I think Ellis’s solution is the most practical and realistic solution there is. Only by meeting people eye to eye and finding similarities and characteristics that humanize them in your view will you be able to over come stereotypes and prejudgments. The main issue with something like this, is allowing your preconceived notions to get in the way and not let you meet these people first hand. On a large scale I believe you’d encounter more and more problems. In my opinion it’s easier to get a town of 15,000 blacks and 17,000 whites to mix as opposed to clusters of 75,000 blacks and 90,0000 whites. The larger the groups the less safe and easy it is to step out of your habits and break the stereotype. It loses the personal touch and ties to people and becomes to complicated to try and completely alter a system and neighborhoods that have developed over 100’s of years. Even in the case of Ellis you can only learn by acting yourself. His klansmen would not follow his words down such a radically different path even though he slowly transitioned there. It is a journey that everyone has to make on their own.
2 comments:
I like that you point out that Ellis's solution of discussion is a practical one on a small scale. When reading, I immediately realized that large-scale discussions like Ellis's wouldn't work, but I hadn't really thought about the small scale effect. In small groups, discussion is a good way to sort out differences.
As per usual, I agree with you, especially in your description of the large groups. I think that in a large group, the two types of people would simply group with eachother, because they wouldn't have to cooperate with eachother to be successful. Thus, for the situation to work, people have to essentially be forced to work together.
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