Always validate your prejudices always.

Please forgive me for my previous posts. I understand that they were very "2009" and did not follow the "retro" look that this blog is "going for". I wish you knew how funny I think I am.

So, as I have "grown up", mostly starting around 2006 (probably), I have practiced critical thinking and have significantly dropped my prejudices. My previous feelings or beliefs weren't influenced by any one person, I wasn't preached hate or encouraged to judge people. However I heard everyone's subtle racism and sexism and I was absorbed in TV and music that fed those prejudices. I never felt that I was significantly better than another "race" or gender, but I definitely thought I was somewhat better, whether I would admit it or not.

The biggest observation I have made by just listening to people talk, is that the majority of people don't consider themselves racist. They will just make remarks like "it is what it is", or "thats the way things are". What these people are not realizing is that they are constantly validating their negative feelings towards other groups of people. You might not think that you do this sort of thing, but ask yourself what happens when a woman cuts you off in traffic. What if it is an Asian person who cut you off? You will definately make a note, likely verbally, about the person who did this and how their physical appearance ties in to the decision that they made. You will add this to your fucking bank of "See, (insert defining human characteristic) can't drive!!!" Now what happens when someone just like you does the same exact thing. You will likely say "What a dick!". You will not consider this at all as a reflection of this persons skin color or age or gender, because they are just like you and you don't possess any traits that make mistakes such as this!

A bigger problem is when there seems to be "proof" for why you feel a certain way. I immediately think about white people who will make statements about the crime rate and prison populations of "those blacks". This is where critical thinking is very important, you don't believe any stat that you hear at face value. Just because these statements are true, it does not accurately reflect the true nature of any black person. There are variables that produce this outcome. Generations of people born into poverty and crime, you were lucky enough not be one of them, who do you think you would be in those conditions? If you think that the Civil Rights Act of 1968 means everybody starts living on a level playing field in "nice" neighborhood and can now get good education and good jobs, than you are incapable of critical thinking. If you understand the recent history of the United States of America, you will surely understand why those numbers exist.

Maybe another time I can write, "If you born as black inmate #3, you would surely be black inmate # 3, you are not special".