Ethnocentrism, Discrimination, and Racism: An Analysis of Panelist Bias and Cultural Openness
Overview
This essay examines ethnocentrism as demonstrated by panelists in an unspecified competition or evaluation context, analyzing how cultural bias leads to discrimination and racism. The author identifies specific instances of ethnocentric behavior and contrasts them with Michael's openness about his cultural identity, arguing that fair judgment should be based on actions and character rather than cultural background.
What this essay covers
- Definition and examples of ethnocentrism displayed by panelists Jay Fullmer and J.J Synder
- Connection between ethnocentrism and resulting discrimination and racism with real-world examples
- Analysis of Michael's openness about cultural and personal identity versus panelist bias
- Author's evaluation of panelist fairness and personal judgment criteria for contest winner
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Discrimination and Racism
- Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge people based on their culture, language, behavior, customs, and religion, among other aspects. One of the panelists I found to display strong ethnocentrism is Jay Fullmer. First, Jay states that his first impression of Michael is negative simply because he is black. Jay also describes 72-year old Nancy as being "one foot in the grave." Another panelist with a big display for ethnocentrism is J.J Synder, who is quick to judge several contestants such as Jack based on their careers or outside works.
- Ethnocentrism tends to result in discrimination and racism. In most cases, ethnocentric persons tend to feel that their cultures, religion, race, or language are superior to others. Therefore, this leads to them looking down on people from different cultural backgrounds, which leads to discrimination and racism. One recent I witnessed was one male person described a Muslim woman as a "sinner and terrorist" based on religious judgment. In my opinion, the man felt that Christians are holy and superior to Muslims.
- Among the contestants, Michael is much open about his cultural, social, and personal identities. Concerning culture, he has extensively described his backgrounds and some of the challenges he faced as a minority black person. On their own identity, Michael is also willing to discuss his family set-up and academic performances openly. In terms of social status, he is open to discussing his religious beliefs and being more accessible than other contestants.