Fighting Prejudice with Prejudice
March 04, 2009
As a traveler and someone who is relatively educated about the goings-on in the world around me, I am acutely aware when someone says something that—to me—is just a bit off color. In planning for an upcoming trip to Peru, we mentioned our plans to someone (for the purposes of this blog, we’ll call him Jack) who in turn said he wouldn’t go south of the United States because “it just isn’t safe.” An attempt at biting my tongue failed, and I commented that there are safe and dangerous places in our own neighborhoods and that being mindful when traveling in Peru is not much different than being mindful when traveling in other places. While recounting the story to one of my colleagues and sharing my frustration about what this person said, she asked me if maybe I was being prejudiced against Jack because he was uneducated. I was tempted to say no, but then I found myself wondering, if you call someone out on their prejudices, are you being prejudiced against that person?
My Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary says that “prejudice” is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or reason. Knowing that Jack frequently makes comments like the one he made about our trip to Peru, and that I’ve had several discussions with him about foreign travel and different cultures, I wasn’t surprised by the comment that he made. In fact, on some level, I probably expected it. I never called Jack prejudiced; I simply relayed the story to my co-worker. Perhaps it wasn’t the conversation with Jack per se that prompted my colleague to question my political correctness but rather my frustration about the situation. Feeling annoyed and wanting to give Jack a different perspective may be a result of my own education and experiences abroad. By bringing Jack’s inaccuracies to light, was I implying he was uneducated or culturally closed off—and as a result, does that make me prejudiced against his view of the world? I encounter people unlike myself all the time, and I try to understand the world around me by listening to what people have to say (even if I don’t agree with them) and responding to them with open discourse.
In a recent training meeting on respecting differences, I noted that in some places around the world, people do not know that there are other people who are different than them. Perhaps they have never seen someone with a different skin color, met someone who practiced a different religion or conversed with someone who spoke a different language. For many people in the world, their world is their community. When I mentioned this in the training meeting, the person leading the group said that he was perfectly content if he didn’t encounter these people. When people state something incorrectly, is it wrong or bad to point out that what they are saying is not necessarily true? Or, when people jump to conclusions because it is convenient, and you point out that there may be other ways to look at the situation, is that being prejudiced?
I cringe when I hear mistruths because people aren’t educated, haven’t experienced something or simply don’t know the facts. For example, saying President Barack Obama is a Muslim because his middle name is Hussein or that he wouldn’t be a good president because of his skin color. Are these close-minded or uneducated things to say? Is pointing out that neither is true because of the logic behind the statements being prejudiced toward the person who said them?
In a world that is becoming increasingly smaller and overly politically correct, it’s more important than ever that we keep our minds open and feel comfortable voicing our opinions without infringing on others’ views, if for no other reason than to learn from each other. But when we make personal attacks about a person because we don’t know any better, that may be when we cross the line into treacherous territory bordering on being racist, sexist or prejudiced against someone or some group of people based on some thing.
It’s a double-edged sword, really. Upon reflecting on my conversation with Jack, did it make any difference that I countered his statement on whether places south of the United States were safe? Perhaps I should have let the issue stand and said nothing. Would that have been the right thing to do, or would it have perpetuated an already well-grounded assumption? To fight ignorance we have to use education, intelligence and our voices, but to fight the label of being prejudiced, maybe we aren’t supposed to use anything at all.
I think the key to what you are saying is that prejudice is based on lack of knowledge or understanding. You fully understand Jack and his thoughts about different cultures and worldly travel. Perhaps you were being judgmental, but that is part of the human condition. It is your awareness of that judgment that makes your comments to Jack understandable and forgivable.
— C · #