Judge without knowing

Victims or perpetrators of prejudice? Probably both. We have all prejudged at some point, and we have also all been prejudged. Why do we do it? Or an even more productive question: Why shouldn’t we?

Let’s start by establishing what prejudging is. Prejudging implies, as the word defines it, making a hasty judgment, that is, developing an opinion about something or someone, without having sufficient prior elements to support said concept.

Prejudice makes our lives easier. It is much simpler to see a person in a certain group and establish that said person has certain characteristics solely and exclusively because they belong to that group, than to take the time to know, reflect, and consciously and openly analyze what we really think about that person. Obviously, just because it is easier does not mean it is better. In fact it’s not.

Prejudice is a negative attitude. The problem is that it is something that we have incorporated and that we do almost unconsciously. Because we have been established that way, and because we have always lived in an environment where prejudice is common.

Prejudging has a lot to do with intolerance. Or one thing leads to another. If we think about how many times prejudice perhaps deprived us of meeting a person who could have contributed a lot to our lives. The thing is that being prejudiced is being intolerant, and is denying diversity. It is closing oneself off from the possibility of the existence of other social groups, or other moral ideas, or other racial ethnicities, or other sexual preferences, etc. What we hold onto to prejudge is usually so superficial that sometimes it is even embarrassing to recognize it. How are we able to judge someone by how they dress, or by how they comb their hair, or by how they speak, or by their age, or by the religion they preach, or by an endless number of characteristics that are not a parameter of absolutely anything? Because if they were, it would no longer be prejudice. But the fact is that they are not, that they are questions that do not tell us anything important about the person, or anything that should really matter to us.

How can we avoid being prejudiced then?Assume that we are, that we prejudge.SincerityBe sincereDelete all the previous thoughts that you may have generated.It is better to ask than to assume a non-existent reality.Respect is one of the most important pillars to avoid prejudice

No one is a better or worse person for reasons as superficial as those mentioned above. You should always give it a chance, you will get more than one surprise. Just as they have surely taken it with you more than once. We have to know, and let ourselves be known. Let’s abandon prejudices.