Everybody is Prejudice

Prejudice needs to be disassociated with the word discrimination. The two are not as synonymous as many people may think.

From Wikipedia:
Prejudice is, as the name implies, the process of "pre-judging" something. In general, it implies coming to a judgment on the subject before learning where the preponderance of the evidence actually lies, or formation of a judgement without direct or actual experience.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Who among us can not be prejudice? We all judge things on a daily basis, very often with subjects we know little or nothing about.

Now socially speaking, as in the context as the word is normally used; we are all definitely prejudice, because usually it the course of least regret when we are making a decision.

Here are some situations I would like you to consider. Try you best to be objective, and see if you could not be prejudice:

1) Your car broke down on the side of the road at late at night. Your cell phone is dead; and it’s five mile walk to the nearest exit. A pickup truck pulls behind you with two bearded men in grimy coveralls, and offers you a ride to the nearest telephone.

Or, an expensive sports car pulls up behind you with two young men in nice clothes, offering you the same assistance.

Who would you trust more?

2) You get a knock on your door at 2am. You look through the peephole and see two black men. You ask them through the door what they want, and they reply that their car broke down and would like to use your phone to call a tow truck. They came to your house because they saw a light on.

Or, the same situation with two pretty white women.

Who would you open the door for?

3) Your teenage daughter brings home a skin head in punk regalia, and informs you that they are going on a date.

Or, she brings home a clean cut football player.

Who would you be more comfortable with?

Be honest with yourself: What you would do in any of these situations? Just for fun I will tell you that in all of the three “Or” situations, a well known crime occurred.

1) A stranded woman passed on the offer of a ride by some auto mechanics in a truck, to later accept a ride with two young men in a sports car. She was raped and murdered by them.
2) In a rash of robberies, two women would ring the bells of their targets at night asking for assistance, when the victim opened the door, 2 men would rush from around the corner and tie up the victim, then the four would rob the house.
3) Forbidden to go to the high school prom with her new punk boyfriend by her wealthy parents, a popular junior accepted an invitation to the prom from a star football player. The girl was found 3 days later having apparently died of a GHB overdose. It was later determined that she had been raped by three different men while unconscious.

The lesson here is that judging somebody as bad before you get to know them, can be even worse then judging somebody as good before you get to know them.

Best bet is to think of EVERYBODY as a crooked son (or daughter) of a bitch, just like I do. I can't tell the sheep from the goats, so that makes you all goats.

-Tommy Masterson