In order for people to communicate effectively with each other, they need to begin the process of respecting, understanding, and empathize with people of all genders, races, cultures, classes, ethnics, religions, and sexual orientations to name a few. If we cannot do that, we cannot communicate effectively. By educating ourselves about our differences and engaging in respectful behavior, communication will flourish and meaningful relationships will develop. I don't just mean friendships, I mean even communicating with a stranger on the street that is from a different background than you. Prejudice lives within us all, regardless if we believe so or not. By accepting this, you will be a better person and embrace the need for development in your own character.
Crashing Through Prejudice
by Rebecca Schingel
Crash. It is the perfect analogy of how we as a human race deal with life, people and our own experiences. Physical characteristics and racial differences may be interpreted as two distinguishing traits that separate us. I think it’s what keeps us apart. That leaves several abstract questions that the film Crash illustrates. What are the origins of personal prejudice? Do individual experiences fuel standing stereotypes? Is it easier to perpetuate existing stereotypes because “things will never change?” Can people battle internal struggles within their own ethnic group? What prohibits us from overcoming these prejudices?
Ponder these questions and respond
I believe that predjudices come from two main factors, our upbringing and personal experience with that stereotype. It is hard to blame someone with a predjudice that has been programmed into them at a young age. If my mother and father taught me from when I was born until I left the house that a certain race was inferior or wrong I would probably believe it because as a young kid I trust my mother and father and believe in there teachings. Childrens' minds are like sponges, and they come into the world with an understanding that what their parents tell them is true and those exsisting root beliefs are almost impossible to remove at an older age because they become apart of who we are. The second factor that can create a prejudice is a personal experience involving that predjudice. I knew a guy who was racist against African American because he grew up in a part of a city that was filled with gangs. He was robbed as a teenager, and many of his friends also had similar experiences. Now he has a distrust and doubt in African Americans because of those isolated incidences. Those few men represented their race in a negative fashion and although racism is wrong they pushed someone towards it.
ReplyDeletePeople brought up in an environment that is open to differences and does not pass judgment I believe will not develop predjudices. These predjudices still exist today because of a lack of understanding on the parents part and a narrow minded view that the actions of few represent an entire race or population. Through understanding we can overcome predjudices and with the leadership and compassion of those being descriminated against racism can be diminshed.
Everyone's life is obviously different from one another, therefore that only suggests that everyone is brought up to beleive and act specific ways. The biggest influence in our lives come from our parents and those we associate ourselves with. Whoever it may be that someone is always around, thier beliefs and opinions will rub off on those around them,which is where steriotyping originates from. Being steriotypical and prejudice towards others does not just come to the mind naturally, its influenced by whoever or whatever the person is constantly around.
ReplyDeleteThose opinions and steriotypes may also form around personal experiences. For example, if a football player decides to pick on you and beat you to a pulp, you cant help but beleiv that all football players are mean guys. When in reality, it was only that one specific football player. We all naturally steriotype and judge people based on their first impressions and initial experiences with that person, only because its the easy thing to do. I admit that I have done this, but over time I have realized that there is a backround for everything.
As human beings, all that is needed is understandment and empathy towards others, that way predjudices, discrimination, steriotypes and judgements will be overlooked.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand what you mean when you speak of friends and other close groups that you will associate yourself with. And it becomes difficult because you trust them and you try to respect what they beleive, and it becomes hard to think for yourself and not judge or follow what everyone else thinks. I have a lot of friends that always judge books by their cover and it bugs me. So I understand and agree completely with you, that it is very difficult. But it is awesome that you see that within friends, without that sight, you wouldnt be your own individual. very good comment chris!
