Even clear, consistent, persistent, passionate and desperate communication will not change the mind of a prejudiced man. (I wonder if smart people who realize this stop wasting their energy and go on to do better - other - things in life)
There are 3 kinds of people. Those who: are slaves of their conscience, don't know it exists & occasionally acknowledge its existence. (Ironically, the slaves - the first lot - are, I believe, the happiest in the long run)
In personal matters, the truth is elusive to everyone except yourself. Even if you share all the facts. So, be your own "final" adviser. (Makes one consider how critical it is to parent children to think independantly)
If you behave like there is nothing left for you to learn, you will definitely learn no more. Every new idea will see you as an obstacle. (...and adopt a different route depriving you of the joy of many more accomplishments in life)
6 comments:
I disagree with you on the first point. Mostly prejudice comes from the traditional knowledge which in untasted on the edge of rational thinking. Prejudiced person will change if you insist and convince him/her to the edge of reason. It can furiate him but a permanent doubt zone will be created in his/her mind.
...well, I believe that prejudice itself means lack of intention to listen to reason and logic. It means "blind belief/faith" that has been formed out of something - say, an experience - that one might not be able to pinpoint. So no amount of logical communication can change him. It is somewhat like trying to wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep...! May not be the best example, but, take the case of a person who believes in God. Do you think an atheist can convince such a person that God does not exist through repeated logical communication? Emotional arguments and anecdotes may, on the other hand, engage such a person in an exploratory debate. Unless the prejudiced man himself decides to open up his mind and reconsider his thoughts, you cannot influence him!
Communication can be made to serve two purposes.
1.) to abort the prejudice
2.)to make one realize that one is prejudiced.
It is the same thing like giving medicine to a patient in the first case and in the 2nd case making the patient realise about his disease and leave its cure to him only.
No doubt, patient will have more chance to get relief from disease in the former case...
But in case of prejudice, I think, case 1 is ineffective, as it still breeds a new and subtle prejudice.
case 2, along with self realization and introspection can destroy prejudice.
Early on a Saturday morning, especially since I was awake the enitre night working on a presentation, I woke up to this instead of Calvin and Hobbes. Oh, but I love the last one...Happy learning. Each blog is a treasure-den of learning from unexpected sources.
prejudiced mind can not change his views. We can cite many examples.unfornutely they occupy highier postion in public life.Iraq war is one example. It happened because of one American President. See what happens now in Sri Lanka.we are not able to help because we cling to certain ideas.Even Ltte is a cuprit in this regard.When you come to negotions if you don't have open mind you can not solve problems.All Politicians are prejudiced towards certain ideas.In the present Context of Jaswant Singh portraying Zinna as not responsible for partition most of us refused to believe him. Because we are prejudiced as having portrayed him as villion from many many years. Why not Jaswant Sing be right?
Amit: I love the way you have analyzed the case of a prejudiced person! :-) Good stuff!
Lubna: You are a marvel! Hats off! Working through a Friday night on a presentation??????!!! And - I simply can't believe it - waking up to my blog post? I need some time to recover! ;-)
Asimov: Brilliant examples! I think such prejudices develop into more dangerous "ideologies" that are almost impossible to reverse! I especially think you have a very valid example with re. to J.Sigh's recent controversial book. Yes...why not? When a prejudice is dropped, we prepare ourselves for a new future... :-)
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