Is It O K To Examine Our Own Prejudices Or Are We Better Off Denying Having Them?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

In my five decades of life I don't think I have met anybody totally devoid of prejudice and I have met and befriended folks of all ideologies, races, religions, nationalities, and sexual orientations. I can remember at least one prejudiced thing they all said. And I would be a hypocrite if I denied ever making a prejudiced statement. Funny thing is I never heard my dad make a prejudiced remark but I digress.

[lunatica]

1. An unexamined life is an unevolved life

All my life I've questioned my own attitudes at every turn. It's an ongoing process when one is honest with oneself.

[dddem]

4. Agreed

It's perfectly normal to have fear. Mostly we fear what we are not familiar with. It's human nature. But it's not ok to justify your fear by assuming the fault lies with the source of your fear. The fault and the responsibility lies with you. Face your fears, educate yourself, expand your view, leave your comfort zone (after all, how comfortable are you when you're angry and afraid.
When are we going to figure out that the boogie man isn't out to get us, he's within us?

[seabeyond]

11. and i think that alone defines a lack of prejudice. nt

[stray cat]

2. People seem to think their own prejudices are virtues instead of ignorant bigotry

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. . I Think Most Folks Just Don't Acknowledge Them Or Believe Their Prejudices To Be Facts

~

[HopeHoops]

5. I worked for a guy who had it summed up nicely: "I'm not prejudiced. I hate everyone..."

and then he would go on to list every damn pejorative term in the book - and he had an impressive list. He really was a bit on the prejudiced side, but not heavily. Still, he was both making a point and being funny at the same time.

Now in the PROFOUND irony department, my mother was instrumental in my having the view that everyone should be accepted for who they are and what they are because of the way she raised me. My youngest daughter does call me out when I complain about some asshole in an SUV or BMW yacking on the cell phone, not using a blinker, and driving like they're wasted, but that isn't so much a prejudice as it is a simple correlation of observed behavior and vehicle types. Back to my point, I'm 47 now and am seriously disturbed by my mother's conversion into a FOX/Rush Republican who blames non-whites for everything. What the fuck happened to her? :shrug:

[dddem]

10. Fear would be my guess.

When you keep people afraid, you can more easily control them. The last administration was really good at that. Plus when people get older, what they really fear is the end of life. It's easier to blame those feelings on something else. Don't be angry with her, be sympathetic. How must it feel to go through your days so angry and afraid? Poor thing.
Peace.

[dddem]

6. Good post.

And your dad sounds like a good guy. My dad was like that as well. I miss him. We need more people like our dads.
Peace.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. My Dad Wasn't A Cardboard Saint But I Never Heard Him Say A Bad Thing About Anybody

Kind of like Will Rogers.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. Great post, great answers. I appreciate them all thus far!

:hi:

K&R

[seabeyond]

9. i dont agree with you. i think there are people that get into a place in life

that can discuss an issue without it being judgmental, and one would need judgment of better or superior in order to meet prejudice. i dont think a person has to be. i know it is a common theme on du, that all are prejudice. i dont buy it. i also think it allows a watering down of the definition.

it goes along with

all people are capable of cheating
both sides do it

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. I Agree There Are People Who Can Address Their Prejudices And Overcome Them If They Want To

~

[deutsey]

13. Self-deception transcends all ideologies, races, religions, etc.

"Self-deception results from an expedient policy of refusing to spell out our engagements in order to preserve the particular identity we have achieved." From Stanley Hauerwas, Self-Deception and Autobiography: Reflections on Speer's Inside the Third Reich.

He basically says our identities are all based on stories we tell ourselves and these stories need to have built into them the awareness that that's what they are: stories capable of delusion as well as clarity.

[Happyhippychick]

14. I think it's great.

[Brewman_Jax]

15. Definitely

those, like any problem, cannot be resolved until they're acknowledged.

[hfojvt]

16. absolutely not

How are we supposed to be able to cast the first stone unless we are without sin? WE are the JETS!!! Not a bunch of racist, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist, bigotted, ignorant white men like the other side is. We do not have any of the flaws that we ascribe to the Sharks.

[dalaigh lllama]

17. I think quite often our prejudices might be subconscious

which is why it's so important to pull out what we think we "know" every so often and take a good look at it.

I can remember having a conversation with my sister several years ago, talking about homosexual rights. I said of course they should have rights but probably shouldn't teach in our schools because they might prey on kids. You see, in my mind I was tying homosexuality and pedophaelia together in my head without ever "thinking" about it. I got quite an education that day from my sister, who explained the statistics on so-called heterosexual preying on kids vs. homosexual, and for the first time I consciously looked at the facts and was then able to separate what I thought I knew vs. reality. Since then I have looked as pedophiles as neither homosexual nor heterosexual, but as just what they are -- adults who prey on children of either sex.

But that misconception is so insidiously presented in the media that I'm sure many are as misinformed as I was. Look at the reports of child abuse in the Catholic Church and how often they rant against homosexuality in the same report. They are NOT the same thing but you wouldn't know it from listening to them talk.

I know I've learned quite a bit about the LGBT community just from reading here on DU. I'm sure I still have subconscious misconceptions about groups of people, but I'm more than willing, given my past experiences, to pull things out of my brain every so often and take a good hard look.

One group I remain highly prejudiced against -- willfully ignorant folk like the Teabaggers. Still do the knee-jerk reaction to that bunch.

[nc4bo]

18. I think maybe we all do, somewhere. We're humanbeings after all

but I think the problem lies ultimately on how you treat people.

Does one treat people hatefully because of your prejudice or do you treat people well in spite of them?

[Klukie]

19. mine come from observing personality types

Like..when I meet someone I generally classify them as a Type A or B and then my mind goes to work on trying to figure out how they tick. I guess that could be deemed prejudice because most of the assessment goes on in my own head which would make it a prejudgment :shrug:

Oh and we should definitely examine them otherwise they will turn hateful!!!

[Donald Ian Rankin]

20. Sometimes the best way to aquire a virtue is to act as though one already has it.

N.T.