My thoughts on prejudice is that it comes from your families beliefs and older generations of your family that believe in prejudice and was passed down and inherited by the family. Prejudice is your own decision, but going against your family beliefs would be an awkward situation between the family, so you follow what your family believes. I think that individual experiences fuel stereotypes because if one person in your family is prejudice and they show it then other people are going to assume that the whole family is prejudice because if one is prejudice then the rest are also. An example would be if a black person robbed a store then the black population would be categorized as robbers and bad people just because one person did wrong and that is a bad assumption. People judge people without even meeting them and I think that is a bad idea because not everyone is the same and you should take the time to get to know someone before you judge them. If people have the courage to battle their own ethic than I believe they can, but it would just be hard going against your family ethics and beliefs. The biggest factor in overcoming prejudices is our family and beliefs because you don’t want to let your family down and be a loner and have your own beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI think the origins of personal prejudice come from our environment we live in at home. We learn and observe for many years of our life what our parents believe. We most likely share some, but probably not all the same prejudices because as we get older we are able to form opinions of our own. Yes, I think individual experiences fuel standing stereotypes because as we experience being the brain or rebel of the class, we form opinions and just get used to being the typical nerd or whatever your stereotype is. Yes, I think it is easier to perpetuate existing stereotypes because most people are afraid or don’t like change. If no one pushes to change anything then things will never change, and most people don’t want change, so it never happens. For example who likes changing homes, or schools? Not many people are going to jump up and down saying they do. It’s basically the same for stereotypes. They don’t change because people don’t really want to take the time to change them. Yes, people battle with internal struggles in their own ethnic group. Things that prohibit us from overcoming these prejudices are trying to change things and personnel beliefs whether they are right or wrong.
ReplyDeleteJustin,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you put that if you don't believe what your family does it can be awkward. It makes sense that we would just follow what are parents say. I also like the example of a black robber categorizing the entire race. It is kind of like what is happening with Muslims right now.
Personal prejudice definitely comes from our upbringing, family tendencies, where you live, and the races of people that you see and interact with on a daily basis. These are all factors that may cause you either shy away or embrace different races of people when you see them walking down the street. If the area that you live is very diverse then you may have no problem communicating with a variety of different people. I believe that what you feel about people can also just be a part of someone's personality that they have and always will believe. Individual experiences are one of the main reasons people are stereotyped and I do not even need to look this up. When someone steals your phone, what is your attitude towards that person? You hate them; this is just human nature. This makes it easy to show why generalization of this feeling occurs if someone of a different race/religion/ethnic group does something that affects you or your family negatively. A lot of people don't try to make a change and stand up for what they believe is right. They just conform to what most people in their community or family believe which shows that they have an utter lack of individualism and free thinking ideals. People that think changing the way things were isn't worth it are the people that are not worth it. People do battle others within their own ethnic group by critiquing their lifestyles and habits that they don't think is right, which is obviously completely opinion based and ignorant. The main thing that disables most people from overcoming prejudice is narrow mindedness. People that think a certain thing about a specific group of people have most likely never even given those people a chance. The only thing stopping us from a prejudice free culture is ourselves.
ReplyDeleteBritt,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you said that our stereotypes originate from the type of people that we see ourselves as. Everybody has an image of the person that they think they are and they judge people from this point of view rather than just seeing ourselves and everyone else around us as people. You could see the scariest looking dude on the face of the earth and he could end up being as nice as Mr. Rogers. We simply do not know; this is why we need to stop judging people and just talk to them instead.
Personal prejudice is reall the perception of ones beliefs and reasoning. It orgins from our enviornmental influnces like our family, friends, and relatives. It also depends on the time period that you are born in. Most individuals are inprinted with stereotypes but it is there experience that changes the meaning and overal belief of them. Things can change and will change but it is up to what the individual wants t percieve. People can always battle with issues even within their own individual group. There are certainly issues with many different classifications of human beings. There are many factors that we face everyday that restricts us from accomplishing unity. Some of those examples are, income, popularity, and many more. Thereare so may things to deal with for the overal success of unity.
ReplyDeleteLaura, I agree with your statements about the orgin of prejustice. You example is great also it's a relatable example for this blog.
ReplyDeleteI think that the origins of personal prejudice begin with your home life. If you were raised in a home that was very prejudice and judgmental against others then it rubs off on you at an early age. I also think that school is an origin of personal prejudice. Everyone tries to fit in at school, and you start hanging out with other kids and if they judge others, you start to also. Yes, individual experiences fuel standing stereotypes. If someone of a different race does something to you or your family (steals from you, calls you a name, bullies you) you could begin thinking everyone of that race is mean. Yes, I think it is easier to perpetuate existing stereotypes because people don’t think that if ‘I’ do anything it will change. It starts with one person to change things, and if everyone doesn’t do it, nothing will ever change.
