I whole heartedly acknowledge that I am prejudiced:
- When one of our Corporate Executives comes to visit, I form an opinion regarding what they will be like before they show up.
- When I start a conversation with a stay at home Mom, I have some ideas with regard to what they will be interested in discussing.
- When I start a new project with a new team, I have some ideas regarding what the Procurement representative will be like.
- When I collaborate with assembly personnel, I believe I understand some of their concerns.
- When I work with team members from France, Italy, Brazil, India, China, etc, I have some thoughts regarding what to likely expect.
- When I contribute on a Liberal or Conservative blog, I think I know what I am getting into...
Now racism is a foreign concept to me, because I interact with people from almost every race at some period during my day. And personally I am totally indifferent to their color, religion, sexual orientation, sex, etc.(must be the analytical engr in me) All I care is that they are interested in working hard to attain results that improve things for themselves and others. (ie personal, company, public, etc)
So I have decided to label myself an "Effortist".... I have a pronounced bias against people that want to sit on their butt, and live off the labor and efforts of others. Some examples could include:
- That team member that procrastinates and makes the rest of the team carry the burden.
- That rich trust fund person that lives off the efforts of their ancestors and gives nothing back to society.
- The individual(s) that choose welfare and other social programs over working and striving to get ahead.
- The voters that did not get out to vote on Tuesday.
- The politicians and bureaucrats that seek to stay in power by growing government and creating pork, instead of optimizing government and improving its efficiency.
- The couch potatoes that live for their television all the time, instead of reading something they could learn from.
- etc, etc, etc
Finally I promise to actively and continually fight against any stereotypes and prejudices that I carry based my past experiences when dealing with new individuals, because I know that they are individuals with their own hopes, dreams and beliefs.
Thoughts
5 comments:
An interesting neologism. I agree, but have always expressed it in more lengthy terms. Like Shakespeare, I do not lightly suffer fools, and prefer not to suffer fools at all.
We used to all agree that discrimination was a positive trait, as in "he has discriminating tastes." Likewise, prejudice is a survival skill, it's built into it. I once told a diverse group discussing the subject that "if your only experience with black men in wide-brimmed hats is that they shot at you, what would be your reaction the next time you saw one?" Nothing wrong with it, so long as you continue to, within safety limits, give individuals the benefit of the doubt.
J. Ewing
John,
I really appreciate your thoughts as expressed here. My personal experiences have been in much more polyglot societies having grown up in the central valley of California,migrating to the far southwestern corner of country for many years and having the privilege of living in a foreign country for an number of years. The lessons I have learned is that people have the same dreams,goals and core beliefs regardless of race, color, creed or national origin.
I find the current knee-jerk reaction of so much of our society to any suggestion of making personal observations and choices as prejudiced or racist appalling. Those who proclaim the greatness of American democracy while demanding strict conformance to politically correct norms amaze me.
We all develop our individual opinions of others based upon our own experiences. This is not prejudice. It is reality. I agree with you that we each have a personal responsibility to manage this aspect of our perceptions. Rather than condemn others as prejudiced, we need to recognize just how individualized their and our perceptions are. As a dear friend of mine has often said," Just because we disagree on a given point of view does not make the other person wrong." Or in this case racist or prejudiced. I completely agree with your concluding comment. I could have sadi it better.
I guess I would like to refine/discuss this statement.
"We all develop our individual opinions of others based upon our own experiences. This is not prejudice. It is reality. I agree with you that we each have a personal responsibility to manage this aspect of our perceptions."
The importance is that "Reality" is such an incredibly personal thing. What we see, hear, acknowledge, etc is based on who we are, what we have experienced, what we believe, etc... Our reticular activating system truly blocks our seeing things that do not interest us or support our beliefs... It is how we are made and for good reason... The problem is that it enables blind spots/scatomas.
And understanding this is half the battle. What we experience at any point in time may or may not be "Reality", but it is truly "Reality" as far as we are concerned. It is very challenging to see through our own subconsciously self imposed filters.
After having been shot at by a Black man with the wide brimmed hat, you would wisely be aware the next time you encounter the situation. As you watch the next individual reach into his pocket, you may be certain that he is reaching for a gun and dive into a dumpster... And when he pulls out his wallet to pay you some money he owes you, you probably look and feel very foolish indeed.
Your "Reality" definitely did not match "Reality" in this case...
Of course, if he was pulling a gun and you didn't dive... You may be dead...
Self awareness is never easy...
I believe you took my statement a little too literally. It acknowledges that we each have an individual reality that is defined and refined by our experiences. Something our self awareness should help us recognize and compensate for.
"Our reticular activating system truly blocks our seeing things that do not interest us or support our beliefs... It is how we are made and for good reason.."
Your statement implies that this is something we have no control over. I disagree. We always have the choice to act upon rather than simply react to external stimuli. We do, however, need to develop the self awareness to exercise that choice.
Check out some of my favorite quotes and a link to an article written about some training I had from the Pacific Institute.
"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds." (Laing)
"People do not see the world as it is; they see it as they are – or as they have been conditioned to be." (Covey)
Scotoma
I agree with you that "We always have the choice to act upon rather than simply react to external stimuli." Now how do you do this if you truly can not sense the external stimuli?
When we read an article, listen to an opponent speak, walk through a neighborhood, sit in the middle of a crowded auditorium, drive down the road, etc... What is really happening around us and what are we sensing? It is typically not the same thing due to this integral filtration system we have. The sooner we believe this, the better able we are to manage it.
My top 2 book choices on how to wrestle this human strength/flaw are. "Leadership and Self Deception" and "The Anatomy of Peace". Both are by a mysterious group called the Arbinger Institute.
By the way, start looking for a specific type of car that you normally do not notice while driving. You will be amazed how many are still on the road once you attune for filter to them.
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