Blind to Our Bigotry

March 3, 2019

While watching The Greatest Showman last night with Mom, she asked me at one point why the people were so hateful toward the circus performers. I replied that people tend to fear and hate what they don’t understand. I told her it’s the same reason why people are prejudiced toward black people, Hispanics, and gays.

It’s interesting how we can easily recognize the wrongness in someone else’s bigotry when it’s presented in a foreign context. Mom could see the stupidity and injustice of the 19th century “haters” in the move, who viewed the circus performers as freaks.

But somehow, we can’t see the bigotry in our own present context; we can be pretty blind to the reality of our own prejudice reactions in the here-and-now. Why is that?

I think it’s because our personal prejudices are wrapped up in our convictions and sense of being right, whether that comes from our cultural, political or religious belief system. Once concepts of “right” and “wrong” get involved, we can become completely blind to even the cruelest bigotry.

I thought I was an enlightened and unbigoted person. But my life experiences are showing me otherwise. I wish everyone could have such experiences.