Ignorance and Prejudice

Prejudice is a universal human vice. Indispire Edition 310 raises the question whether ignorance is the mother of prejudice. To a large extent, ignorance is the mother of prejudice. Or father, let us say. When we use the word mother here, isn’t there a bias?

Psychology defines prejudice as a negative attitude towards people based on their membership in a group. Prejudice prejudges people particularly on the basis of the group(s) to which they belong. For example, Muslims are communal: this is a very common prejudice today in many countries. Prejudice can often lead to violent conflicts, hate crimes and unfair treatment of people.

Ignorance is the chief cause of prejudices. Ignorance makes us categorise people too easily. Categorisation is inevitable as it helps us to organise and simplify our world. I lived in North India and the Northeast for most part of my adult life and I was labelled as ‘Madrasi’ quite often. The fact is I had nothing to do with the city that was called once upon a time Madras. I belonged to a different state altogether. I didn’t even know the language of the people of Madras. Yet I was a Madrasi for the North Indians and the people of Shillong. They just categorised me for the sake of their convenience. Most of them didn’t even bother to check how many qualities or vices I shared with other South Indians.  

I was guilty of the same error too. I imagined that all the Khasi people in Shillong shared the same qualities and vices. The Malayalis in Shillong had a particular term for the Bengalis there which presumed that all Bengalis were voracious fish-eaters.

Most people don’t bother to check whether their prejudices are based on facts. Most people are in love with the stereotypes they acquire from their society and these stereotypes create most of the prejudices. We often hear opinions such as women are sensitive, gentle and emotional while men are tough, aggressive and virulent. It’s a blatant prejudice born of a stereotype. I have come across women who are far more tough, aggressive and virulent than men and vice-versa.

We can always check the facts. That’s the way to deal with our prejudices. But who cares for facts? Look at present-day India. See how full of prejudices it is. The ruling party and its numerous accomplice-organs are doing whatever they can to foster prejudices against certain communities. Unfortunately our leaders are encouraging the popularisation of such prejudices. They even make use of the national media for cultivating and propagating prejudices against certain people.

Competition for limited resources is another cause of prejudices. India today is faced with this problem rather acutely. There’s more poverty, unemployment, and frustration in spite of all the big promises and brags that are foisted upon us time and again by eloquent speakers. Prejudices breed like viruses in such an environment.

Low self-esteem is a hotbed of prejudices. A person who does not have a healthy self-esteem is eager to belittle others. You become great by denigrating the others using prejudices. The other’s smallness becomes your bigness. If you can’t become great, then the next best (facile, I mean) option is to make your rival appear small in front of others. How often have Nehru and Gandhi suffered this fate in the last few years!

How prejudiced are you? Find out by taking the Implicit Association Test.