ipl-logo

Review Of Paul Bloom's 'Can Prejudice Ever Be A Good Thing?'

639 Words3 Pages

Paul Bloom on Prejudice Over the course of centuries, the word prejudice has garnered a negative response. It really comes to no surprise, considering all the social injustices that have happen in the course of our history because of prejudice. To further emphasize that this is how people think, Paul Bloom quotes a British critic named William Hazlitt with his written statement, “Prejudice is the child of ignorance” (qtd in Bloom 0:22). Yet, this is not the point of his Ted Talk, after all, it is titled “Can Prejudice Ever Be a Good Thing?” Psychologist Paul Bloom uses a mixture of logic and credible sources to demonstrate that prejudice is natural and not evil, He uses these methods to demonstrate the negative effect extreme prejudice has in our society and how we have learned from these social injustices. …show more content…

Simply put, bias and prejudice are derived from everyday decisions. By displaying a picture of a dog, a chair, and an apple, he gets people’s minds working, and clearly states that whatever they think of when seeing these images can be right, or can be wrong (1:30). Could it be that prejudice comes from experience? Bloom continues by displaying a written quote by Hazlitt, “Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room…nor what to feel in any relation of life (qtd in Bloom 2:05). Logic and experience helps mold people’s minds and thoughts, and he knows how to use it to convey his

Show More
Related
779 Words | 4 Pages

“We all decry prejudice, yet are all prejudiced,” said Herbert Spencer, a famous philosopher. Prejudice is frequent everywhere and difficult to stop. It is very difficult to destroy something in someone’s mind, and it will inevitably be expressed through various methods with different degrees of subtlety. Any expression of this can hurt. Subsequently, in Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, the main theme is that prejudice is everywhere, and can be of varying degrees.

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

Mark Twain once said, “The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” Even as we as a globalized society have improved greatly, prejudice appears far too often and is expressed everywhere even in today’s world. During World War 2, prejudice was peaking in society. In Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatuski Houston and James D. Houston, the main theme is that silent prejudice hurts the most. Wakatsuki avoids portraying open racism and prejudice in the book in order to examine he subtle and often unspoken prejudices that occur everyday life, which are often the most hurtful.

Read More
715 Words | 3 Pages

What forms of prejudice does society accept more? Why are these forms of prejudice more acceptable than others? Julie Otuska explores and challenges the idea of prejudice and how it’s perceived by society. The girl, the boy, and the mother are the characters in the book that show the end result of prejudice. Their individuality drastically changes from the beginning to the end of the book.

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

Every day, millions of people judge others based on the stereotypes that apply to them, and some do not even know it. Most times these misjudgments are harmless, however, they can definitely be destructive. False judgments based on the stereotypes one follows can make a total stranger seem like a menace to society. This issue is so popular, that it used every day to falsely misjudge others in harmful ways. The most important lesson gained from reading Night, Of Mice and Men, and watching Angel of Bergen-Belsen is that one cannot use stereotypes to judge others because the person could be the total opposite of the judgments and misjudging they can inflict harm to that person if used in the wrong way.

Read More
1755 Words | 8 Pages

"We can at least try to understand our own motives, passions, and prejudices, so as to be conscious of what we are doing when we appeal to those of others. This is very difficult, because our own prejudice and emotional bias always seems to us so rational." - T. S. Eliot Personal bias is a strong motivator, whether we are aware of it or not. It can change the way we view a situation or event, just because of what we choose to pay attention to.

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

It helps people recognize things and understand them by being able to compare them with other similar experiences. In the essays “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose and “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History” by Laurel Ulrich, the authors’ attempt to condemn stereotypes by using similar rhetorical strategies. To Begin, Both Mike Rose and Laurel Ulrich use three different references to debunk stereotypes concerning a certain group. Mike Rose uses personal figures such as his mother, Rosie; his uncle, Joe Meraglio; and himself: while Laurel Ulrich uses historical figures such as an actress, Mae West; a seamstress, Rosa Parks; and a midwife, Martha

Read More
801 Words | 4 Pages

Our life experiences make our present, our values, our way of behaving and thinking. Although no one is perfect, we are prone to develop prejudice against those who are totally different from us. For most of the time, prejudice only affects us personally. But if an individual is given a power to be responsible for another person’s live or death, prejudice can turn into a deadly weapon.

