CONFLICT THESAURUS

WITNESSING DISCRIMINATION



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HELPFUL TIP:

Conflict is your story’s secret sauce, supplying tension, relationship friction, and complications to a character’s journey. It comes in a million different forms, so identify the obstacles and problems that will hit your character the hardest by using the Character Builder to uncover their primary insecurities, fears , and desires. Don’t forget to include everyday conflict scenarios that will frustrate them and keep the pressure high.
CATEGORY:
Moral dilemmas and temptations, relationship friction, failures and mistakes, power struggles

NOTES:
While being a victim of discrimination is its own form of conflict, the situation is slightly different for those seeing it happen. Below are some examples of the kinds of discrimination your character might witness.

EXAMPLES:
An employer favoring one person over another because of ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference
A parent habitually disciplining one sibling more severely than the other 
An employee being promoted because they're related to the boss
Someone being given a job because they belong to a certain club, church, or organization
Journalists skewing their reporting toward one side of the story
A customer being treated differently because of the way they look
Service being denied to someone because of a mental disability, skin color, etc.
Learning male and female employees with the same job description, experience, and education are being paid vastly different salaries
A landlord refusing to rent their home to a same-sex couple
An employee being let go for being pregnant
A patient being denied medication or health care because of racial bias
Criminals of a certain race, religion, etc. being given harsher sentences 
Neighbors not being invited to a block party because they speak a different language
An assumption being made about someone's preferences (what they like to eat, what kind of music they prefer, etc.) based on certain factors 

MINOR COMPLICATIONS:
Wondering how to bring the inequity up when an employer is discriminating—say, in the case of a nanny observing one child being loved unconditionally while the other is not)
Trying to stand up for those maligned and being shot down
Not knowing how to bring up the behavior with relatives who are touchy about criticism
Being ridiculed for not being able to "take a joke"
Trying to talk about discrimination with people who immediately go on the offensive
Conversations escalating to arguments
The character being asked to leave or told to mind their own business
Strained relationships becoming unstable when the behavior is brought up
Not being sure who to talk to about the inequity, especially when bias is widespread
Trying to support the person who experienced the discrimination but saying something that reveals a similar bias

POTENTIALLY DISASTROUS RESULTS:
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RESULTING EMOTIONS:
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POSSIBLE INTERNAL STRUGGLES:
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PEOPLE WHO COULD BE NEGATIVELY AFFECTED:
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NEGATIVE TRAITS THAT COULD MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE:
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IMPACT ON BASIC NEEDS:
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WOUNDS THIS COULD LEAD TO:
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POSITIVE TRAITS TO HELP THE CHARACTER COPE:
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POSITIVE OUTCOMES:
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