In this day and age when the world has become a small village as people from all over the world are brought within each other's reach by technology, It goes without saying that Prejudice is still an important issue the world is facing today.
First of all, it is worth knowing the dictionary meaning of prejudice. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, Prejudice is
: an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc.
: a feeling of like or dislike for someone or something especially when it is not reasonable or logical.
Any preconceived opinion, feeling or adverse judgement formed beforehand or without knowledge of the fact including all damage caused by fear or hatred is Prejudice. In addition to being bigotry, prejudice births discrimination.
What we think of other people before knowing them personally tells a lot about who we are and it stems from what we read and hear about other people, Religion, Culture or just baseless deep-rooted ugly feelings about others.
We accuse a certain race of bigotry but we seem to have dementia when it comes to prejudice within our smaller groups and communities. We incriminate the powerful of oppression, neglect and abuse yet we forbid our children from being friends with children of the other "group".
Our enemy is not the Catholic with the Rosary or the Muslim saying prayers five times a day, it is the disgust or fright you feel and show when you see such even when you know virtually nothing about them.
As the brilliant Mark Twain stated, "Travel is fatal to Prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness", Research confirms the basic theory that contact with members of the other groups reduce prejudice and interestingly, the prejudice is not only reduced among the specific individuals with whom one interacts but quite contrarily, it reduces prejudice against all "others". The reason behind this being that diversity makes people more receiving to change.
All Blacks are not aggressive, all Mexicans are not drug dealers, all whites are racists and so when one comes in contact with someone from a different background than one's self, one has to be open minded and accept people irrespective of their background, beliefs, religion, race, gender and physical makeup.
We never fully understand the struggle people shown prejudice against go through nd the psychological damage they suffer is shocking but for the sake of the human race, all forms of prejudice have to go.
Thank you for reading this article.
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Image 2 source :Pinterest.com
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