Prejudice: The Unfair Instinct

I think that when it comes to feelings of prejudice against certain things in life, no person is completely innocent. When we were reading informal essays in English that concerned horrible things in history like the Holocaust, I can safely say that every person in the classroom was disgusted by how Jewish people were treated during this time period. The majority of people do not support prejudice to the extent of actually harming another person, but this does not mean that people do not feel prejudice against certain groups of people at some point in their lives.

I would be the first person to admit that I definately feel prejudice against certain people at one time or another, but unless I really think about it, I don't even realise I'm being prejudice. There is a girl on my soccer team who is very tall and extremely skinny, and the first time I saw her I automatically came to the conclusion that she must have an eating disorder. I do not have any proof whatsoever, but judging by her appearance, she could easily be a victim of anorexia or bulimia. But I have not seen her purposely starving herself or intentionally vomitting what she eats. It is not fair that just because a person is skinny, they have to face the curious stares of people every place they go. I have a friend who is very thin, but, and no offence to her, she eats a ton! So I think that it is important to try to avoid making assumptions about people based on the way they look.

One thing that makes me very upset is the way that some muslim people are treated in our society. I will admit that the terrible terrorist attack that occured on September 11 initially convinced me that all Muslim people are terrorists, but I was a lot younger at the time and I didn't understand that my assumption was very false. It is true that the muslim culture has different beliefs that our society may not necessarily agree with, but it is their right to have their own beliefs and customs. Religion should never go to the extent of killing innocent people, but nine eleven gave many people the false impression that all muslims are murderers. I have heard stories about muslims being grilled with questions while crossing borders and in airports simply because of their religion, and this is not reasonalbe. It does not occur to some people that their only plans are to go on vacation, just like every other family.

Prejudice is evident in a variety of forms. It can be a child refusing to eat a type food before they have tasted it because it does not look appealing, or it can be the killing of a black man simply because of the fact that he is black, like in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The point is that it is unfair to assume a short person will be terrible at basketball and that all asians are genius', because you have to get inside a person's heart before you know who they truly are.