Prejudice: Can Human Nature be Resolved?

Prejudice has existed in our world from mankind's primitive beginnings. In the early development of human civilization communities have always faced the divisive issue of intolerance. Consequently, numerous people blame their personal as well as economic misfortunes on an abundance of different groups. People create scapegoats using prejudice as an excuse. Prejudice will always exist in our society as long as people are free to think and speak their minds. It is a negative characteristic of human nature to dislike the unknown or unaccustomed. How should this aspect of human nature be confronted? Education and communication are the first steps in resolving society's prejudicial problems.

In a perfect world, everyone can treat each other the way he or she deserves to be treated. But, as we all very well know, this world is far from perfect. Human nature doesn't allow everyone to get along. All people are prejudice to a degree. Any person who generalizes about one's ethnic origin, nationality, race, religion, gender, age, or social class potentially treats people as unequal, even subconsciously. This prejudice, an underlying hatred, originates from various conditions. Usually it is

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

Affirmative action also caused reverse discrimination by forcing companies to give more opportunity to minorities with equal or less credentials than an Anglo-Saxon male pursuing the same job. This form of communication and education should be mandated throughout all school systems. In addition, clashes in various cultures and beliefs will inevitably occur with the emergence of new innovations made more available through communication technologies such as television and the Internet. By approximately the year 2050, whites will account for only 49% of the United States' population, making them a minority. As ethnic diversity gradually increased in the United States, organizations rapidly formed to challenge the new government. People assumed that they were a lesser race because they were dissimilar and less industrialized compared to the white people. With predicted increases in the ethnic diversity of this country, as well as the world, the problem of prejudice must urgently be confronted and resolved.

Modern civilization has looked for an easy way out of its problems. Hitler's insecurity of those who were different from his race compelled him to order the extermination of six million people. How can our society continue to endure all these negative effects caused by prejudice, and do so little about it? What can our civilization do to save itself from its own nature?

Numerous efforts have been made in our country's history to address the prejudicial problems in the United States, for instance: the Civil War, Martin Luther King's actions, the Million Man March, the civil rights movement, the woman's rights movement, and affirmative action. This is especially true in the United States where many people have immigrated from an international array of backgrounds. In order to achieve a more tolerant world and secure our civilization's future we will need some open-minded, courageous and committed leaders for the human race. Whatever prejudice's origin, it exists from narrow-minded perspectives and is still a problem in today's world. For the first century of our country's existence, blacks were slaves with no rights.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Bibliography**

Approximate Word count = 955
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.