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Prejudism

Intergalacti...	Date: May 15, 2004 @ 11:12 AM Now I know I'm not the best person to be critical on this as I thought that gays listened to different music stupidly (even though I'm not a homophobe) but when posting on the thread 'Is the Youth wasted on the Young' I was quite suprised how the elder people thought of the younger generation. Now I consider myself not against anythin I'm quite open minded but I'm just wonderin (to those people who are openly prejudice) why do you feel that some people should be seperated from others?
bastardo23	Date: May 15, 2004 @ 11:30 AM becuz.. when we was scramblin' and scraping and barely able to escape death that may lurk around every corner, we learned that anyone/anything that isn't part of the immediate tribe was probably dangerous, and maybe even fatal. it came from deep in our past. this was just one of the many distinctions we created long ago. nowadays we may ask the question friend or foe? etc., or we may give a thing a name like black, or white, or fresh, or rotten.. these distinctions may or may not be life threatening, but we have a hard time rationalizing our way out of the primal fear that lay beneath. i don't like being judged without a chance to prove myself any more than the next guy, but to not have prejudice could very well be on the verge of impossible. if you think you are 100% prejudice free i would love for you, privileged person that you are, to please share with those of us who still need these basic words to function, how you have achieived this paragon of wisdom. how is it that you can communicate and distinguish, without the appropriate word?
Intergalacti...	Date: May 15, 2004 @ 11:38 AM i dont understand much of that last paragraph, i dont think im 100% prejudice free but its not as if i just say to someone who listens to dance music you're a tosser for that. I get to know people before I judge them or at least I think I do
100thmonk	Date: May 15, 2004 @ 9:20 PM congratulations, i seriously doubt your some kind of jerk(and i was not trying to suggest you were) what i am suggesting is that there is a more primal fear-based response built inside us to those outside our regular sphere. at a very basic and SUBconscious level where your mind asks the question, attracted? or not? friend? or foe? potentiial mate? or potential competitor for mates?etc. we all like to think we're liberal, but "conservation" seems built into the system from a bloody and distant past. it's the protective tribal instinct that results in cliques, of all kinds which insulate themselves socially from one another. (i am desparately, as a coloured-man, trying to convince people that the mere discussion of a topic gives it life. i am trying to find a different way to understand it, and to discuss it, and yet not continue to speak directly about it , but rather, without judgement, and without.. (the word i'm evading))
Intergalacti...	Date: May 16, 2004 @ 10:26 AM Do you mind bein called a coloured man because I thught the correct name was a 'black' man? I really don't understand a lot of racial things I think they are pointless. For e.g. the word nigger (I'm sorry if I offend anyone bringin it up) I know it was a slave name but why do blacks (or coloured people) call it eachother as a sign of respect but when whites call a black person a nigger thats considered an insult?
ryanwilliams	Date: May 17, 2004 @ 12:34 AM Black people have really hard heads. That's really what it all comes down to. If they had just done the work instead of bucking against their masters, the whole 'slavery' thing would've worked a lot better. I judge people less by the color of their skin and more by their behaviour, but other than that I don't know that I do too much judging. What I mean is more along the lines of "If I'm driving through the ghetto at 3AM and a man seems to be approaching my car at a stoplight, I will lock the doors and be prepared to pull away," and it really doesnt matter to me what color he is. the environment coupled with his action of walking towards my car turns on the red flag. Conversely, "If I'm stranded at the side of the road, and I see a man pull over and get out to approach me, I assume he's going to help me, not rob me," and what color he is has nothing to do with it. I can't tell you why other black people use the word "nigger" with such frequency. I only use it when I'm joking around with my friends, just about all of whom are white. The story you'll get is always something about "turning the negative into a positive" or "Taking back" the word, whatever It's all greek for "crock of shit." Until the day comes when that word doesn't invoke images of the 1950's or any other negative image, you can't remove all the negative, so you shouldn't use it, regardless of what color you are. I would be willing to argue that the basis of prejudice/racism lies in the differences between people, and how willing an individual is to accept those differences. In the 60's or 70's (excuse me while I get hazy on details) there was a school at which the students were very angry with the police force. They held rallies and protests and things of this nature. An experiment was conducted in one of the public speaking classes, without the students' knowledge. Some of the students in this class were some of the main anti-cop kids. Now, all the students were given topics that they had to give speeches on, but the activist students were chosen specifically to see what would happen if they had to give a speech on all the good that the police have done. The study ended up showing that following the speeches, all of the students who had to do speeches on the police came out of the experience with a higher regard for the police than they'd initially had--primarily because these students were looking at the police from a broader perspective than simply the problems they had with them. The big picture usually comes in clearer when you're looking at the whole thing.
Intergalacti...	Date: May 18, 2004 @ 12:45 PM Yeah I'd agree with that sayin. I don't call people 'niggers' because it is an offensive word no matter what it means, but the amount of black people who use it just to say hi to their mates is confusing thats all.
