Accepting Prejudice

Allow me to make clear that I do not believe that the color of one's skin has anything to do with one's worth as a human being (unless, of course, the individual decides to make that correlation for him/herself). Allow me to also make clear that policies, government systems, etc, should not be based upon a doctrine of discrimination. And finally, it should also be noted that any "hatred" or "intolerance" of another race or races is unacceptable. Racism is active; it is not a disposition, but rather, a behavior based on a (prejudicial) disposition. One's prejudice does not necessitate action based upon itself.

And so I propose, why not recognize stereotypes for what they are? A general reality.

Let us begin with an example.

Let us suppose that "Frank" has the opinion that African-Americans (AA) are lazy workers. Frank has worked with very few AA and ALL of them have been lazy. In his conversations with those in relation to him, their experience is the same. Frank now assumes that all AA are lazy.

Clearly, we have a problem. Frank has assumed an absolute truth based upon a limited experience-this is logically incoherent. However, because of the manner in which experiential knowledge is obtained, it is incoherent to expect a shift in disposition unless a new experience dictates the change. It is, quite simply, our nature. Actually, it is quite similar to the scientific method, dare I say. When one tests something a number of times and the outcome is the same each time, one assumes that it will continue in this manner at all times. So what is poor Frank to do?

Frank does not act upon his stereotypes. He does not discriminate, he does not hate. Frank does not think that any other race is (generally) superior to AA, he is simply disposed to believe that AA will be lazy in a work setting.

This, is not a problem.

The problem comes when one acts upon one's prejudice. The problem comes when one begins to take away another person's rights because of the disposition. For after all, certainly Frank has the liberty to dislike, does he not?

But Frank does not want to act upon his prejudice in any way. He is aware of the fact that he has an inappropriate disposition towards AA in a work setting and does not want it to affect his relationships. This is where my suggestion comes in.

As mentioned above, I do not believe that Frank can eliminate his disposition because of its roots in his experience (unless, like I said, his experience changes). So what I suggest, is that Frank ACCEPT the fact that he is prejudiced in this manner, and make a CONSCIOUS effort to avoid behavior that displays it. Trying to stifle the prejudice in the subconscious only takes the awareness from our consciousness and confuses things.

Surely, all must agree that a certain race GENERALLY implies a certain culture. Culture is, of course, a very general term, but one can usually assess a number of things about a people based upon their race. We do this all the time: White Americans are fast-paced and individualistically-driven; Hispanics are more laid back and group-oriented; and etc. These things are true-they are OBJECTIVE. A generalization that represents the majority is as objective as 2+2=4; it is almost redundant. To ignore these things is to ignore an entire science: sociology. Generalizations CAN be made because there are many things that are GENERALLY true.

The problem comes with discriminative behavior, NOT WITH THE STEREOTYPE ITSELF.

I suggest, then, that we embrace prejudice as unavoidable. Bringing these preconceived opinions and feelings into the open (one's conscious mind) will allow one to assess each situation with fair judgment, and to act accordingly.

Learn more about this author, Neil Eckstein.
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