(no subject)
I have found myself thinking alot about prejudice and wondering if it is a learned trait or is it something we are born with. I can make compelling arguments for both sides in my mind, but I just thought I would toss the question out there and see what others think about it. I will share my general idea that I usually come back to when thinking about this for everyone's enjoyment.
Overall I think all humans are good, or at the very least have the capacity for being good, but deep down inside all of us is a dark vein of ideals, and withing that vein lies prejudice. I am not talking about anything in specific but rather the whole general idea of it. Now the reason why I think we all have this in us is because if used in the correct way something such as prejudice can help a person in certain situations. For example if you hold a prejudice about a certain activity and what doing that makes you become in your mind, you may chose not to participate in an activity that may be illegal or at the very least may lead to you being injured or killed. The problem with prejudice is that we have, in my own opinion, used it in the wrong manner for many many years, and that we have also cast a stereotype (another form of prejudice in my mind) over it, and we assume it means the bad treatment and ideals towards a certain group of people, and while those stereotypes we have can be very very true sadly enough, it is wrong to paint the picture with such a broad brush. To me feelings and actions are not evil in and of themselves, instead it is how we act those feelings that make them good or bad, and far too often we react to prejudice in the wrong manner (both when we are the ones being prejudice and when we are on the recieving end). Face it noone likes to be treated differently, or have a predetermined idea about them but it happens. I always try my hardest to be very open minded and accepting of everyone and anything, but to be perfectly honest there are certain times when I find my own prejudice steering me into directions I did not intend to go in. There have been times when that line of thinking has kept me safe in my mind, but also I know there are countless other times when that line of thinking has led me astray and hurt others, and for any hurt I may have caused I am sorry. I really feel like prejudice is something that is inside all of us and is almost like an instinct, and like with all instincts we need to learn how to control it the best we can if we ever hope to move onto a more peaceful way of living with our neighbors (both domestic and international neighbors). I feel like prejudice has led to far too many needless deaths in the name of one cause or another, when push comes to shove we are all humans and share this planet Earth, and if we ever hope for mankind to survive then sooner or later we need to stop looking at people as being different because they live across a body of water, or across an imaginary line drawn onto a map, but instead we need to realize we are all humans and just trying to survive. Now each of us has our own idea of survival and how to go about it, but in the end we are all the same, we are just trying to live our lives, evolve and survive, and maybe if we are lucky in our lifetime we can see some more of these borders destroyed. Think about this most of us have already witnessed the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold way and collapse of the Soviet Union, who knows what will happen down the road, I just hope that our next turn will lead to more a unified people and not back into more lines being drawn. Well this is alot longer than I thought, and as I read it I realize I have babbled alot so I hope all of you can sift through my shit and understand what I am saying. Anyway I look forward to reading some responses on what I said here so that I can see how some people think of this idea.
Overall I think all humans are good, or at the very least have the capacity for being good, but deep down inside all of us is a dark vein of ideals, and withing that vein lies prejudice. I am not talking about anything in specific but rather the whole general idea of it. Now the reason why I think we all have this in us is because if used in the correct way something such as prejudice can help a person in certain situations. For example if you hold a prejudice about a certain activity and what doing that makes you become in your mind, you may chose not to participate in an activity that may be illegal or at the very least may lead to you being injured or killed. The problem with prejudice is that we have, in my own opinion, used it in the wrong manner for many many years, and that we have also cast a stereotype (another form of prejudice in my mind) over it, and we assume it means the bad treatment and ideals towards a certain group of people, and while those stereotypes we have can be very very true sadly enough, it is wrong to paint the picture with such a broad brush. To me feelings and actions are not evil in and of themselves, instead it is how we act those feelings that make them good or bad, and far too often we react to prejudice in the wrong manner (both when we are the ones being prejudice and when we are on the recieving end). Face it noone likes to be treated differently, or have a predetermined idea about them but it happens. I always try my hardest to be very open minded and accepting of everyone and anything, but to be perfectly honest there are certain times when I find my own prejudice steering me into directions I did not intend to go in. There have been times when that line of thinking has kept me safe in my mind, but also I know there are countless other times when that line of thinking has led me astray and hurt others, and for any hurt I may have caused I am sorry. I really feel like prejudice is something that is inside all of us and is almost like an instinct, and like with all instincts we need to learn how to control it the best we can if we ever hope to move onto a more peaceful way of living with our neighbors (both domestic and international neighbors). I feel like prejudice has led to far too many needless deaths in the name of one cause or another, when push comes to shove we are all humans and share this planet Earth, and if we ever hope for mankind to survive then sooner or later we need to stop looking at people as being different because they live across a body of water, or across an imaginary line drawn onto a map, but instead we need to realize we are all humans and just trying to survive. Now each of us has our own idea of survival and how to go about it, but in the end we are all the same, we are just trying to live our lives, evolve and survive, and maybe if we are lucky in our lifetime we can see some more of these borders destroyed. Think about this most of us have already witnessed the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the cold way and collapse of the Soviet Union, who knows what will happen down the road, I just hope that our next turn will lead to more a unified people and not back into more lines being drawn. Well this is alot longer than I thought, and as I read it I realize I have babbled alot so I hope all of you can sift through my shit and understand what I am saying. Anyway I look forward to reading some responses on what I said here so that I can see how some people think of this idea.