Regarding the Wednesday letter, “Time to talk about prejudice openly”:
The writer talks about the evils of racism, bigotry and prejudice, and uses those three words interchangably, as if they were the same thing.
Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another race, bigotry is the intolerance of those different than yourself (race, creed, belief, etc.), and prejudice is a preconceived opinion. To use these three words interchangably, as if they are the same thing, is wrong, and could even be dangerous.
Most people (including myself) believe all racism is bad and will try to convince people not to be racist. Same thing applies with bigotry. But to try to convince people that all prejudice is bad and try to get them to never prejudge is not only unrealistic, it could be dangerous.
Prejudice is sometimes a vice, but it can also be a virtue. If one were to live their life totally unprejudiced, it would lead them to to disregard the most obvious considerations about people. For example, if their manner and appearance is aggressive, and one ignored these facts because they did not want to be prejudiced and stereotype the person, one is much more likely to be assaulted.
Don’t prejudge the 32-year-old man with prison and gang tatoos on his arm, he might be a perfect match to date your 17-year-old daughter. Or the convicted pedophile, don’t prejudge him, he could very well be the perfect babysitter for your 5-year-old son. And for heavens sake, don’t commit the evil of prejudging as you walk home, the guy walking toward you wearing the hockey mask, bloody T-shirt and carrying an 8-inch butcher knife may be a very nice man.
Kirk Randall
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