Explorations of confinement.

[LMNO]

Today, I think I discovered I'm mildly prejudiced.

We're auditioning bassists, and I get an email from this 21-year old kid, who sounds just about perfect: Learned to play bass listening to the Minutemen, Gang of Four, etc.

So, his email address is enc.edu; being curious, I entered it as a URL: http://enc.edu/ .

It's a Christian college.  Not like Boston College, which is Christian in name only.  Christian like, "WE BEIEVE IN CHRIST THE SAVIOR" Christian.

As soon as I saw that, I was thinking, "No way is this kid gonna play Subhumans' 'Religious Wars'.  No way do I want to be in a band with one of those.

Yeah, I pre-judged him without even knowing him, just because of where he goes to college. 

We are not as noble and free-thinking as we seem.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Today, I think I discovered I'm mildly prejudiced.

We're auditioning bassists, and I get an email from this 21-year old kid, who sounds just about perfect: Learned to play bass listening to the Minutemen, Gang of Four, etc.

So, his email address is enc.edu; being curious, I entered it as a URL: http://enc.edu/ .

It's a Christian college.  Not like Boston College, which is Christian in name only.  Christian like, "WE BEIEVE IN CHRIST THE SAVIOR" Christian.

As soon as I saw that, I was thinking, "No way is this kid gonna play Subhumans' 'Religious Wars'.  No way do I want to be in a band with one of those.

Yeah, I pre-judged him without even knowing him, just because of where he goes to college. 

We are not as noble and free-thinking as we seem.

Ah, but you are... YOU NOTICED IT.
That's the full import of the Cosmic Schmuck principle. We all make assumptions, we all pre-judge from time to time... its how the monkey brain is hardwired (or something)... but IF we recognize it, if we are self-observant enough to realize when we pre-judge... then we're less likely to blindly pre-judge.

I think its sort of like the Law Of Fives, the more you think about it, the more you notice (or 23 or quarters). If you notice pre-judging... then you can consider if you want to go with it or tell it to fuck off.

[Cain]

"We"?, white man?

[LMNO]

Apologies...


"Sombunall of us are not as noble and free-thinking as sombunall of us seem."

[Cain]

Right.

Anyway, is it prejudice as much as evaluating on the information presented?  I mean, he does go to a college where you need to profess faith in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ to get in, and institutional Christianity within the US has a bad rap.  Sure, it doesn't mean automatic exclusion, but it does make it very unlikely that he is going to fit in at all, as far as you can tell.

[LMNO]

Yeah, but... I went to Berklee College of Music, and I can't stand 90% of the assholes who went there (TOG is one of the 10%).

And if he learned the bass by listening to post-punk Marxists, that does count for something...

But you have a point.  For every Johnny Cash Xtian, there seem to be 10 Swaggarts.

[AFK]

I think a little from column A and a little from column B.  And I know I'm guilty of the same thing.  Chuck is a devout Christian and HE was the one that turned me on to this Discordianism thing.  I think Christians do tend to be portrayed in a certain way in the media and society, and granted, some of it is probably appropriate.  However, it really on scratches the surface and there are Christians who are laid back about their faith and not so rabid an in your face about it.  

But I know this thread isn't supposed to be about that specifically, but yeah, I think many probably do fall into this sort of thing from time to time without realizing or recognizing it.  I think Rat's right though, that it is recognized is key.  

[P3nT4gR4m]

I say audition him anyway. Who knows he may turn out to be the new Cash christian but, even if not, it's gotta be good for the lulz 

[Messier Undertree]

Today, I think I discovered I'm mildly prejudiced.

To stop caring about about whether you are "prejudiced" or not is the first step towards stopping prejudice.

[LMNO]

Yes, because self-analysis of one's own behavior is the quickest way to develop a prejudice.

[Verbal Mike]

No, because when you* think you're* prejudiced, you* over-compensate.

*I

[Reginald Ret]

Oh. Well, then don't (overcompensate).

[Payne]

Not this old argument again.

LMNO (and others)  is right, finding you have a predjudice before you actually take any actions on it (or while you can reverse any actions taken on it) is key.

I seem to recall seeing somewhere that we are all predjduced to some degree (on average, we find people of the same race to be more ttractive than people of other races, while this doesn't mean we are all "insert race" supremicists, it does say we may all be predjudiced on a subconscious level, to some degree).

The only way to effectively counter act it is to recognise when an action may be taken becuse of that predjudice.

Taking action on a "predjudice against predjudice" is still predjudice. (kinda like how denying the possibility of a god is still a religious position).

All it takes is a bit of common sense and thought (you've heard of that, right?) to avoid the pit falls of discrimination, positive or negative, and hypocrisy.

[AFK]

Not this old argument again.

LMNO (and others)  is right, finding you have a predjudice before you actually take any actions on it (or while you can reverse any actions taken on it) is key.

I seem to recall seeing somewhere that we are all predjduced to some degree (on average, we find people of the same race to be more ttractive than people of other races, while this doesn't mean we are all "insert race" supremicists, it does say we may all be predjudiced on a subconscious level, to some degree).

The only way to effectively counter act it is to recognise when an action may be taken becuse of that predjudice.

Taking action on a "predjudice against predjudice" is still predjudice. (kinda like how denying the possibility of a god is still a religious position).

All it takes is a bit of common sense and thought (you've heard of that, right?) to avoid the pit falls of discrimination, positive or negative, and hypocrisy.

You make too much sense, I'm prejudiced against sense-makers.   

[Payne]

I have my moments.

Sometimes I need to write a sensible piece to justify my continued presence here.