Self-esteem Issues Unrelated to Bigotry

Sometimes when people put you down you may find it difficult to identify any specific bigoted motivation on their part. It doesn't matter. You still have a right and an obligation to protect yourself on the inside. If you have self-esteem issues unrelated to bigotry, the practices and principles of withstanding the lie can still help you.

Bigoted Attitudes Against You

We make the point in our book Withstanding the Lie that you can suffer mental and emotional hurt and the loss of self-esteem due to the bigoted attitudes of others even when no one commits a specific act of bigotry against you. The mere fact that others consider you inferior because of the group or groups to which you belong can be detrimental. What do you do to protect yourself from bigoted attitudes when there is no specific bigoted behavior? Please let us hear from you.

Preliminary Question

As you are aware from our first post on July 9, 2008, we are trying to teach others how to protect themselves from mental and emotional hurt, especially the loss of self-esteem, due to the bigotry of others. On our website (www.withstandingthelie.com) we invite people to ask questions and provide feedback on the information and teachings we are providing. Your comments or questions on this blog is another avenue for you to let us hear from you.

In our post on July 9, 2008, we proposed multiple questions and we would still like to hear from you on the questions we presented at that time. In this post, we want to narrow your focus. We invite you to let us hear from you on the following preliminary question: Since bigotry still happens, despite our efforts to stop it, do you believe individuals should have a specific strategy to protect themsleves from the loss of self-esteem and other mental and emotional hurt due to the bigotry of others? What is your answer and what are the reasons for your conclusion?

Please let us here from you and please visit our website to understand more fully what you and others can do to withstand the bigotry of others.

Let's Start Protecting Ourselves Now!

"Even though we have laws on the books against discrimination you can't always stop the bigotry of other people, no matter how hard you try. But you can stop people from hurting you on the inside and taking away your self-esteem." (From the website Withstandingthelie.com)

"Your opinion of yourself plays a fundamental role in determining the overall course and quality of your life, and there is no greater negative influence on what you think and feel about yourself and ultimately what you do with your life than the disparaging treatment and negative attitudes of others. Therefore, protecting yourself mentally and emotionally from the harmful conduct of others should be one of your highest priorities" (From the book Withstanding the Lie)

We wrote the book Withstanding the Lie and started this blog because we feel there is a compelling need today that is not being addressed adequately. Clearly, we are striving as a nation to one day eliminate all harmful discrimination, but it will certainly take a long time to accomplish our mission. Meanwhile, people are being destroyed on the inside by the prejudice of others. We believe the loss of self-esteem and the other mental and emotional harm that people suffer due to bigotry can be greatly diminished, if not prevented altogether. We believe there is much that we can do and must do right now to protect ourselves from the bigotry of others, as we await that day when discrimination is no more.

What are some of the ways that you are hurt mentally and emotionally or suffer the loss of self-esteem when others commit acts of bigotry against you? What harm do you suffer as a result of negative attitudes in public opinion against you because of your race, religion, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation or other similar attributes? And what do you do to protect yourself? Yes, there is indeed much that we can do and it all begins with conversation. Let's begin our conversation now. Please let us hear from you on the questions we have proposed.