10-31-2024, 06:59 AM
This has always been something which gives me pause about who people are, and who they are not.
I see blue... I like blue... must that mean I then hate red? Does my liking blue somehow diminish the value of red? Is red now 'worse' and does my liking blue mean blue is 'better?'
I see someone different... is what makes them different a reason for hesitation? Fear? Antipathy?
I can only say that prejudice and bias are something which has value only to myself... until it is outwardly manifested, it exists as an element of consideration internally.
But the moment I utter the bias, manifest the idea of a prejudicial difference of another - to another... then it seems like a precipice is reached... my choice of distinction becomes an invitation to the like-minded, to leap across that chasm and "join my mind" on my side. Except the whole 'sides' idea is a fallacy. It's only a perception... not an element of realty.
Root psychological causes, meaning ancient fear/survival impulses, are an element in the growth of bias and prejudice... but those are just seeds... it's how we cultivate them that leads to whatever hatefulness we sow.
Bias and prejudice relates to an internal state... it's how I act on them, what I "do," how I behave that forms the toxic slime that spreads around... It's whether I am gleefully pleased to see it fester among others, like some narcissistic schadenfreude, feeding my ego... or feeling suddenly victimized when I learn my prejudice isolates me from the rest of my world.
Bias and prejudice are most problematic when it becomes the tool of activism... interestingly, it doesn't matter if it's for or against... often it creates an equal and opposite prejudice, but one just as damaging... bolstered by the fact that it is polarized in the opposite direction, but just as toxic, and usually just as unreasonable.
I see blue... I like blue... must that mean I then hate red? Does my liking blue somehow diminish the value of red? Is red now 'worse' and does my liking blue mean blue is 'better?'
I see someone different... is what makes them different a reason for hesitation? Fear? Antipathy?
I can only say that prejudice and bias are something which has value only to myself... until it is outwardly manifested, it exists as an element of consideration internally.
But the moment I utter the bias, manifest the idea of a prejudicial difference of another - to another... then it seems like a precipice is reached... my choice of distinction becomes an invitation to the like-minded, to leap across that chasm and "join my mind" on my side. Except the whole 'sides' idea is a fallacy. It's only a perception... not an element of realty.
Root psychological causes, meaning ancient fear/survival impulses, are an element in the growth of bias and prejudice... but those are just seeds... it's how we cultivate them that leads to whatever hatefulness we sow.
Bias and prejudice relates to an internal state... it's how I act on them, what I "do," how I behave that forms the toxic slime that spreads around... It's whether I am gleefully pleased to see it fester among others, like some narcissistic schadenfreude, feeding my ego... or feeling suddenly victimized when I learn my prejudice isolates me from the rest of my world.
Bias and prejudice are most problematic when it becomes the tool of activism... interestingly, it doesn't matter if it's for or against... often it creates an equal and opposite prejudice, but one just as damaging... bolstered by the fact that it is polarized in the opposite direction, but just as toxic, and usually just as unreasonable.
