“THE FACE IN THE MIRROR” Published as Featured Letter in The Virginian-Pilot

Jun

29

“THE FACE IN THE MIRROR” Published as Featured Letter in The Virginian-Pilot

My June 13 post, “Hate and Prejudice: A Different Face in the Mirror” (see directly below) was published yesterday as the lead letter in the Sunday, June 28 issue of The Virginian-Pilot. There were a few changes, but I’m pleased that the letter came through basically unchanged. One thing I did add was a reference to intolerance against dissenters, especially women, in the recent popular uprising in Iran concerning “irregularities” in the Presidential election.

One of my friends said he didn’t agree with my point of view because hatred and prejudice against those who are different from us is LEARNED. Parents teach their children to hate blacks, whites, gays, Muslims, you-name-it, and thus intolerance is acquired, rather than an innate part of human nature. I’m sad to say I disagree. Maybe prejudice is taught, but all too often it is taught easily, and people — adults as well as children in their formative years — usually don’t question or examine what they are taught. Regrettably, unquestioning acceptance of such teachings is a part of human nature too, and it will remain so until we learn to keep an open mind and think for ourselves.

Whatever the case, I continue to believe that hatred and prejudice, WHATEVER THE REASONS FOR THEIR EXISTENCE, are a continuing problem for our species, and we need to do everything we can to eliminate them. In short, let us strive to live and let live, and practice the Golden Rule as long as others will let us do so.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments so far

B. Emotionitus on July 9, 2009 11:59 am
How can someone, who is one of the most varying deeply prejudiced au of all existing humanus erectus, who can never forget the most miniscule hurt, have anything meaningful to say about prejudice?

[Reply]
John on July 9, 2009 12:29 pm
Emotionitus, you can’t say anything meaningful about prejudice UNLESS you have experienced and felt it. Experiencing prejudice is a prerequisite for understanding and overcoming it. Look at it this way: Can you ever have anything meaningful to say about the following subjects if you’ve never experienced them: Love, Hate, Hunger, Disappointment . . .

The list goes on and on . . .

[Reply]
Gram on July 15, 2009 3:25 am
I have never understood this violent kind of prejudice. If someone is different from you, maybe their way is better. At least they have something to teach us. Experiencing different people is a learning experience, if you do not like a person – for whatever reason – you do not have to pal around with them, but violence is almost never the answer. We are all different, let us celebrate that!!

[Reply]