It's seems like everyone has to justify or try to explain why they have a certain stereotype or prejudice against a particular group or race. We all have done it at one point or another and we probably didn't even notice that we were doing it. I think that people naturally feel uncomfortable with people, places or things that we don't understand. This is no excuse it's just human nature. I am no different than anyone else in the fact that I have prejudged others based on a generalization of appearances. I can't exactly tell you why but, I no it has had to do with my fear of not knowing, my laziness to learn more and even my complete ignorance towards others who don't appear the same. It's really quite sad because in the time that it takes for me to come up with my excuses I probable could have found evidence to contradict my stereotypes. That's quite ironic considering that I have used most of prejudgments to save me time in getting to know someone or to feel comfortable in a situation.
             I have held many stereotypes in the past and as I delete them one by one I have noticed how completely ridiculous and devastating they were to my interpersonal perceptions of those I was trying to communicate with. At one point in my life I had a very hard time talking to anyone who had a foreign accent. (By foreign I mean non-U. S) I actually thought that these people were less intelligent and more likely to do harm than someone who talked the same way as me. Obviously I know that I was a complete fool for thinking that but it's amazing what you pick up on when you are a child.
             I came from a family that wanted every new culture in the United States to speak English fluently and assimilate to the American culture. I believe that my grandfather and my father had a self- serving bias. They had the old adage that, if it isn't U.S.A than it's crap. Now that I l
             ...