Prejudice Case

Prejudice

We will never be able to measure the full effects of prejudice: I think it affects everyone, even if it occurs at a subconscious level. I will be the first to admit that I am prejudice: I judge people daily by how they dress, talk, and look. Prejudice has a heavy psychological impact on the ones to whom it is directed at; it shows the ignorance of the person displaying the prejudice; and yes, I believe prejudice can be lessened, but I it will never be eliminated.

First off, I would like to quote Ayn Rand on racism: "[Racism] is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's lineage - the notion that a man's intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors." She hits the nail right on the head here - there is no reason for us to judge people based on their looks, they didn't get to choose to whom they were born. Yet so many times I find myself doing this; everyone does, even if they don't admit it. Prejudice can have a wide range of implications on the person to whom it is directed at. I believe that lots of times we don't see these effects immediately, but they show up later on in the person's life. An example of this would be a black person who grows up in an all white community. Throughout his life, he is made fun of because he acts "white" (i.e., he tries hard in school, gets good grades, is smart). This kid could always feel alone, because his black friends disown him for acting white, and his white friends are subconsciously prejudice against him simply because he is black. This is a tough situation, and is extremely true in the lives of a lot of kids (especially in inner-cities). Not to pick on black people or anything, but I heard a report some time ago that only 2% of black kids make it out of the "hood". It is extremely hard for them to overcome everyone making fun of them because they don't conform to being a "gangster". You can see this at Buckingham; the majority of black kids are caught up in the whole hip-hop culture. When one of them decides that they want to be something after high school, they immediately get made fun of for being "white". I kind of hit a rabbit trail there, but you can understand: it is very hard for certain ethnic groups to overcome.

The person displaying the prejudice shows the ignorance of that person. Most kids get their prejudice roots from their parents at a very young age; it can come from a ton of different situations where the parent makes a comment, joke, etc, about a certain group. It also can come from the environment, in which the child grows up, and different situations that the child is involved in or witnesses. That being said,