"Prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of." Discuss.
To tackle this question, we must first identify and understand the terms in this question. What and how do we define prejudice? According to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prejudice,prejudice is the act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions;an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason;unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group. In simpler terms, it is a preconceived idea or preference regarding something. So, what do we mean by the term disease in reference to the question? As we know that disease is something bad, that causes damage, that is hard and diffcult to recover from, and that there might never be a cure for it. Hence, by putting it in simpler terms, it means that it is a negative perceptions that might never,or is difficult, to cure.
I agree that prejudice is a disease we can never get rid of. However, it is something that is not inborn in us, but caused by our environment and we are influenced by our surroundings. We all have been exposed to environment where sign of prejudice is shown everywhere-be it in the media, in conversations, in books etc. We have been influenced even before we even understand the terms. Let's take a look at a 3-year-old child watching the movie 'The Lion King'. In the movie, Simba and all the 'good' lions are protrayed in white whereas Scar, the 'bad' guy in the show, is protrayed as a black lion. Although the child does not understand anything about black and white, he has already been 'brainwashed' that 'black' is always the bad person. Not only in this movie, in many other movies we watched, we always see the whites as the good person whereas the blacks as the bad person.
Prejudice has indeed become a widespread disease. It is a hereditary disease, being passed down from generations to generations. We judge people by their colour, religions, beliefs etc, and hence make critics about them. It has become something instilled in us. Let's take a look at Singapore. We're a multi-racial country in which different races and religions live together harmoniusly. Many other countries are working towards this goal, seeking assistance from us to help them attain this goal. However, are we really a country with no prejudice,just because we do not have any riots etc? I beg to differ. We're not saying it out aloud because of the fact that our 'freedom of speech' given to us restricted us to do so. However, in our daily speeches, we've place language of prejudice in our conversations. For example, we referred to the Caucasians as 'ang-mohs' which means red-haired monsters. But, are they really monsters? Why do we referred them as that? Do we even know that we're mocking at them and it is a sign of prejudice? Let's take a look at the most recent case of the mockery at the Thailand's revered monarch. They placed video of the monarch in YouTube, insulting him and sohwing utter disrespect. Isn't this another form of prejudice too?
We all know that the recent big 'hoo-ha' is the debate on homosexuality. Many countries have already start to accept these people. However, there are still people who are against them. People who look down on them, mock at them, despise them. Not only the homosexuals, the blacks, the weaker sex(women), people with different beliefs and ideology are also being prejudiced against. Look at them! In what ways are they different from us? They are also human beings. Why do we have to judge them just because we do not come to terms with them? Why should we deny them the rights to live peacefully just because we don't accept them? We are said to be 'modern people'. People living in the 21st century. People living in an open society. Yet, we picked on every little details we see. We mock and despise at everyone we think who are inferior to us. We kill anyone who has different beliefs, different skin colours. However, aren't we all the same? Aren't we all human beings?
Is there a cure for such prejudice? Yes, there is a medication for this disease. Whether or not should we allow this to continue. Whether or not we want it to be passed down to our next generation. The decision all lies in us.
junnn05 stepped on your garbage at
5/06/2007 04:19:00 PM
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