Can We Correct Our Prejudices?

Public Domain - An 18th-century Dutch engraving of the peoples of the world, depicting the inhabitants of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas in their typical dress. Shown below are an Englishman, a Dutchman, a German and a Frenchman. - J. Ratelband & J. Bouwer - Series of school engravings by J. Ratelband & J. Bouwer first published in Amsterdam (1767 -1779).

 

We often think of prejudice as merely manifest in angry avarice and dislike of people from other cultures, races, or ideologies.

 

That is certainly one such manifestation, but it is not the most prevalent. If it were, many of us could dismiss ourselves from the indictment with the words, "I hate no one" and be perfectly sincere, honest, and innocent.

 

However, there is a glitch in that thinking.

 

The most common manifestation of prejudice against people is not hatred; it is fear.

 

Fear is a powerful force and can express itself in fight or flight. Fear based upon generalized, false, or stereotyped assumptions is dangerous, ignorant, and hurtful, but it is also curable.

 

It can be cured by exposure, conversation, knowledge, and experience.

 

That is why Mark Twain said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts."

The cure:

Get out among some people who do not look, talk, think, or believe like you this weekend and spend more time asking questions and listening than giving answers and making assumptions. Then, report back what you have learned in a few days.

That will be a start, but the process is going to take time, excruciating self-examination, humility, commitment, and reorientation.