Definition Essay On Prejudice

In a world where tensions are high and even the little mention of being prejudice puts people on the defensive sometimes I wonder why the word prejudice hasn’t been put out of our dictionary all together. It’s a powerful word usually surrounded by negative connotations and angry faces. But being prejudice isn’t something that should be sneered at. As human beings it's hard for anyone to not be prejudiced or biased. It’s being prejudice that make us the vulnerable humans that we are.

The textbook definition of prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Which makes prejudice just another daily opinion humans create in order to understand something they are experiencing or feel more comfortable with

something they don’t understand. In the past, many have described opinions as just being human, so that means prejudices are not so different.
Now many might try the classic “not everyone is prejudice argument,” but that is not what daily actions imply.

For example if were a young girl and you are walking past an intimidating older man you might find another route on the same street that appears safer. This isn’t due to anything that is wrong with your judgement but opinions and reasoning ingrained into your mind to avoid anyone who appears dangerous. This might be the same for a young black teenager who avoids eye contact with police officers, because opinions have been formed based on information that has been shared, despite that teenager not experiencing it for himself.

The most important thing about prejudice is that it does not make someone racist nor does it indicate any ill will someone might have against a person of another race. Racism is an action or blatant superiority complex over another race. Prejudice is often looped in with racism because they stem from similar definitions and it tends to be used to describe a someone who is racist. Prejudice can also be described as pre-judging and might be similar to something that happens after studying a person for a second. Racism is pre-judging plus the action or ill will, they might be very close, but they are nothing alike.

In order to fight prejudice one has to understand in what areas they are being prejudice in. Think about why you fear a certain quality of a person and wonder if that is rational thinking. Understand that prejudice is an opinion and in order to make the correct opinions one needs to know the

facts.