I guess what I am trying to say is that prejudice is nothing "negative" per se. As far as I am concerned, it can be both, good or bad. For example, if I was assuming that Sergeriver is a nice, friendly person, then I am obviously prejudging him without knowing all the facts, based solely on the little information I have gathered from the few comments he has made on this forum.
I could very well be wrong with that assessment i.e. prejudice, although I doubt it.
But since I don't know Serge very well, or rather, I really don't know him at all, all I can do is prejudge.
Nothing wrong with that, huh ?
The definition of "prejudice", as Serge brought it up from wikipedia, is therefore a little bit misleading, as it concentrates only on the "negative" aspects of prejudice, as exemplified in the same article:
wikipedia wrote:
For the purposes of this article, which is examining prejudice within a single, overarching, theoretical framework, it is important to define the word as follows: Interpersonal hostility that is directed against individuals based on their membership in a minority group
In other words, the wikipedia article from which serge quoted, specifically defined prejudice in a certain way, to suit a pre-formulated cause.
From the same article:
wikipedia wrote:
This is different from viewpoints accumulated though direct life experience, which are neither prejudiced, conditioned or necessarily instinctive: they are not pre-judgments but post-judgments. Some argue that all politically based views stem from a lack of sufficient life experience; this, however, provokes the question of how much life experience is required before a point of view is no longer regarded as prejudiced. If no amount of experience entitles a person to a viewpoint - if every is biased - then there can be no objectivity. Judgements based on experience may, however, be coloured by prejudice. One might imagine a continuum from "prejudiced" to "based on experience," with many, if not most, views coming somewhere between the two extremes.
source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrejudiceTo me, prejudice is essentially neutral.
Sergeriver wrote:
This is not about PC, it's about having good values.
hm, that's a tricky one. As you know, values vary in time, they change, and they are often very different in different cultures or sub-cultures. In the end, what it comes down to is if you believe that there is a fixed set of eternal values, that apply to everyone and everything, over all times. I'd say that's questionable at best.
Personally, I believe I have good values, but I am also realistic. Different people believe different things.
Who am I to tell others what is good or bad ? That's what religions do, and that hasn't turned out very well, has it ?