Prejudice

I know this will come as a shock to some of you, but prejudice and intolerance are not the same thing. While some prejudices may lead into intolerance, there are others that are simply innocuous.

I know, I know: "Gasp! Sputter! Other indignant onomatopoeia of disgust!"

It's true, though. For instance, when I seeChristopher Walken in a movie, I expect dancing. If I see Val Kilmer, I expect something to be twirled. If I see Samuel L. Jackson, I expect a "mothafucka" or two, and I keep my eye out for something purple. If Moffat has written the Dr. Who episode I'm watching, I expect to choke back some tears.

What do any of these things have to do with prejudice? They're definitive examples. Prejudice it's simply a preconceived notion about something, and it has nothing to do with being uninformed, ill-informed, or well-informed (though, to be fair, there's far more of the first two varieties than the last). These preconceived notions are actually quite essential to our survival. Not the specific ones I mentioned above, but in general.

How so?

Would you ask a guy wearing bike pants and flip flops, whose beard is as thick as his glasses, where the hottest hip-hop club is, or would you be more inclined to ask the guy in the purple suit with the ostrich feather in his hat?

Statistically, you're more likely to succeed if you ask the guy who looks like he frequents such places. You might be wrong, and he might in fact be on his way to a masquerade ball, but that just makes it more fun.

There's nothing wrong with having preconceived ideas. It breaches the line between good and evil, however, if you let those notions stunt your social growth via intolerance. That's the point at which you go from a person who could learn something, to an intolerant asshole.

We've all come to expect certain things from certain people, but it's those expectations that can lead to amazing newfound knowledge.

Go forth, dear readers. Be wrong, be corrected, and expand your horizons.