BS: My Prejudices

Subject: RE: BS: My Prejudices
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:51 PM

Yes, we all have prejudices, and we need to examine them and see if we can get free of them.

"Pointing out prejudices in others is the Great American Pastime."

LOL! Ain't it the truth. Why, if you eliminated that habit on Mudcat, half the posted material on here would vanish....

It's fun creating fictional characters like Shane (BDiBR) who are so ridiculously prejudiced in so many ways that it just gives the reader something to laugh about.

The reason we laugh...or get angry...may be that we recognize ourselves in some way. We see the shadow side of ourselves, made blatantly obvious in someone else. Note that effective comic humour usually involves people acting in a dysfunctional manner. Why was "Calvin & Hobbes" such a great comic? Because Calvin was a rotten little egocentric monster most of the time! That's funny to observe. It's a relief for the reader seeing that there is someone out there who is basically more dysfunctional than he/she is. Garfield is the same routine. That cat is a total jerk, and that's why people like the comic.

What would politicians do these days if they could not point out their opponent's prejudices, and assassinate his character?

I am prejudiced against Clinton Hammond. He reminds me of so many people I hated when I was a child! Oh my. I used to fantasize their doom. In Clinton's case, I keep hoping he'll be assaulted by a mob of Jehovah's Witnesses, stripped and flogged, and then hung up by the heels over a pit full of puff adders, there to be lowered slowly, slowly, slowly...to his inevitable and hideous doom.

Fortunately, these are nothing but fantasies. Think of how bad I would feel if it actually happened! The guilt would keep me up for.............days... (grin)

Subject: RE: BS: My Prejudices
From: Peace
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:46 PM

I don't like ice cream with onion salt in it.

Subject: RE: BS: My Prejudices
From: MMario
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:41 PM

prejudices based on experience are usually valid to some extent. Even when invalid there is usually a rational behind the prejudice.

BIGOTRY which is not so based is a whole 'nother issue.

Subject: RE: BS: My Prejudices
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:39 PM

Well, shucks Jerry, even Jesus of Nazareth had prejudices. Just look what he did to those poor folks who were selling things in the Temple. And what he said about the Pharisees...well!

Subject: RE: BS: My Prejudices
From: Amos
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:37 PM

Right with you, Jerry. Certain kinds of topic-bending or illogical sequencing of data drive me up the wall, and I always have to resist the temptation to conclude the person is being evasive or neurotic or both. It is not a fair resposne and I try to avoid it but as anyone who has read my political posts knows, I fall intot he temptation too easily.

I also tend to be prejudiced against receiving the content of anger, and passive aggression of the covert sort, and apathetic hopelessness. I get inclined to stop hearing because of a judgement that the expression does not reflect actual intent.

Silence, for me, is only a trigger if it is an out of communication sort of shutdown silence. There are silences between two people who are close that can be golden. But (to me) that's because such silences open the communication channel wider rather than shut it down.

A

Subject: BS: My Prejudices
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:26 PM

WHOOOOEEEEEE! This should be a HOT thread.

For starters, let me say that I am not going to post my prejudices in this thread. I may be naieve at times, but I ain't stupid. Man!
Talk about throwing meat to the dogs! Now, in personal correspondence, that's a different issue. Depending on the level of trust, acknowledging my prejudices can help explain "where I am coming from," and why I get it wrong a lot. That takes a very sepcial kind of friendship... one I've had with Art Thieme and a few other people in my life. But most of all, it's importand to ME that I recognize my prejudices. If I don't, then I get all sorts of distortions in my thinking, and I trip over myself trying to communicate with others.

Pointing out prejudices in others is the Great American Pastime. Forget baseball. We all do it. I do it. (And I'm not talking about something as limited as racial prejudice.) Being honest about our own prejudices is of limited appeal. This thread probably won't hit 20 posts. That's because we don't like to admit that we're prejudiced. I don't like to.

Many things lead to our prejudices... the experience of living, for starters. If someone has really treated us badly, it's easy to be prejudiced against anyone who we suspect may be like them. That can be very blinding. I guess I can understand prejudice against Christians because I've had people do really cruel things to me in the name of Christianity. I can understand silence being upsetting in a personal relationship because I've had relationships where silence was always the precursor of a violent explosion. It doesn't just happen with volcanos. The more I can honestly face my own prejudices, the less likely I am to missinterpret the actions of others. Everyone knows the frustration of someone insisting that you feel a way that you don't. You can talk yourself blue in the face and not change their mind. That's their problem (as we're always so quick to say.) Well, I have problems with prejudice that come from making generalities about people based on my own life experience. That's my problem.

I've just shared a long list of my prejudices with a friend I trust. I want to be able to have an honest conversation with him.
Honesty begins at home.

Jerry