It’s human nature to deny that our complex society could ever be shaped by things as trivial as music, movies, books, celebrities or TV shows. It’s human nature to say that “it’s just a show” or “it’s just a song” and convince ourselves that these things engrained in our popular culture in no way represent something deeper.

People think I’m ridiculous for refusing to watch movies like "Magic Mike" or shows like "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette."

"Lighten up, Liv, they’re just entertainment."

First of all, I know, because, second of all, I don’t live under a rock.

I think reality TV is just as entertaining and that shirtless Channing Tatum is just as hot as the next girl, but I can’t help but to be convicted of something on a deeper level, something I can’t exactly put my finger on.

We live in a culture striving for equality; a culture finally trying to live out what was written in our emancipation from tyranny some 250 years ago (it’s about time if you ask me). Racial equality. Sexual equality. Religious equality. Gender equality. But I fear that through years and years of oppression and injustice, we have misinterpreted altogether what it means to be equal.

Equality is not “you do wrong to me, I do wrong to you," it's not about getting the upper hand on one other and it’s not about payback. Equality is something that can only be reached when we choose to come together and neither exaggerate nor oppress the natural rights given to us all as a part of the human race regardless of ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, social class or any other impending factor.

This is why the face of civil rights is Martin Luther King Jr., and not Malcolm X. This is why the face of peace is Mahatma Gandhi and not Osama bin Laden. This is why the face of love is Mother Teresa and not Eric Rudolph.

These men and women understood that equality doesn’t come by hatred, retaliation or bitterness and that it definitely doesn’t come by striking down your fellow man, no matter how badly they may have wronged you. They understood that equality comes by one thing and one thing only: forgiveness.

What stops racial cruelty? What about political turmoil? Or religious conflict? Economic crisis? Gender-based tension? Bullying based on sexual preference?

It’s not retaliation and it’s not blaming each other. It’s vowing to never treat anyone the way you’ve been treated because you realize the destruction and pain it causes. Because you realize that you can’t stop racial violence with more racial violence, that you can’t stop gender objectification with more gender objectification, or that you can’t stop religious stereotypes with more religious stereotypes, and that you definitely can’t stop hatred with more hatred.

Now narrowing in on why I feel such a strong aversion to the movies and TV shows mentioned earlier, I think on a deeper level, this popular culture is symbolizing that it’s OK to retaliate to issues in the world instead of trying to absolve them. That the objectification and belittlement of women can be fought by the objectification and belittlement of men all under the mask of harmless entertainment, and in turn, equality isn’t being created. It’s being destroyed, and we couldn’t recognize it even if it hit us right in between the eyes.

Women are fighting to become equal not out of mere human right but out of bitterness, and all of a sudden it’s OK to objectify men solely because women have been objectified, and it’s OK to glorify professions when men do them but not women; out of this grows double standards, and out of double standards grows hostility and spite, and out of hostility and spite our relationships with the opposite gender are becoming more and more alienated in the name of becoming equal.

I can’t help but think, haven’t we already established that this whole “separate but equal” thing doesn’t exactly work?

That’s why we have to fight our nature to “get back” at each other because it only leads to a destructive and vicious cycle of oppression regardless of who’s the victim and who’s the offender. It leads to racism and sexism. Hatred and contempt. It completely defiles human nature when the line between fighting for equality and fighting for superiority are too often blurred.

Women are degrading men. Men are degrading women. Blacks are hating whites. Whites are hating blacks. Muslims are blaming Christians. Christians are blaming Muslims. The rich are disdaining the poor. The poor are disdaining the rich.

We have to realize that inequality isn’t going away just because we push it somewhere else.

The separateness between us, between whether you’re white or black or Hispanic or Asian or Middle Eastern, between whether you’re gay or straight or bisexual, between whether you’re a woman or a man or anything in between, between whether you’re rich or poor, between whether you’re a Christian or Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist or nothing at all, between disabilities and nationalities and stereotypes… It’s all one huge, fabricated illusion and I’m tired of people believing it.

I’m tired of these ideas being engrained into our minds through seemingly harmless catalysts such as media and popular culture.

I’m tired of us all being too distracted about who’s going to get the rose tonight or what “that nutcase” Olivia is going to do next that we can’t even realize the separations that we’re creating. The walls that we’re building. The fires that we’re fueling. The issues that we’re ignoring.

As an open apology to most of mankind, I am sorry that you were oppressed or belittled or abused or forgotten or tortured or persecuted. History doesn’t exactly have the best track record and neither do humans. I can’t control that. The past is messy. The past is full of injustice and bitterness. Cruelty and revenge. Inequality and oppression. Retaliation and blame. The past is full of humans lacking humanity.

But what will you do with the future?