Knowing My Prejudices
With the rise of incendiary language and racial tensions being higher now than I can ever remember, I have found myself thinking about race and questions of ethnic identity.
Let me start with what may be a poor analogy, but hear me out.
I don't eat at Applebee's all that much any more. I used to. Quite a bit, actually. I have to say, though, that I had a few bad experiences at one particular Applebee's that left my stomach and I a bit wary of eating there again. Now, it could be that the particular Applebee's in question is just a poorly managed example and the food was not up to the standards of the larger chain. However, and here is the critical part, those bad experiences have left me feeling a bit cool towards the entire chain. So while my experience in a particular Applebee's could have been an anomaly (or characteristic of that one restaurant), I have found that I am less apt to trust the other thousands of Applebee's across the country.
With regard to race, I have to ask myself, am I racist? As defined by Webster's Dictionary a racist is one who practices racial discrimination and persecution. Do I do that? Persecution? No. Discrimination? I don't think so. Perhaps I do and it is so unconscious I cannot yet recognize it. I have to admit that possibility. But I do have a prejudice side. That I admit. Prejudice is a preconceived, usually unfavorable idea that is held in disregard of the facts that contradict it. I do have prejudices. We all do. We all hear that voice in our heads when we see someone of a different ethnicity or dress code or social standing.
The question isn't so much about acknowledging our prejudice as it is acting on it. One can have prejudicial ideas but not act on them. Acting on those ideas would lead, I would surmise, to racist activities. One need only admit the ideas that jump to the fore when one is cut off in heavy traffic to know that thoughts do not always lead to actions. When they do, injustice usually occurs.
So do I have prejudices? Of course. Does that make me racist? No.
So am I racist? I have a hard time answering that. Mostly because people who would be acutely aware of racism are likely of a different race than I. Though I do know persons who are racist. It is evident in their language, which flags they fly from their house or porch, and how they treat other people. I gauge myself in relation to that. I see people whom I consider to be racist and feel that I am not.
The media (conservative and liberal) would push us to define our reactions upon soundbites, video clips and partisan sensationalism. But this is where we have to be careful. My opinion of other races is, I hope, built far more on personal experience than it is the collective media experience. A group acting one way in a particular region does not mean that the groups around me have acted that way.
Perhaps that is naieve, but my experience of something shapes my opinion. However, going back to the Applebee's analogy, sometimes that experience (good or bad) shapes the way I think about the larger whole.
That is certainly true for religious persuasions. My experience of other religions has so far been positive. That is not to deny the horrific stories of Islamic radicals (or Jewish or Christian or Hindu radicals). The exist, but they are not my particular experience. However, when the collective witness is hostile, one cannot help but to begin to reconsider or at least take into account the possibility that the positive has been more the anomaly than the negative. Again, though, one has to consider the sources. Who is telling the story and why? Perhaps more importantly is how are they telling the story?
A news report that already has a slant (they all do, but some are far more slanted than others) for or against a group can shape the presentation in such a way as to present no redeeming value for the group in question.
Perhaps what I am getting at here is that we cannot allow our ideas towards race and religion to be wholly shaped by news reports. Isolationists that we tend to be, we often allow the television to tell us all we need to know to form opinions with no experience to back the idea at all. But we can't just assume everything is awesome. As the character of Rick said to his son in an episode of The Walking Dead, "You are not safe." That is moving too far to the side of paranoia. Somewhere in the difficult middle is perhaps the truth.
As London Grammar sings, "I'm so down caught in the middle." It is a sadder but wiser place. Perhaps there we can begin to see that there are ideas that are worth rejecting, there are people worth avoiding, but there are others who are wonderful who can open our eyes and minds to the wider world around us.
In this difficult time, we need to conscientiously consider who we are, what we think, why we think it and what it will mean for our actions.
Let me start with what may be a poor analogy, but hear me out.
I don't eat at Applebee's all that much any more. I used to. Quite a bit, actually. I have to say, though, that I had a few bad experiences at one particular Applebee's that left my stomach and I a bit wary of eating there again. Now, it could be that the particular Applebee's in question is just a poorly managed example and the food was not up to the standards of the larger chain. However, and here is the critical part, those bad experiences have left me feeling a bit cool towards the entire chain. So while my experience in a particular Applebee's could have been an anomaly (or characteristic of that one restaurant), I have found that I am less apt to trust the other thousands of Applebee's across the country.
With regard to race, I have to ask myself, am I racist? As defined by Webster's Dictionary a racist is one who practices racial discrimination and persecution. Do I do that? Persecution? No. Discrimination? I don't think so. Perhaps I do and it is so unconscious I cannot yet recognize it. I have to admit that possibility. But I do have a prejudice side. That I admit. Prejudice is a preconceived, usually unfavorable idea that is held in disregard of the facts that contradict it. I do have prejudices. We all do. We all hear that voice in our heads when we see someone of a different ethnicity or dress code or social standing.
The question isn't so much about acknowledging our prejudice as it is acting on it. One can have prejudicial ideas but not act on them. Acting on those ideas would lead, I would surmise, to racist activities. One need only admit the ideas that jump to the fore when one is cut off in heavy traffic to know that thoughts do not always lead to actions. When they do, injustice usually occurs.
So do I have prejudices? Of course. Does that make me racist? No.
So am I racist? I have a hard time answering that. Mostly because people who would be acutely aware of racism are likely of a different race than I. Though I do know persons who are racist. It is evident in their language, which flags they fly from their house or porch, and how they treat other people. I gauge myself in relation to that. I see people whom I consider to be racist and feel that I am not.
The media (conservative and liberal) would push us to define our reactions upon soundbites, video clips and partisan sensationalism. But this is where we have to be careful. My opinion of other races is, I hope, built far more on personal experience than it is the collective media experience. A group acting one way in a particular region does not mean that the groups around me have acted that way.
Perhaps that is naieve, but my experience of something shapes my opinion. However, going back to the Applebee's analogy, sometimes that experience (good or bad) shapes the way I think about the larger whole.
That is certainly true for religious persuasions. My experience of other religions has so far been positive. That is not to deny the horrific stories of Islamic radicals (or Jewish or Christian or Hindu radicals). The exist, but they are not my particular experience. However, when the collective witness is hostile, one cannot help but to begin to reconsider or at least take into account the possibility that the positive has been more the anomaly than the negative. Again, though, one has to consider the sources. Who is telling the story and why? Perhaps more importantly is how are they telling the story?
A news report that already has a slant (they all do, but some are far more slanted than others) for or against a group can shape the presentation in such a way as to present no redeeming value for the group in question.
Perhaps what I am getting at here is that we cannot allow our ideas towards race and religion to be wholly shaped by news reports. Isolationists that we tend to be, we often allow the television to tell us all we need to know to form opinions with no experience to back the idea at all. But we can't just assume everything is awesome. As the character of Rick said to his son in an episode of The Walking Dead, "You are not safe." That is moving too far to the side of paranoia. Somewhere in the difficult middle is perhaps the truth.
As London Grammar sings, "I'm so down caught in the middle." It is a sadder but wiser place. Perhaps there we can begin to see that there are ideas that are worth rejecting, there are people worth avoiding, but there are others who are wonderful who can open our eyes and minds to the wider world around us.
In this difficult time, we need to conscientiously consider who we are, what we think, why we think it and what it will mean for our actions.
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