Prejudice: Define it - Deal with it.
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Prejudice is the dismissal of possibilities, when one and only one way of perceiving is accepted.
Handling this has always been a bit of a pain. Ignorance and misery likes company; showing someone their behavioral flaws does not usually go over well, even when I've had good intent and diplomacy. This ambiguity creates a crossroads. If I take the easy route and simply ignore prejudiced folks, they tend to take silence for compliance and become even more belligerent and self-confirming. If I instead create a more dominant personality to theirs in order to force acknowledgement, I am left with a moral dilemma. Neither of these is really a viable option, so I've taken to simply living by good example when I am the target, to passively open the door to change, and lifting victims up when I can. All in all, I'm not really sure what to do about this. My gut reaction is to mentally slap them and then educate them, but, well, that's damn near impossible if they don't wanna let go and learn >.>
Handling this has always been a bit of a pain. Ignorance and misery likes company; showing someone their behavioral flaws does not usually go over well, even when I've had good intent and diplomacy. This ambiguity creates a crossroads. If I take the easy route and simply ignore prejudiced folks, they tend to take silence for compliance and become even more belligerent and self-confirming. If I instead create a more dominant personality to theirs in order to force acknowledgement, I am left with a moral dilemma. Neither of these is really a viable option, so I've taken to simply living by good example when I am the target, to passively open the door to change, and lifting victims up when I can. All in all, I'm not really sure what to do about this. My gut reaction is to mentally slap them and then educate them, but, well, that's damn near impossible if they don't wanna let go and learn >.>
Definitely the way mainstream media would like everything to be portrayed. Let's take Honey Boo Boo for instance. Is this the picture of rural life for all Georgia families? Of course not. However when others are not exposed to what is normal, they tend to believe what they see. For what ever reason, the news loves to pick the most awful toothless redneck after a tornado to interview. Why? Is it more entertaining? (Why yes, it actually is.) Back to Honey Boo Boo, can you imagine if this show was aired in Europe? In general (but not all), they already think Americans are a bunch of fat worthless slobs. I find myself defending "rural life" and the people in it often. When people see an overweight and poor family, I see a very "happy" family. I see kids goofing off and laughing. I see parents who are spending time with their children (at least what they want to show.)
I've never interacted with prejudice on enough of a regular basis for me to be able to form an idea of what a typical scenario would be in my mind. But when I see people harbouring irrational and/or hateful thoughts, I innocently ask them why they have them. I keep my own views ambiguous while I encourage them to speak to me on the topic, and ask them a series of sincere, casual questions that look like the products of genuine curiosity and naivette rather than having been intentionally designed and delivered with perfect timing just to show them the weakness of their rationale. I don't bring it up with them otherwise, but casually act in my own unprejudiced ways towards others in front of them as if they'd never spoken to me about their views, and let my super awesome role model powers influence them. If they eventually ever bother to ask me what my views on the subject are, I tell them later. Then I let them bask in (what I hope is) intense feelings of shame and awkwardness because the nice girl that they had gotten to know had kept inside thinking that they were a fuckface all along.
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Tin Man
"a respectable amount of screaming"
It is aired in Europe. Some people will use it to strengthen their already prejudiced view of America. Most see it simply for what it is; another show in a baffling trend that focuses on stereotyping hicks and appeals to the lowest common denominator.
Honey boo boo (or more specifically, her mother) is riding the prejudice train all the way to the bank. Same with the swamp people with the long beards and the various housewife shows... those people are all making healthy incomes pandering to people's prejudice and the human desire to look down on others. That doesn't make it less embarrassing, though. It would be good for people to remember that "reality" shows don't necessarily portray reality.
I've met plenty of truly, deeply prejudiced people. I know one gentleman who told me in all seriousness that all gays should be lined up and shot -- and then it turned out his grandson grew up gay. He's changed his tune about hating gays now, at any rate.
This prejudiced person is also a complete fucktard who thinks god flies around the earth on a spaceship and will one day beam all the truly good people up into outer space. I'm not kidding. This man is absolutely one of the most gullible fools I've ever met in my entire life, bar none. He goes on and on and on and on and ON about robber barons, who he also hates, in addition to gays, black people, and I'm pretty sure jews as well. Moron doesn't even begin to describe it. Oh, and he whines and whines and whines and whines, he is the biggest baby in the world who loves to feel hard-done-by. I do not care for this man at all.