100thmonk	Date: May 18, 2004 @ 5:58 PM i completely agree with you. they would probably like to believe that they have power over the word's meaning, and so that makes it okay for thm to use it. myself, i still maintain the ignorance that one day we will wear out the use of a word, and will retire it.. i don't hope for censorship, just agreed retirement of words that communicate nothing..
milladrive	Date: May 19, 2004 @ 2:14 PM You've got sorta the right idea, 100thmonk. By overusing a word, the impact is devalued. This is why I have absolutely no problem with people using whatever words they choose with which to express themselves. "Offensive" words become inoffensive when the impact is lessened. Ryan, I agree with the bulk of what you wrote, and got a good chuckle from your preliminary paragraph. My belief is that bigotry (that's the word to use, since "prejudice" and "racism" are not necessarily 100% bad things) derives from people's insecurities of themselves. It's why, imo, some men are threatened by women with power or independence, why some people are offended by others' sexual preferences, and why some folks are angry/hateful/hurtful/intolerant/etc. of people with an ethnicity, skin tone, or belief system different from their own. Indeed, it all stems from the differences among people, but let's face it, it's just as silly to like someone because of similarities as it is to dislike someone for their differences. My
victorsskull	Date: May 20, 2004 @ 10:25 AM fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
chrismacmanus	Date: June 2, 2004 @ 6:23 AM Sometimes prejudice has a way of creeping up on you. You can at times consider youself to be the most open-minded person in the world, an all-loving, all-accepting individual, but it can sometimes only take a small thing to bring out some buried bigotry. It's coming close to that time of year again here in Northern Ireland - where one section of the community marches en masse to celebrate a victory over the other and continue to copmound over 300 years of hatred, oppression and anger. The result - most of us end up falling into the same old trap of bigorty and prejudice. Accept it, there is noone truly without prejudice. intergal., I think that what bastardo was saying was that without prejudice, you cannot distinuish or judge values and things, he's right, you wouldn't be able to communicate - you would be unable to regard one thing as better than the other, or a person or place nicer than the other. Do you prefer the Welsh to the English, or has that thought never entered your mind?
Pagan	Date: June 5, 2004 @ 1:55 PM I think all prejudiced people totally suck and most of them are really stupid and mean.... I dont know too many of them but im sure they are that way.
100thmonk	Date: June 7, 2004 @ 4:20 AM umm, i didn't notice a laugh or a smile or any emoticon to indicate humour.. I dont know too many of them but im sure they are that way. are you serious... pagan?
Intergalacti...	Date: June 7, 2004 @ 4:33 AM I think he's being serious but a lot of it I thrink has to do with heritage and the way your brought up some people can't help it.
chrismacmanus	Date: June 7, 2004 @ 5:50 AM mmmmmm, i think you might be right
Svensta	Date: June 7, 2004 @ 7:53 AM Don't worry Monk, I get the irony too
Intergalacti...	Date: June 7, 2004 @ 10:46 AM Yeah I was really confused by that remark lol
100thmonk	Date: June 8, 2004 @ 2:25 AM that felt like diving headfirst into a pond only to find out it was a puddle.
milladrive	Date: June 8, 2004 @ 2:34 AM Trust me, Pagan got the irony when he made the comment.
100thmonk	Date: June 8, 2004 @ 2:50 AM u dee man milla
DevonPowell	Date: June 8, 2004 @ 11:32 AM I think prejudice is solely based on fear, typically of the unknown. I don't know if I would classify that as a "primal fear"... Weather that emerges as fear of a person due to their color of skin, culture, age, sexual orientation, gender, religous beliefs, because of lack of exposure/knowledge of the cultural mores and values of that person, their heritage, etc... Prejudices are fundamentally lacking in facts. They can be irrational, usually in a variety of emotions, such as hatred. My philosophy is that there are two fundamental emotions in the world today: Love and fear. Fear motivates hatred, anger, etc.. and love, well... So, for me, prejudices are born of fear, and typically of those things that are unknown. A person without prejudice would be all-knowing (or at least understanding?), know no fear, and likely love unconditionally. When people believe someone should be separated, beneath, not as good as/unworthy of the same treatment, it is based on an irrational train of thought/lack of facts. I believe hatred of black people by white's (for example, many southerner's continue to harbor that feeling), it stems from a fear. That fear can be solely physical, it can be cultural (a lack of understanding of it), so many things. The truth is, regarding skin color, all races have the same number of melanocytes, which produces Melanin, the dark pigment in skin/hair found in the stratum basale layer of the integument (skin). Skin color is determined by the amount of melanin produced. Melanin protects against UV rays. So, those that simply fear an albino, someone who has a genetic disorder in which melanocytes cannot produce melanin, thereby leaving the skin characteristically white/without color, solely on the color (or lack of color) of their skin, likely does not understand/have knowledge of WHY that person looks as they do... ...and likely fears them because they are different from the person making the judgement, or different from what that person regards as "the norm". At least that's what I think...
Pagan	Date: June 8, 2004 @ 11:52 PM Im amazed that rediculous statement would need an emoticon. I mean how extreme does one have to be? and who cares what I meant? It was an outrageous statement. irony is wasted on you.
100thmonk	Date: June 10, 2004 @ 8:27 PM a friend of mine is anemic, i'll pass it on to him
bellachica	Date: July 17, 2004 @ 12:21 AM well i for one hate dominicans, and i wont ever like them
InsaneWayne	Date: July 20, 2004 @ 7:52 PM I still hate Disco! No way is all this anti-bigot crap gonna change that!
8111	Date: September 25, 2004 @ 9:17 PM If you're "not against anything" you stand for nothing.
ryanwilliams	Date: September 26, 2004 @ 12:56 AM Not Another Teen Movie in my analysis, fyi. " id="113420">I kinda think albinos are hot. Or anyway, the majority of the ones I've seen. And I am not including anything I"ve seen in Not Another Teen Movie in my analysis, fyi.
spiralmux	Date: September 26, 2004 @ 7:05 AM about albinos

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