Nowadays, unfortunately, a phenomenon to be considered common is prejudice. Do you know what it actually is and what its many types are? And most importantly, a better question is: is it known where it derives from?
Firstly, prejudice is the perception that all humans aren’t equal among themselves and it is divided into four basic categories. Racial prejudice is the first type and based on that, discrimination based on the color of people results. Moreover, national prejudice – known as nationalism – is the perception that a nation is superior to others. Another category is religious prejudice, which is the perception that one religion must prevail over the other creeds. Lastly, social prejudice, which is known worldwide, is rude conduct against some social groups, such as women and disabled people.
As for its origins, there are many reasons why prejudice has spread over the ages and still continues to exist. First of all, people have intellectual poverty, which means lack of spiritual cultivation. Resultingly, there are no necessary values such as respect and conflicts are caused. Additionally, another cause of prejudice are stereotypes, which are perceptions of grace or disfavor not based on objective criteria and information but personal sympathies and interests. Such behaviors may originate from situations shaped by historical events. For instance, the hatred between Greece and Turkey comes from the long-lasting conflict between these countries. Last but not least, the racist ideology is unscientific since the superiority of a group or race based on natural characteristics isn’t proven. As a result, people with low levels of education tend to accept racism and prejudices as logical behaviors.
When all is said and done, people are unfair and there are a few reasons why. What we should all do is try to avoid disputes and not treat others the way we don’t want to be treated.
Anastasia Chatziparaskeva
Advanced Class – Pontou School
