Some months ago I wrote a piece about prejudice. I offered a list of words and asked readers to examine the pictures that they brought to mind. The purpose of the exercise was to point out that, whether we realize it or not, we have prejudices and biases. Most of the time, these cause no harm to others. They are simply "quirks" to us if we don't readily recognize them for what they are. If we do recognize them, we can learn to cope with them. We cannot purge them completely, in my opinion, though we might think we can. Though we certainly might want to.
No, these prejudices remain as a part of us. They influence how we view the world. This is fine if we understand how this happens, what they do. It is not so fine when we think we do not have them or, even worse, when we think they are justified in some way. Yes, sometimes we really believe they are justified. I have met a number of people who have tried to explain how they weren't prejudiced until some incident or some experience caused them to be.
Someone just recently tried to explain this to me. He told me how he had been exposed to this terrible behavior by a certain ethnic group. How that behavior turned him against those people. He reminded me of others who had told me similar stories about their experiences which justified, to them, their dislike and distrust of entire class of people. There are members of my family which have related the same kinds of stories to me.
It's all bull. And I think these people, in their hearts, know that. That's what really bothers me. I really do believe that, deep down, these people realize they have a prejudice (or two or three). These are simply rationalizations for something that cannot be justified. Not unless stereotypes are not stereotypes at all.
When I was a young man, a teen, my mother talked to me about prejudice. I am not even sure how the conversation evolved but she related the following to me (paraphrasing):
"I don't think I am prejudiced but when I see a black man walking toward me on the street, I feel fear. I have even crossed the street in order to avoid them."
She couldn't point to any incident or experience that caused that fear. She didn't know why that prejudice existed. But the important thing I learned was that she recognized that it was a prejudice. She didn't let that prejudice fool her by rationalizing it. That was the important lesson. I don't know if it was the intended lesson or she was just getting something off her chest.
It is much worse to rationalize prejudice. It lets you believe you are better than others when you are worse. And when we accept those reasons, or ignore the prejudice of others, we are just as bad.
I write this because I have had to remove the blog from my OBTR list of someone I thought was witty, intelligent, and clever. Unfortunately, I cannot tolerate his bigotry regarding a certain group. It saddens me more than you can know.
By the way, I am back from my trip and promise the next series of blogs will be much lighter.
A Night Unremembered
13 years ago
6 comments:
It's disappointing when someone you had some admiration for suddenly shows a bit of thoughtless bigotry (alhtough thoguhtful bigotry might be worse).
Jules - I think all bigotry is thoughtless in a sense. Only the rationalizations seem to involve even attempting some in depth thought. Bigotry itself is more reflex in nature.
Been busy recently and just getting back to some of your earlier posts. I agree with you that everyone has biases and prejudices. There's no question about that. I do, however, think that it is more a biological /physiological mechanism, and that is the more important realization in terms of addressing it.
That being said, I think that recognizing that all of us have bias and prejudice is all the more reason for us to challenge ALL of our views and positions on a daily, if not hourly, basis, and constantly search for information and evidence which delves further into our positions.
It's not that difficult to do, assuming that one does not mind the discomfort of stepping out of his/her space and place (comfort zone) on a regular basis.
Challenging one's self is no different than an athlete training under all sorts of conditions to hone his or her skills.
Purposefully travel in unsafe neighborhoods, eat food you dislike, meet people who do not speak your language, walk up to strangers and invite them into your life, try a new sport every year, etc.
I think that much of bias and prejudice is about comfort and not wanting to be uncomfortable. It's far easier to stick with one's views.
However, I do not know how people grow without discomfort. But then again, I am a subscriber to the "no pain, no gain" philosophy.
Inspector - The concept of not disturbing the "comfort" of one's prejudices is at the heart of the matter, I think. We have to challenge ourselves in order to grow.
It's disappointing when someone you had some admiration for suddenly shows a bit of thoughtless bigotry (alhtough thoguhtful bigotry might be worse).
Jules - I think all bigotry is thoughtless in a sense. Only the rationalizations seem to involve even attempting some in depth thought. Bigotry itself is more reflex in nature.
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