Read More
917 Words | 4 Pages

One would think prejudice is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that is not the case, prejudice is still a common factor in todays society. Vincent N. Parrillo’s essay “Causes of Prejudice,” helped me to understand how we are affected not just psychologically but in a sociological way as well, as John A. Camacho explains in his A Few Bad Apples opinion piece published in the Pacific Daily News. Both forms of prejudice are continued to be explained through Stud Turkel’s “C.P Ellis,” he gives us an understanding of psychological and sociological prejudice through C.P Ellis’own experiences. This furthers our understanding on how we can be affected by both psychological and sociological prejudices.

Read More
832 Words | 4 Pages

The definition of Prejudice is, “An unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason”(Dictionary.com) The majority of humans tend to judge others by appearance rather than personality. Examples derive from culture and treatment of African American people and how others perceive them to be. Prejudice and appearance are prevalent in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as well as today’s culture which has consequences regarding race, age, religion, etc. In Frankenstein, the monster is a hideous, vicious being of large stature who has the potential to cause injury, so he is perceived to be malicious due to these characteristics.

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

Everybody has unconscious bias. But what role does it play in our daily lives? And how does it affect us? In the TED talk “What Does My Headscarf Mean to You”, speaker Yassmin Abdel-Magied aims to encourage the audience to acknowledge that everyone has unconscious bias, and to look past their own bias in order to promote equal opportunity, particularly when it comes to the workplace. “We all have our own biases.

Read More
1157 Words | 5 Pages

How did prejudice happen in this world that God made? Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. In this world, there are a lot of prejudice. Prejudice doesn´t happen suddenly but it happens from a root. Everything happens from a root and that causes to be or do something.

Read More
1244 Words | 5 Pages

The Cambridge Dictionary considers Culture as "the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time". According to this, it can be said that culture is responsible for guiding society, under certain parameters, rules and customs that must be respected and shared among individuals in the same society; thus, there is no culture without being in a society; in the same way, there is no society without individuals interacting with each other. The coexistence in society has long been affected by two disintegrating elements called Prejudice and Racism, both with a high cultural content that have gradually deteriorated the development of the modern society. Prejudice has become one of the most common evils within modern society; people often have attitudes and beliefs, usually negative that tend to hurt others. It is

Read More
440 Words | 2 Pages

Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird Prejudice in the 1950s was a problem and it still is in 2017. When it comes to the topic of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys it is important that before judging someone, get to know them better. One example of prejudice Harper Lee uses in To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson. In the small town of Maycomb almost everyone assumes Tom is guilty of raping Mayella Ewell even though there is no evidence or reasoning.

Read More
2116 Words | 9 Pages

The three psychological theories which are used to explain the causes of prejudice and discrimination will be evaluated and outlined in this essay. Prejudice is a negative feeling directed at members of a group just because they are part of the group. Discrimination can be seen as the behavioural expression of prejudice i.e. the behaviour or negative actions, directed at members of other group, mainly based on their sex, ethnicity, age or social class. The mass murder of Jews by the Nazi’s in the Second World War is an example of prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice comprises of affection, behaviour and cognition of an individual, whereas discrimination only involves the behaviour.

Read More
352 Words | 2 Pages

American soldiers fought to preserve freedom in Europe, one hundred sixteen thousand five hundred and sixteen Americans died in that war alone. (31) In World War II, two hundred ninety two thousand, one hundred and thirty one soldiers died to keep Europe, and Pacific Ocean countries out of the control of dictators. (26) I think freedom means trying to live the way that the millions of soldiers, militiamen, and draftees who have died would want us to: peacefully, harmoniously, but not without some of the hardships of life which make us who we are.

Read More

More about Review Of Paul Bloom's 'Can Prejudice Ever Be A Good Thing?'

Related Topics

Open Document