That sums up my idea of prejudice and of all those who are deeply prejudiced. They're stupid. How do I handle it? Slip laxatives in their coffee and avoid them as much as possible.
I've met plenty of truly, deeply prejudiced people. I know one gentleman who told me in all seriousness that all gays should be lined up and shot -- and then it turned out his grandson grew up gay. He's changed his tune about hating gays now, at any rate.
This prejudiced person is also a complete fucktard who thinks god flies around the earth on a spaceship and will one day beam all the truly good people up into outer space. I'm not kidding. This man is absolutely one of the most gullible fools I've ever met in my entire life, bar none. He goes on and on and on and on and ON about robber barons, who he also hates, in addition to gays, black people, and I'm pretty sure jews as well. Moron doesn't even begin to describe it. Oh, and he whines and whines and whines and whines, he is the biggest baby in the world who loves to feel hard-done-by. I do not care for this man at all.
That sums up my idea of prejudice and of all those who are deeply prejudiced. They're stupid. How do I handle it? Slip laxatives in their coffee and avoid them as much as possible.
^ Oh, goody!
Because... why, exactly? Have you met that man as well and did you also think he was a moron? Most people who do meet him in person come to that conclusion rapidly, and his life history also supports that theory.
Because... why, exactly? Have you met that man as well and did you also think he was a moron? Most people who do meet him in person come to that conclusion rapidly, and his life history also supports that theory.
But wait, isn't prejudice essentially a case-by-case situation, that differs regarding to what someone's being exposed into?
For instance, someone who grew up watching gangsta movies might have a skewed idea of African-Americans as a community, culture, and person. However, someone else who grew up watching porn miiiiiight have a different (yet equally bent) idea of the same group of people.
So in other words, wouldn't a 'typical' scenario in this case........be too many, too varied to count?
That is, except by making a monstrous amalgamation of misguided belief, or being unlucky enough to meet an embodiment of all those prejudice in one body (in which case, MY GOD POOR YOU HUGS AND LOVES)
God, I can't even make prejudice with prejudices. >_<
Drawing a broad stroke, prejudice is misunderstanding.
In regards to what is known, true, and right.
In regards to how much.
In regards to whether it's the only / most righteous view to have, and whether they are open to new information that changes / directly opposes their belief
and most importantly, in regards of what is in front of you.
Handling them....NOOOOOOOOOOOOO IDEA.
I believe all people are prejudiced in one way or another. Prejudice is a natural defense mechanism. If I'm walking around at night and I see a group of drunk people, I'll be on my guard because I might end up getting in a fight. It's not a conscious reaction, but it's certainly rational. It's not completely unreasonable to expect that a group of drunk people might instigate a fight. We all know that alcohol makes some people violent.
The problem is that sometimes people take their prejudice too far, and it ends up becoming irrational. Some people honestly believe that if they let their guard down near a homosexual person or someone from the Middle East, they'll end up being raped or suicide-bombed. It's stupid, but it's caused by a lack of knowledge rather than actual malice. If people knew more about other cultures, there wouldn't be nearly as much prejudice.
The problem is that it's very easy to verify your prejudice through confirmation bias. I work as an assistant curator at a large museum, which means I'm often around tourists from all parts of the world. A common stereotype of American tourists is that they're loud, obnoxious, and have little respect for the local population. If I see an American making a fuss at a café, it confirms the stereotype I have of Americans. Had the person been Dutch or Italian, he would've just been an annoying individual. Similarly, if someone believes all black men are rapists, it's very easy for him to disregard all the news stories of people of other races committing rape.
The problem is that sometimes people take their prejudice too far, and it ends up becoming irrational. Some people honestly believe that if they let their guard down near a homosexual person or someone from the Middle East, they'll end up being raped or suicide-bombed. It's stupid, but it's caused by a lack of knowledge rather than actual malice. If people knew more about other cultures, there wouldn't be nearly as much prejudice.
