Predjudice

prejudge
/priːˈdʒʌdʒ/

verb

form a judgement on (an issue or person) prematurely and without having adequate information.
"it is wrong to prejudge an issue on the basis of speculation"

Here is a simple logical argument....

I hate being prejudged. I hate trying to explain my case when someone has made a decision about me, or for me, based upon insufficient or wrong information.

As I don't like it I can assume everyone else doesn't like and so let's give this a name and call it a morally bad thing to do.

PREJUDICE: It's a bad thing to do. no one likes it so try not to do it.

Even worse is being prejudged by a relatively arbitary fact about oneself, like thinking I'm a drummer so I must be a maniac who likes destroying hotel rooms or that I know nothing about music. (both examples that have been made about me. the first is not true but it would be nice sometimes to go to town on a Premier Inn with a Samurai sword...the second I suppose is up for debate)

Even worse than that would be judging me based upon a group that it is perceived that I belong too. Now we have prejudgments about that group, prejudgments that I belong to that group, prejudgments that I have opinions and beliefs associated with the prejudged opinions or beliefs that it has been prejudged that group has.

Now that's a lot of predjudice right there.

But far worse would be to do this based upon my the perception of how I look. It would be wrong to assume someone is angry because they look angry or sad because they look sad. Or that I'm into drugs because I have long hair and listen to trippy music.

So it's wrong by this logic to assume that someone is male because they look male, or black because they look black, or gay because they look gay. It is wrong to make any assumptions about an individual based upon an arbitary group that YOU have decided they belong to. Check these 'facts' out with the individual first.

It is therefore wrong to assume offence in someone because of the group YOU have decided they belong to and that you think you speak for the opinions and beliefs of that group. 

Groups do not have opinions or beliefs, individuals do.

To assume that all black people have a group opinion, that all Tories have another opinion, to act like these opinions are all in opposition in some huge cosmic dialectical struggle is to make a lot of assumptions. It is prejudicial and by this line of argument morally wrong.

When someone does something morally wrong the best course of action is to let them make their argument, and then try, in the kindest terms, to persaude them they are wrong. If you create a culture where people are open to this kind of criticism then you allow people to change their mind. And we end up with a kinder, wiser culture.

But to try and shut someone down because they have an opinion you think is wrong is dodgy on two levels. Firstly you are not letting the argument happen and not allowing for that person to be argued against and their opinion changed. 

But far worse is the fact that you are assuming you are objectively right, like some totalitarian god who's every utterance is beyond question. That is ugly and sucks.

So for me it seems pretty logical that to cancel, ban, censor, shut down, sack etc beliefs or opinions because of the percieved offense that they may cause to a person that you have assumed belongs to an arbitary group that you believe you can speak for in terms of that groups assumed beliefs and opinions is so full of prejudeice that it should be seen as a heinous moral crime in a society that believes itself civilised.

But in 2021 that is not the case.

But will history look back on our time and see this a good thing or something more in line with the Spanish Inquisition, or medieval witch trials, or the actions of Stalinist Russia or any other totalitarian dictatorships? Screaming at someone that people are dying because of an opinion is not an argument, it's cohersion based upon some sort of imagined heirachy of emotional righteousness. Just explain why the opinion is wrong, thats all you need to do.

So it is my opinion (and only an opinion, so keep your hair on) that political correctness is deeply prejudiced. But I am open to have my mind changed, don't worry, I won't try and have you sacked if you disagree with me. Opinions, like bad people, can change. It is one of the things hope is based upon.

Peace, love and tolerance!

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