Prejudice. We know what it is, but I for one am realizing how much the concept has infiltrated my mindset, my perspective. We are used to discussing prejudice in the aspect of race, ethnicity etc, but today I want to expand it to include the negative differentiation of any traits particular to any sub-group of people. The ever-trustworthy dictionary.com defines prejudice as “an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.” It is in this vein that I will discuss prejudice today.
For argument's sake, let's assume that I despise blond hair. I think it's dumb, pointless, retarded, etc and that there's no good reason for being blond. I do of course, realize that some people are natural blonds and there's nothing they can do about it. I do give them some credit, as it's not fair to discriminate against anyone for something over which they have no control, but I still don't like them.
Then let's assume that I have a friend who has been a friend of mine for a very long time, then dyes his/her hair blond. I am still their friend, but I still despise blond hair. So where does this leave me in relating to this person? By the virtue that I am still their friend, it seems that there must be something overriding my prejudice. Part of me then wonders, is my original predisposition against blonds valid?
If I consider my prejudice at greater length, I may find that it has a basis in something, be it legitimate or not. So then, my prejudice is confronted by new information, new light, and can shift. Two things can happen at this point.
2)
I would think it would be more difficult to overcome the immediate and personal confrontation of my prejudice (blond friend) than it would be to alter my opinion of people I’ve never met. So, if I cannot or do not alter my prejudice against people I’ve never met – can I say with sincerity that I have overcome my prejudice where my own friend is concerned?
That is what has been bothering me recently. I honestly don’t know the answer. What do you think?
2 comments:
I think that getting past one's prejudices, like many 12 step programs, needs to start with identifying them.
A person's prejudices are typically ingrained in them without their knowledge through the experiences of their life. As a result, a person can't necessarily 'fix' themselves since they don't know what to fix.
I think the best way to proceed under these circumstances is to be open to the fact that you might have certain prejudices that you're unaware of and to be ready to consider someone else's perspective about you and your prejudices. But be careful not to take everyone's word as law. Your perspective of another person's prejudices (and capacity for critical thought) are just as valid as their perspectives of you.
Considering someone's negative opinion of some aspect of your personality isn't the same as having negative aspects to your personality.
We all have prejudices, whether they be against blonds, vapiditidy, or people on reality tv shows(who frequently encompass all three). Whether we overcome these prejudices or not isn't the issue, I don't think. It's whether or not we can admit "Yes, this particular person is blond, or vapid or whatnot, but I like being around him/her and consider him/her my friend". It's about being willing to make exceptions to our own unconscious rules.
Sure, we can say "People with prejudices are horrible! We should never think badly of our fellow man without having met them and experiencing their personality for ourselves!" Which, in all honesty, is completely unrealistic. We're all human. We are all wired the same way. We are all predisposed to categorizing our fellow man.
Being willing to take a second chance is the only way to work around our prejudices. Yes, work around them. I don't think we could ever actually get rid of them, no matter what the bleeding-heart-left-wing-hippies say.
Post a Comment