“You can tell nothing from a man’s appearance, nothing except the depths of your own prejudice.” — Simon Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf
Tag: Prejudice
Quote of the Day
“We flatter ourselves by claiming to be rational and intellectual beings, but it would be a great mistake to suppose that men are always guided by reason. We are strange inconsistent creatures, and we act quite as often, perhaps oftener, from prejudice or passion.” — Sir John Lubbock, “Tact,” The Use of Life
Quote of the Day
“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” — Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100
Quote of the Day
“There is, however, no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice. For this last implies not only the practical conviction that it is right, but the theoretical assumption that it cannot be wrong.” — William Hazlitt, “On the Tendency of Sects,” The Round Table (1815-09-10)
Quote of the Day
“We now have access to so much information that we can find support for any prejudice or opinion.” — David Suzuki, “What a difference 50 years makes,” davidsuzuki.org (27 June 2008)
Quote of the Day
“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices — just recognize them.” — Edward R. Murrow, Television broadcast, (1955-12-31)
Quote of the Day
Critical Thinking to Reduce Prejudice
It took me a while to get my error of the other day out of my head. I thought a lot about it – too much even. I found it difficult to admit (emotionally) that I had been wrong and I continued to indirectly argue my case. I spent my time thinking about prejudice and I had a minor epiphany that allowed my mind to put this to rest.
If prejudice is maintaining an opinion in spite of reason, then the answer to solving it is teaching critical thinking. The commonly evoked solution is teaching understanding yet this does not seem to address the definition of prejudice.
Anecdotal evidence supports this theory. Asia has a racist reputation and a reputation for lacking in critical thinking. Google confirmed that theory of using critical thinking to reduce prejudice was neither new nor wrong.
It is funny that I had to ‘solve’ the problem intellectually to let go of it, yet the true problem was that I got upset when reason could not defeated a prejudiced opinion. I needed to find a way to win my argument without continuing the argument. This was the only way I could forget about it.
Related Articles
- I Know Better (yahooeysblog.wordpress.com)
- Critical Thinking and Ethics (socyberty.com)
- Measuring the Impact of a Diversity Requirement on Students’ Level of Racial Prejudice (www.diversityweb.org)
I Know Better
“Prejudice is taken to mean an opinion formed without reasoning and maintained in despite of it” — Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice
Today, I allowed myself to try to use reason against prejudice. Worse, I got upset at the deafness. It was a case of pride versus prejudice. I know better and I know that this person will counter reason by repeating the same prejudice in ever-increasing volumes, yet I persisted. I should have walked away.
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