Just Sayin’ #8 by George Knight
"Prejudice Is The Child Of Ignorance”
Is it really true that Prejudice is (solely) the Child of Ignorance or is its origins more vast and varied?
Today, to all intents and circumstances, it is generally agreed that Prejudice of every kind is universally bad and “open-mindedness” is universally good.
The principle here being that we should not be closed-minded by prejudging a person or an event or a situation without having specific knowledge as related to that person, that event or that situation.
This principle implies that our views and the judgements we make, especially when it comes to dealing with important life-changing matters, need to be founded on direct and positive evidence and not upon some personal bias, be it explicit and conscious or implicit and unconscious.
Now all this seems to be eminently sensible. So much so as to cause one to wonder why would anybody allow prejudice and personal biases cloud their judgements when making decisions and exercising their opinions especially on really important matters, matters for example, related to life and death?
Why would any sensible person faced with taking an important life decision not try to inform that decision with as much relevant information and knowledge as possible?
Surely it is patently obvious that taking a well-informed decision is always better than taking an ill-informed, under-informed or uninformed decision?
Given this then why is it that so many people, (even most of us?) hold prejudicial views and so frequently act upon them?
Indeed, could it even be the case that it is precisely those who most vociferously proclaim themselves to be the least prejudiced amongst is who are in fact the most blinded by and the most enslaved to their darkly hidden and deeply rooted prejudices / unhealthy biases?
Additionally , one does have to wonder, given the universal, historical and persistent presence of Prejudice at all levels and in every culture, as to whether Prejudice and being Prejudiced is in fact ineluctable and, horror of horrors, even necessary?
Could Prejudice and being Prejudiced serve some evolutionary purpose?
Could it have some “survival value”?
These are very controversial questions!
Consider a situation where you are living in a low-information, low-trust, high-risk environment where you have to take an urgent decision that has massive potential to do untold harm to you and your immediate community and you do not have either the time or the resources you need to gather all the information / evidence you believe that you require to take a “fully-informed|” / “well-informed” decision.
Imagine your own extreme “edge-case” thought experiment here. Now here I suspect that if and when you do so, you will discover that in exercising your urgent and essential decision that there will be very little difference between your strong personal preferences and your prejudices.
Indeed one further has to wonder as to whether we as Human Beings can practically and effectively function in the world, either as individuals or as a society, without needing to have made some fundamental pre-judgements as to what we consider to be right or wrong, good or bad or beautiful or ugly?
The question here is: Are we not, as Human Beings, constitutionally prejudiced because we are fated to act in a highly uncertain and perilous world with incomplete and often conflicting information?
As I see it, the issue as it relates to Prejudice is not whether it is good or bad for us as human beings to be prejudiced and have (conscious or unconscious ) biases for we are ineluctably and necessarily prejudiced. Rather the question is
whether our prejudices are good and encourage the flourishing of our humanity (at both a personal and global level) or
whether they are destructive and degrading.
As for me, I freely admit to being openly biased / prejudiced against any person or any culture which denies the inviolable dignity of every Human Being and of every person’s Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
I therefore wholly reject every Totalitarian Ideology irrespective of their origins or their arguments. They are all anti-Life, anti-Liberty and anti-the flourishing of the human being.
Being so prejudiced I am forced to recognise that there are cultures and ideologies with whom I cannot integrate into or peacefully co-exist with as we are simply “incompatible” and mutually antagonistic.
I also must recognise that I cannot convince or convert such cultures and their adherents to my worldview (they have got to convince themselves!).
Because of this, because of the deep-rooted nature of Prejudice (both theirs and mine), the only way I can see us co-existing in peace on our little planet is by accepting the truth that “good fences make for good neighbours”.
In all of this the truth and the realpolitik of our World is that we must learn to tolerate each other’s differences and biases. As a consequence we must, in as much as we can, allow each of us to have our own space either to flourish or not, in line with our own adopted cultural values, norms and practices.
Here the simple reality is that when it comes the flourishing of our Cultural lives and our Social-Political-Economic co-existence on this Earth, one size does not fit all. (a case of “Different strokes for different folks”)
It is also simply the case that true diversity of opinion, of values and of cultures cannot be sustained by a centralising totalising presumptive authority, be that Local, National, Regional or Global.
As Human Beings, the truth is that we were born free and should be free to make (sometimes very costly!) mistakes and to learn from them (or not!)
We are and are meant to be free citizens not enslaved subjects.
This is foundational to my deeply-rooted prejudice against Totalitarian Bullies and the Useful Idiots of every stripe be they on the Left or on the Right of the Political Divide.
So it is that I contend that Prejudice is NOT exclusively the Child of Ignorance, it is also sometimes a product of Evolutionary Social Psychology and Cultural Prudence.
Till next Tuesday, in friendship,
GK
