“Prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of.” Discuss.
The word prejudice referred to a prejudgmental statement of ill doing, or an evaluation or decision made before the facts of a case could be properly determined and weighed.[1] This usage was subsequently broadened to include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence.
Prejudices can be formed when a person had an unpleasant encounter with someone of that particular race or religion, hence stereotyping the entire group of people, believing that they would act in the same way. It is also formed due to exposure to an environment where it is widespread. For example, a child growing up with parents who speak badly of another race or religion will also grow up thinking that they are “bad”
Prejudices cause many social problems, such as some Whites treating Blacks with disrespect, as in the case of a guest of Oprah’s show, when a air stewardess accuses the Black of harassing her. One might think “if it is such a bad thing, why not just change the mindset of people and eliminate prejudices in people? “
It is not that simple. To do so, parents first have to allow their child to interact more with children from other racial or religious groups. This will build up trust and decreases the gap of the differences in culture. Then comes the community. In schools, teachers will have to treat all students with respect and equality. At other places, activities can be held to allow more interaction and hence reducing misconceptions that one group have about another.
That sounds feasible doesn’t it? We just have to think before we speak and avoid negative racial or religious comments. However, for that to take place, we’ll have to first convince the parents to take the first step. Supposed that they are strongly against a race or religion, they wouldn’t be willing to do so and they root of the problem will not be tackled. Examples of such cases include those in Northern Ireland and between the Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East. In Northern Ireland, even though there are schools that have students from both the Protestants and Catholic groups, most parents are reluctant to send their children to these schools. Hence, most of them go to Protestant or Catholic schools instead, where they get more distrustful of each other. In one of the TIME reports, there was a short story about Sunnis saving the Shiites from drowning. However, the Shiites disposed of it as a myth and the Sunnis say that it was a disgrace to save those Shiites. Their dislike for each other date back to a few thousand years ago, with the Shiites seeing themselves as the oppressed. Such history cannot be removed easily. There are also other examples like Chinese and Koreans with anti-Japanese sediments. Often, these situations date back to hundreds or thousand years ago, and their dislike for each other was due to bloodshed in wartimes. Mindsets can be changed, but history can’t be. Yet, contradictorily, it is history that shapes our views.
Even if this barrier is crossed, we will still subconsciously sort them into different groups in our mind. A test involving filling adjectives in blanks shows this clearly. In the test, a picture of a White and Black are shown. Firstly, one is required to fill in good words in the blanks under the picture of the White and negative words under the picture of the Black. The test is then reversed with bad adjectives placed under the White picture instead. Studies then showed that it takes more time for one to place positive words like clean on the blanks under the Black man’s picture than on the White man’s picture. This is due to prejudice against the Blacks, and their subconscious is preventing them from completing the test in the same time even though they do not appear or think of themselves to be against the Blacks.
It is possible to reduce the prejudice of one group of people against the other. However, it is really challenging to try to completely exterminate it. One has to remember that there is always the subconscious playing some tricks on our minds.
The word prejudice referred to a prejudgmental statement of ill doing, or an evaluation or decision made before the facts of a case could be properly determined and weighed.[1] This usage was subsequently broadened to include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence.
Prejudices can be formed when a person had an unpleasant encounter with someone of that particular race or religion, hence stereotyping the entire group of people, believing that they would act in the same way. It is also formed due to exposure to an environment where it is widespread. For example, a child growing up with parents who speak badly of another race or religion will also grow up thinking that they are “bad”
Prejudices cause many social problems, such as some Whites treating Blacks with disrespect, as in the case of a guest of Oprah’s show, when a air stewardess accuses the Black of harassing her. One might think “if it is such a bad thing, why not just change the mindset of people and eliminate prejudices in people? “
It is not that simple. To do so, parents first have to allow their child to interact more with children from other racial or religious groups. This will build up trust and decreases the gap of the differences in culture. Then comes the community. In schools, teachers will have to treat all students with respect and equality. At other places, activities can be held to allow more interaction and hence reducing misconceptions that one group have about another.
That sounds feasible doesn’t it? We just have to think before we speak and avoid negative racial or religious comments. However, for that to take place, we’ll have to first convince the parents to take the first step. Supposed that they are strongly against a race or religion, they wouldn’t be willing to do so and they root of the problem will not be tackled. Examples of such cases include those in Northern Ireland and between the Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East. In Northern Ireland, even though there are schools that have students from both the Protestants and Catholic groups, most parents are reluctant to send their children to these schools. Hence, most of them go to Protestant or Catholic schools instead, where they get more distrustful of each other. In one of the TIME reports, there was a short story about Sunnis saving the Shiites from drowning. However, the Shiites disposed of it as a myth and the Sunnis say that it was a disgrace to save those Shiites. Their dislike for each other date back to a few thousand years ago, with the Shiites seeing themselves as the oppressed. Such history cannot be removed easily. There are also other examples like Chinese and Koreans with anti-Japanese sediments. Often, these situations date back to hundreds or thousand years ago, and their dislike for each other was due to bloodshed in wartimes. Mindsets can be changed, but history can’t be. Yet, contradictorily, it is history that shapes our views.
Even if this barrier is crossed, we will still subconsciously sort them into different groups in our mind. A test involving filling adjectives in blanks shows this clearly. In the test, a picture of a White and Black are shown. Firstly, one is required to fill in good words in the blanks under the picture of the White and negative words under the picture of the Black. The test is then reversed with bad adjectives placed under the White picture instead. Studies then showed that it takes more time for one to place positive words like clean on the blanks under the Black man’s picture than on the White man’s picture. This is due to prejudice against the Blacks, and their subconscious is preventing them from completing the test in the same time even though they do not appear or think of themselves to be against the Blacks.
It is possible to reduce the prejudice of one group of people against the other. However, it is really challenging to try to completely exterminate it. One has to remember that there is always the subconscious playing some tricks on our minds.