ReplyDeletePeople can battle internal struggles within their own ethnic group. Some people can be ashamed of their own race or ethnic group. I’ve seen on an Oprah show, a man who was African American and he hated other African Americans. People can have struggles with themselves, with other people in their ethnic group, or people in different ethnic groups. The thing that prohibits us from overcoming these prejudices is society. Deep down no one wants to be racist or prejudice, but society shows in many different ways (movies, music, television) prejudice all time. I saw on a 60 minutes show they interviewed kindergarteners and showed them pictures of different men. When they showed a white male in a suit they all said it looked like their dad, a businessman, and a good man. Then they showed a Muslim man and asked what they thought of this man, the children replied with bad man, scary man, and weird man. This shows that even kindergarteners are taught by society that people that are different than you are bad and scary. We need to as a society change this, and teach everyone that race and ethnicity doesn’t make us good or bad people.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree at what you said about the 9/11 incident. After that happened, everyone viewed Muslims in a totally different way. We do judge too quickly and personal experiences influence fuel our stereotypes.
I believe that personal prejudices can come from a number of places including: family, friends, TV, and personal experiences. I think that the following quote sums up the basis of prejudice, “Although social scientists often differ in the precise way they define "prejudice," most agree that it involves a prejudgment, usually negative, about a group or its members (Fiske, 1998; Jones, 1997; Nelson, 2002).” (Source: http://www.understandingprejudice.org/apa/english/). This quote reminds me of when we were having the speed meetings in class. Are first impressions any different than “prejudgments?” I don’t see a difference, but that’s just me, how about you?
ReplyDeleteI’ve learned that it’s easier to recognize when others are prejudiced than when I can be. It’s hard to overcome that, but I think that just by recognizing what specifically I am prejudiced about, it’ll be easier to overcome. With that, I personally don’t believe that it’d be easier to “perpetuate” anything with concern to prejudices. I think that that’s just a lazy way to say that we don’t care enough anymore, or we are so “all-knowing” that we’re above having our beliefs challenged, or even less to have them change. I believe that’s pure ignorance. If we were to stop just at the surface of a body of water, we would only see our reflection, our own being in the water. Well, newsflash! The water (or anything for that matter) is not just about us. The water is about life, it’s a home for many creatures, and if all we see is ourselves, we disregard everything that exists beyond, (if I need to clean up the metaphor, let me know).
I do believe, given support from multiple places, that people can overcome anything, but only if they want to. It’s impossible to make someone do something that they don’t want to do. Even when it’s extremely difficult in changing a person’s mind or forcing them to do something, I don’t believe that that would even be possible unless if there was something within that that person really wanted. It’s all up to the individual with the gentle nudging from others. Hopefully we can as humans overcome some of our more evil, deprecating stereotypes, but little prejudices will never be rid of. Even my statement of “evil, deprecating stereotypes” is prejudiced. Confusing, yes, but most opinions are prejudices, and if we didn’t have opinions, I don’t know what we’d be. It’s wishful thinking to believe that everything will be peaceful in time, but if that’s what I have to look towards with what I see in the world today, well that just gives a goal to reach for in my, and hopefully everyone’s, endeavors to help.
Check out this video of a peaceful Muslim couple and their unfortunate situation during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: http://video.pbs.org/video/1576833705
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with that prejudices originate when we interact with people that we don't understand. It is hard to focus on similarities with a person when we have some big flashing difference that we are unable to move past. It distracts us from what more a person is about. It's unfortunate, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Hopefully we can move past that flashing given enough time.
This topic is one that I feel is always going to raise anger and strong opinions that clash. I think the main factor the forms someone’s beliefs and prejudices is their parents. When we are young most everyone thinks their parents are the best and we think that our parents know everything and are right about everything. Therefore, when they talk about things such as different races, and ethnicities in front of us chances are we develop the same feelings as them. Just like we listen to our parents when we are young I agree with basically everyone when they say that experiences we go through give us prejudices. Like Chris said, when 9/11 happened that made A LOT of people prejudice about muslims. Now people tend to link them to terrorists. At the time of the twin towers I had a bad experience as well because at the place my dad worked when the towers where hit many people of the same ethnicity as the terrorists started celebrating and throwing fruit in the air. Because that showed disrespect toward our country during a terrible time it made a lot of people that worked there and their families question their sincerity and the safety working there. It was really hard during that time to not make prejudices. After a few years have gone by since 9/11 I think people are getting better about being prejudice towards muslims and that ethnicity. I also think that some people who are born into a certain religion may hate it or not want to be a part of it. It is sad, and unfortunate when that happens but, there are ways to take care of it and I feel that it is manageable for the most part.It is a really touchy subject and something I don’t really like to talk about because it makes me uncomfortable because I really don’t know a lot about religions and different beliefs. Although when thinking about discrimination and being prejudice people often seem to forget that whites are put down as well. But other than ethnicities and religions people can be very prejudice against different classes of people too! For example, people make a lot of assumptions and judgements about different classes. They think because someone is either rich or poor it is the reason behind why they do everything, and that people are poor because they didn’t try hard in life or people are rich because they got everything handed to them. We as a human race are way, way to quick to judge one another and not think about the fact that everyone has a story. There are so many thing that we don’t know about each other and everyone (myself included) should think about that more often before judging someone. The movie crash is actually a really good movie and it does point out A LOT of different ways people are prejudice against each other.
