Socrates, Citizenship, Racial Justice

Janet Gutierrez

PHIL 1301-000: Introduction to Philosophy

Prof. Linda Cox

07/10/2018

Socrates, Citizenship, Racial Justice

In this paper I will try to talk clearly and objectively about one of the social problems happening today in Mexico which is social discrimination. I will be mentioning some points where these events are most notorious against certain people. Racism and discrimination in Mexico exists against different social classes, culture, ideas, way of dressing, skin color, gender, and physical appearance. This is due rich and powerful people with a very poor mentality governing Mexico. These people only care for those with a higher social status. They don’t let lower-class people such as those from indigenous backgrounds grow and this is causing them to be stuck in a world that is governed by ignorance, poverty, lack of culture, but most importantly the lack of information. Due to discrimination Mexico is stuck in a hole of ignorance because the public politics, rights, laws and media are being manipulated by people that come from the bourgeoisie of the country, they are economically rich but very poor in culture and moral values.

There have been studies that indicate how the color of skin influences the level of academic studies, and job opportunities. The darker the skin, the more difficult it is to get through in everyday life. One out of four Mexicans has admitted feeling discriminated for their appearance, and more than half recognized that the country insults those of darker skin with the mentality of wanting to “improve the race” because dark skin is viewed as something bad and undesirable.  According to the president of INEGI Julio Santaella

“people with lighter skin have jobs as directors, bosses, and other high rank professions while those with darker skin are artisans, operators, or helpers”. How Mexico is dividing its own people because of their belief that those European descent are superior to indigenous people is shameful and one of the things that is keeping Mexico from growing.

The way that I would consider Socrates answering the discriminatory issue in Mexico is by requiring social “gadflies”. The reason I think this should be applied is because ignorance is the main cause of the social issues in Mexico. The system is corrupt and full of flaws because civilians are letting this happen by not doing anything to make a change and instead just leaving all of their problems to the government to fix. They keep complaining about everything wrong with Mexico yet instead of protesting against what is wrong they just ignore it and stick to the mentality of “if the other person is not doing it, why should I do it? Instead they choose to ignore the problem and instead focus their attention on thing like celebrity gossip, sports, soap operas, etc. Meanwhile, politicians do whatever they can in order to gain more power and fortune without giving back to the people. The famous quote in Socrates “Apology” that says “Athens is like a sluggish horse, and I am the gadfly trying to sting it to life” would be a perfect example of what needs to be done to fix Mexico’s problems. The “sluggish horse” which would stand for the citizens laziness to make a change and “gadfly” for the person that will finally point all of their flaws, get them engaged in important issues, and finally open their eyes to start making a change instead of ignoring and waiting for someone else to do the change for them.

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