Similarities Between Colonialism And Slavery

Everyone has felt proud or even been encouraged to be prideful of themselves or groups they are associated with. The media constantly tells us to be proud of who we are and aim for high self-esteem and self-confidence. There are numerous self-improvement books that supposedly help people become comfortable in their own body and accept who they are as a person. Even at Northwestern University, people proudly show their school spirit while wearing shirts with the words “purple pride” written on them. In these scenarios, pride is viewed as feeling satisfied from a deserving achievement or a characteristic. One could argue that being proud of who you are and what you represent is harmless and could not be considered as a moral failing. However,

Although the motivating factor behind colonialism and slavery cannot be simply just pride, it did play a role in dehumanizing others based on someone’s race. Due to the colonists’ pride in their “higher status” and race, they were unable to view the slaves as regular human beings. Their perception of reality was skewed towards how they were at a higher status based on their skin color, completely disregarding the fact that slavery is dehumanizing and immoral. The colonists were overly proud of their skin color, and therefore, their higher status. They justified their immoral actions with the notion that their “higher status” allowed them to be more powerful than the slaves. By having excessive pride, the colonists lacked empathy for the slaves and were able to stubbornly justified their wrong

Having self-confidence is valued in American society, where extroverted, self-confident leaders are seen as role models. They are strong-willed individuals, who are able to speak their minds. These individualistic people are praised for being motivated and able to get what they want. Proponents of pride state that without pride, this underlying self-confident characteristic is unable to be fostered and built. However, being overly self-confident could also be self-centered, when people become egocentric and narcissistic. In this situation, prideful people are selfish, thinking they deserve more than other people based solely on their individual characteristics. Being exceedingly prideful makes people become conceited and unsympathetic towards other people’s needs due to this “higher status”