Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
Hello! This is my first blog on here, so I decided to make it something… Interesting? It’s a little controversial, I suppose? But nonetheless, it’s something I’ve been wondering about.
So. Last week, in my English class, we started reading the script of “Twelve Angry Men,” as well as watching some of the film itself. Personally, so far, I really like Juror #8. I was quite surprised between the differences between the script and film, but nonetheless it’s been interesting so far and brings up a lot of good questions. Like, for example—how does anger, prejudice, and biases affect our view of the world? How does it dim our line of sight, and make us lose opportunities? Why do people lie, take bribes (besides the obvious greediness), or do anything of the sort? I’ve been thinking about these questions for quite a bit, and I still haven’t come to a full conclusion.
Personally, I really feel for the boy in the center of the homicide case. Accused of killing his father with no concrete proof? Very despicable, and weird, and unfortunate. As someone who has been abused, I understand him, in a way. I feel for him. The fact that he had no one in his corner to understand, to defend him, it’s relatable. Though I’ve heard that the script (or, I’m not sure if it was that or the film) had an ambiguous ending, I still believe the boy to be innocent. And as such, I want to ask and come to a conclusion for my own questions now. How does prejudice affect people? Well, the obvious answer is that it makes them biased, but I think it goes deeper than that.
Prejudice, as defined by Google, means “preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.“ I feel that this is quite a good definition. It sums it up quite well, but what are the effects of prejudice, of anger, or pride, and of being biased? Well, obviously, it causes a lack of empathy and sympathy. See, prejudice, can (at least in my opinion) come from (mostly) two places—ignorance, or malice. It really depends. For ignorance, you can consult the definition presented by Google, that I listed earlier. Usually, when someone is ignorantly prejudiced, it means they are biased because it is not based on facts, or reason, or actual experience. It is, usually, based on word of mouth, or rumors, or what-have-you. When someone is maliciously prejudiced(?) on the other hand, they know the facts, they know their reason is unjustifiable, and yet they choose to be prejudiced anyway. I think, if you are ignorantly prejudiced, you have leeway to change. You can do research, consult others for experience, seek advice, and many more things can be done to help. And though you can also change if maliciously prejudiced, I think the chance for that is much lower. Why? Because it’s due to a lack of empathy & sympathy. It is a lack of understanding, an UNWILLINGNESS to understand, other people and how they work, how they’re wired. Not to say that people who don’t feel much empathy or sympathy are all prejudiced, absolutely not the case. In fact, some of those who lack empathy & sympathy happen to be some of my dearest, closest friends. However, I still do think that prejudice comes from an unwillingness to understand other people. You’re unwilling to put yourself in their shoes, to understand the why or how someone does or says something. I think this is an important thing to consider now, especially for teenagers online. Nowadays a lot, and I mean a LOT, of teenagers tend to be biased or prejudiced without realizing. See, I think being slightly biased can be okay. Sometimes, it’s not wrong at all. However, if it gets to a point where you judge everyone based on first impressions, or how they look, how they talk, etc. then that can be a problem, and it’s a serious one, considering how social media is nowadays. Maybe I’ll discuss this in a future blog? Who knows. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked…!
So. I will answer the questions I asked earlier in bullet points!
- How does anger, pride, prejudice, and biases affect our view of the world? Personally, I believe that it comes from an unwillingness to understand other people, as stated before. I believe that they make you extremely biased and judgemental, to a rather unhealthy extent. Being a “hater” is fine and dandy, but make sure it’s for a good reason, yeah? Nonetheless, I think it’s unhealthy to be too biased, or to let your anger or pride control you. Obviously. It causes problems in relationships and friendships, whether it be with a lover, family, friends, or even acquaintances and strangers. So I believe that due to this way of, I guess you could say negativity, you can definitely lose loved ones or find yourself suffering from even depression, since due to too many biases, you can definitely lose the feelings of pleasure and happiness you get from hanging out with friends, or doing your hobbies, or watching a movie or a show, etc. So, what I’m trying to say is that it has a lot of negative consequences and can affect you pretty badly…..
- How does it dim our line of sight, and make us lose opportunities? I said it before, but too much judgement, biases and prejudice can be unhealthy. Not everything is in black and white—the world is full of colors, you know! But nonetheless, I think it dims your line of sight because you become more close-minded that way. You won’t think as openly and this’ll cause you to think outside the box less, and whatnot. So in the end, not only do you lose loved ones and can find yourself with a lack of pleasure in doing things, your reputation can also swandive and it can make you look dumb, and like a bully. How unfortunate.
- Why do people lie, take bribes (besides the obvious greediness), or do anything of the sort? To be honest, I don’t know how to answer this one. I think it’s obviously due to some level of greediness and temptation, but I think it also has a hand in people minimizing issues, a lack of unwillingness to empathize and sympathize, etc. Like, some people take bribes thinking, “oh, this is okay. It won’t have as much of an effect, right? Someone else will surely step up” or they think, “Ugh, why do I have to waste my precious time on some nobody? I’d rather take the bribe and get out of here.” Which, both are bad mindsets to have, by the way. First is when you minimize a situation, which all hell will usually break loose then, and the second is just… terrible. Don’t call someone a nobody, okay? Everyone is technically a somebody, at least to someone else. Or to themselves. Who knows.
Thank you for reading. I think this is all I really had to say? I didn’t do much today in terms of school, but um. I’m also really hungry. So I need to eat. Thanks for reading, and I wish you all a great day! Sending lots of love.
Also, apologies if this thing is worded weirdly, it isn’t beta’d and I just rambled, basically. LOL. Again, lots of love!
- As always, Laika. Signing out.