The problem is that it's very easy to verify your prejudice through confirmation bias. I work as an assistant curator at a large museum, which means I'm often around tourists from all parts of the world. A common stereotype of American tourists is that they're loud, obnoxious, and have little respect for the local population. If I see an American making a fuss at a café, it confirms the stereotype I have of Americans. Had the person been Dutch or Italian, he would've just been an annoying individual. Similarly, if someone believes all black men are rapists, it's very easy for him to disregard all the news stories of people of other races committing rape.
Just trying to broaden my own perspective by listening to how other people perceive/have experienced prejudice. Don't shoot me for wanting to see/understand other peoples point of view.
I think my experience of prejudice is too narrow. It is from only my perspective. I want to understand how other people have experienced this. How other people handle it. I know what it feels like for me, but what I know and what I've experienced isn't enough to comprehend what other people have experienced. I work with kids, all kinds of kids from all kinds of backgrounds. I figure the best way I can help them is to better understand where they come from, and I can't understand that unless I am exposed to things that are outside of my own experiences.
I think it's the kind of thing that everyone perceives and experiences differently. I also think I have a fear of passing on my own one sided prejudicial perceptions/experiences. Times are different now then when I was growing up. It seems there was more prejudice during the times that I was growing up - not a hundred percent sure how accurate that is. I recently worked in an environment where there was a lot of racial difference. Some people didn't care, others saw it but didn't want to make it an issue, some put time in to diminishing its effect, and others really got in your face about it. It kind of made me look at and question my own perspective and feelings about it, and how those perceptions influenced what I was doing.
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Trust me, my dad tells me so many stories about people calling him a "spick" and a "pumphead". And how he was harassed by the cops daily because of his lowrider. He wouldn't even let me listen to rock and roll as a kid because he called it "white people music". From the stories my older generation tells me they had to deal with a lot of BS that luckily I didn't.
I've heard hurtful things said but I don't care about that shit. Those people are just isolating themselves and making themselves miserable. It's 2013 I'm off that.
A modern example?
In "haggling" communities, say Vietnamese markets, the price will always be set in the beginning so that a native local will pay one price for something, a native tourist will pay double, and a non-native tourist triple.
Someone irl gave it an economic term "price differentiation". It's similar to having a discount for having a senior's card in developed countries, but the example I gave is not "official" nor related to age, but background, so I just thought.
What's the best way you've found to handle that?
In this case, the "victims" are unawares, so no response there.
In discussion with another person about it more generally, I'm not sure if retaliation or confrontation will inflame or enlighten a situation... ideally the latter. But since you can change yourself more easily than others, I can only say to become a smarter/ more awares person and avoid the situation in the first place :redface:
I think you may be right that "all people are prejudiced in one way or another". I'm not sure if all people are unwilling to see a different perspective though. There are times when I didn't think I was prejudiced and then when talking to someone that had a completely different perspective and experience than my own I realized that I was prejudiced and didn't even know it.
It's impossible to fully comprehend the depths of someone else's experience especially when it comes to cultural, racial, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, etc.. I mean we cannot possibly comprehend all of the subtleties that may come across as prejudice. So I guess prejudice really is based in ignorance, which is essentially not knowing any better. However, there is a difference between folks who are willing to listen and truly want to understand vs. folks who prefer to maintain whatever their perspective is in spite of the opportunity to learn.
I believe that once a person has enough knowledge to destroy the prejudices he previously held against one group of people, he will become more open-minded in general. Prejudice is based on the fact that we see people who belong to the same racial, ethnic, or socio-economic group as ourselves as individuals, and everyone else as large, homogeneous masses of people. Once we realize that all the other groups are also made up of individuals who are vastly different from one another, we no longer have a basis for prejudice. The reason you're more willing to see different perspectives than some other people is that you already know this.
Why do Americans often talk about Europe as if it's a single entity rather than a continent consisting of 50 different sovereign states with different cultures, societal norms, and national identities? I believe it's the concept of groups vs. individuals at play. Without sufficient knowledge of each country, it's hard to understand how and why they're different. A reality television show like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (I haven't actually seen it, but I did look it up) is designed to make us feel better about ourselves by showing us that there are people even dumber than us somewhere out there. When you watch the show in America, the stars are individuals. When we watch it in Europe, they're part of a group: Americans.
Thinking in terms of groups rather than individuals is not always a bad thing, though. A society wouldn't function without solidarity and social cohesion, and these are based on a national group identity. The question is where you draw the line.