Prejudice and Discrimination
There must be a reason for the popularity, despite fifty years ofdesegregation, of racially biased humor. There must be a reason books of"politically correct" fairy tales got big laughs and made big bucks fortheir clever authors. There must be a reason that people laugh about being"politically correct" in their thoughts, words and actions. And perhapsthe concept is so continually amusing because it refers to a psychologythat does not naturally exist in human beings. At base, although there isso much talk about 'unity' and 'globalism' and all of us being one (and Idon't pretend to argue that we are or are not one in spirit), we all docome to this plane of existence in a variety of 'wrappers.' Moreover,these wrappers-our bodies-are motivated by an infinite variety of thoughtengines. It could be argued all day and all night whether the contents andproclivities of these minds and mental states are inherent orenvironmental. It doesn't matter. What is important is that when humansare attempting to be non-judgmental, non-discriminatory and unprejudiced,they are attempting to surmount a very basic animal reaction to the simplefact of inhabiting a body different from most other bodies, but quit
" (Pratto, 1992, 184) There are circumstancesin which stereotyping is reduced, including having additional informationabout someone that would otherwise be stereotyped or when one is personallyinvolved with a stereotyping target or are motivated to be accurate forsome other reason, such as in hiring staff in order not to run afoul,unintentionally, of Equal Employment Opportunity legal demands. It is not a problem for the Islamophobics, and perhaps itis not a problem for society, either. Fortunately, however, like the frightened preschooler's mother-orlike Charles Lamb-while we may own prejudicial thoughts, we mainly avoiddiscriminatory actions, or at least we usually seem to attempt in goodfaith to do so. But it served the caveman well to make a snapjudgment-to engage in stereotyping and prejudice-while he allowed the'other' to prove he was not a wife-kidnapper. Currently, there is a more convenient target for discriminatory actthan black Americas: Muslims. (Pratto, 1992, 184) Pratto was reacting to an article by Robin Fox in the same journal,Psychological Inquiry, in which Fox suggested that "prejudgment" (that is,prejudice or stereotyping) is essential to making decisions under stress. In the samebreath, however, he noted that he considered himself a lover of hisspecies, and also noted that "I can feel for all indifferently, but Icannot feel towards all equally. Just as there must have been a fewof Gooommoor's neighbors who did not want to kidnap Gooommoor's wife, thereare certainly lots of Muslims who don't want to fly planes into officebuildings. (Fox, 1992, 149) That is not the same as the prejudice and discrimination that wasgiven the boot, at least politically, in the United States when Brown v. "(Fox 1992, 137) Lamb, a timid person, worked hard as a clerk at East India House, andwas the best friend of admittedly 'unusual' poet Samuel Taylor Coleridgethroughout his life. In fact, there are doubtless many more Muslims who don't wantto fly planes into office buildings than there were cavemen who wanted tokidnap another man's wife. Lamb, like his matricidal sister, had also spent timein a madhouse. "We've found out that despite thecleverest efforts of smart, knowledgeable researchers, it is very hard toget people not to stereotype. He was also an essayist, and in his essays, he explored thesubject of prejudice.
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Acceptance Essays
