Drawing a line on prejudice
I recently received a letter from a reader in response to my column about prejudice. He said he could not agree with me because I did not distinguish between “prejudice” and “dislike.” This writer, who is now retired, is well-educated, well-traveled and well-experienced in work and activity.
He describes some specific behaviors by some people which he saw as being unacceptable and inappropriate. Although he avoids mentioning any group, it is obvious from his letter that he has a prejudicial attitude towards First Nations people. I don’t think I would appreciate some of the behaviors he described. Such individuals either were intoxicated, uninformed or ignorant. I agree that the behaviors he described were wrong and unacceptable. The individuals showing those behaviors need to be challenged and confronted about their mistakes and told what is expected of them in places like restaurants, stores and rented accommodations.
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But I am upset by his view and attitude because he is generalizing from “some” to “all.” Some people of a certain ethnic group may have social or behavioral problems. But this doesn’t mean that all people of that ethnic group have those problems. And it doesn’t mean that the many other people of other ethnic or cultural origins don’t have that same problem.
One-sided view
Prejudice is when you look selectively at a situation, only looking at what you want to see and ignoring other things that are equally as important.
I have rented out two small houses in my community of Prince Albert for years. I have had to ask some tenants to leave. I did so because of their behavior, not their ethnic or racial origin. And I have victed persons of both of the major ethnic groups in Prince Albert.
Everyone is different
Some people are bad tenants and do not keep a place neat. Some people are alcoholics and once they start drinking, the way they treat others and their living quarters becomes destructive. Some people are overwhelmed when they move to an urban community, when they have lived for years in a close knit rural community. But people are individuals, not an ethnic group.
Yes, we all have the right to like or dislike a person or his or her behavior. We have a right to have our own standard of conduct and to disapprove of another person’s conduct or behavior, especially when it disrespects others.
But we don’t have the right, morally or legally, to paint all people of one group with one brush, and to assume that because a person is of a certain ethnic origin, he will automatically behave in a certain way. That is discrimination and prejudice, something which all of us have to recognize and fight.
