerve somewhere along the line, as five days later my letter was published in the paper. This was my response. Dear Editor I write in reply to your columnist’s comments on drug users although I sympathise with the mother’s dilemma, and wish them well, I cannot sit back and ignore the rest of the comments. Who is he to label these people as SCUM? Druggies as he chooses to call them are somebody's son, daughter, mother, father, brother or sister, and often come from very good backgrounds. Yes I agree that there are careless and thoughtless users out in the community, as there are thoughtless drink drivers, alcoholics, thieves, not to mention sex offenders and murderers, all of which are given support from outside agencies, and all of which is paid for by, yes you have got it, us taxpayers. So come on, come out of your happy little world, take time out from criticising the do-gooders and give up a few days of your time and go see for yourself exactly what the do- gooders do, you will then see for yourself that the local needle exchange you refer to, doesn’t just DISH out needles but have very strict policies on dishing out needles. I suggest you visit the Jarman Centre; you also take a trip (pardon the pun) to the East Lancs Drug team, Lifeline East Lancashire, or visit the THOMAS project. I like many others feel that should you have a better insight to this ever-increasing problem, you may not be so quick to label and judge the DRUGGIES and the DOGOODERS. I hope that you or any of your family never encounter the problems that drug abuse can cause, but if you do, remember, there are plenty of do-gooders out there who are more than happy to help you. One now has to ask the question, is this columnist just a self-opinionated, uninformed, naive person? The answer to that question has got to be yes. However, he doesn’t stand-alone, it is this kind of naivety that causes so much unnecessary prejudice that we encounter everyday. A fundamental moral principle of many religions, including Christianity, is that we should help others in need. This should be the cornerstone of human society. A few kind words and a helping hand can and do make a difference to peoples lives. Vivienne Hoyle. |
