University of Minnesota
Prejudice is defined as “a judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known” (University of Minnesota, 2008). Most of the time, these opinions are created based on suspicion, intolerance, and the illogical hatred of other races, religions, creeds, or nationalities (University of Minnesota, 2008). In this sense, prejudice is a negative feeling or perception towards a certain group of people. Almost everybody holds their own prejudices in life. The causes of having such tend to vary from person to person.
Nevertheless, in most cases, people acquired their own prejudices against a group of people because of the experiences that they previously had. This exact notion happened to me wherein a particular situation that I encountered gave the way for me to have prejudices against Muslims and the people in the Middle East. Before, I never really cared much about Muslims and people from the Middle East that adhere to this kind of religious belief. I used to see them and even interact with them in public places.
The only thought that I had about them is the fact that they are different from me and the people who belong to the same race and religion that I have. I looked at them as the “other”, people who do not have the same belief as the one that I have. However, these perceptions that I have for this group of people started to turn for the worst because some of experiences that I have. There was an instance wherein I was surfing through the Internet to look for some interesting news that I could use.
I watched this downloaded video of a Middle Eastern guy who was giving these bad comments against people coming from my race. I immediately concluded that he was from that part of the world due to his clothes. He said that we are the evil capitalists of the world who are the main cause of the sufferings of other people in the less developed countries. He also said that we tend to simply think of our own personal gains without giving importance to the welfare of other people. I was outraged by what he said.
I have to admit that not all people who belong in the same race as mine are perfect or good persons, but so is their race. He should also put mind that there are many people from this same race that he is ridiculing that have done good things in the world and actions that actually helped people like him. Because of this, I started to feel a certain kind of animosity for his race because of the opinions that he has for people like me. I perceived them as people who easily dismiss my race and who tend to act violently because of illogical and terrorist objectives.
These negative feelings that I have for Muslims and Middle Easter people started to heighten because of the 9/11 attack that took place in the United States of America. I have no relatives that died in the horrible incident but I have a friend who did. I was able too see the pain and suffering that she and her family has to go through. Furthermore, I also felt very sympathetic for those numerous people who lost their loved ones in the World Trade Center.
However, more than the sympathy for those victims, I also felt this enormous amount of hatred for those people responsible for these attacks. My anger does not only involve the criminals who did it but also the whole group that they belong to. Because of these experiences, I always tend to judged Muslims and people from Middle East as terrorists who are up to no good. I always have these hesitations when I see people who belong to this group regardless of their age and gender. There are also practical consequences from having this prejudice.
For one, I am having a hard time trusting other people especially Muslims and Arabs. Moreover, I am having negative outburst when the topic of discussions involved them. As such, I believe that there prejudices that I have against them should be properly addressed. I realized that I am not any different from the guy that I watched in the video. I also generalized their race and those who adhere to the Islamic religion as violent people who are up to no good. In this sense, I should do the necessary steps in order to solve this issue that I have.
I should learn to keep an open mind by accepting the differences that we have. I should also make it point to find out more about their race and religion so that I could understand them more. This includes interacting with them and focusing more on the positive traits they have and the things they have contributed for the betterment of the society. Reference University of Minnesota. (2008). Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Retrieved January 18, 2008, from http://www. chgs. umn. edu/educational /witnessLegacyTeacher/glossary. html.
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