ReplyDeletekelsey
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about how people can form prejudice beliefs because of the way they are at school and the type of people they hang out with. In high school everyone wants to fit in so if someone thinks that have to act a certain way whether it is mean or not sometimes they will lower themselves and be rude and say inappropriate things.
I think the term prejudice stems from selfishness and pride. People search for people that are different from them to make themselves look better. It isn't just learned from family and parents. It's learned through everything. There is not just one origin, there is no single person or event to blame and, for Americans, it kills us that we can't blame someone. I think that's why it is such a touchy topic, everyone is so sensitive because they don't want to be accused.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that easy to forgive and forget. This causes people to go into some situations with personal prejudice. If this didn't happen, some people would continue to get hurt and never learn. Sometimes it just takes time to develop trust and alleviate the prejudice. However, some people are just too hurt to change their mind and there really isn't anything that can be done to change that. I just think that stereotyping will always exist and we just have to learn to live with it. There will always be competition and dispute between sexes, races, and everything that can even be compared. It's just one of those obstacles we face in life.
Angie,
ReplyDeleteI agree, time is a huge factor. Different generations have very different perspectives. Times are changing quickly and some people just don't want to move on.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI like your last paragraph and how you explained how it is important for people who are caterogized by a certain stereotype not to fall into what that bias implies. It is almost a responsibiliy for that person to break the stereotype and as unfair as it is to represent not only themselves but a larger group in general.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained how family can feed into a stereotype. Not only from what our parents tell us but also from subtle reactions and manerisms that young children pick up on.
I personally believe that we develop our personal prejudice through three things. Our families, friends, and also the things we watch. We learn from our families very early on in life what is expectable and what is unacceptable. While growing up we are taught what group of friends are acceptable to have, and what beliefs your friends and people you spend your time with should have. Same with friends. When you are close with someone their views and thoughts eventually rub off on you, specially at a young age. At a young age, things you view, whether it be on television, in magazines, or on the internet also have an effect on your views. In many cases, these views may turn into prejudices.
ReplyDeleteI believe one hundred percent that individual experiences fuel standing stereotypes! For example, had a young white woman seen a older black man hit another younger white woman she may now have the stereotype that all black men are like that. In no way, shape, or form is this true, but it is so simple to relate an experience to stereotypes that you have. It can completely change your views on not only one person, but everyone in their race, sex, position, look, etc the exact same, just from one experience.
It is easier to perpetuate existing stereotypes. Although I don't believe that things will never change. It is just easier because thoughts do stick in your head, and even with trying to not have those stereotypes, they are still there.
I think people can definitely battle internal struggles within their own ethnic group. Again, all it takes is one bad experience or seeing one thing negatively from ONE person in that ethnic group and it can change your views completely on that ethnic group.
Again, I think many things prohibit us from overcoming prejudices. Things that we have been taught at a young age stick. Thoughts of friends rub off on you, things you hear on the news, see on television and read ALL maybe real stories and have to do with ethnic groups but it is very inappropriate to stereotype all people because of other people and their experiences. We can try sooo hard to get rid of them, but I believe they will always stick.
Chris, I think your example about the Twin Towers and Muslims is fantastic. Also so true. Sadly, I get nervous when in an airport and see someone sketchy. It is really sad but it is extremely hard to control stereotypes. I have tried so hard to not have them. I can do a great job of never voicing them, but I seem to always unconsciously have stereotypes in my head.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good example having to do with the Muslim stereotypes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/us/04muslims.html