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Fight Prejudice
Micro-Definitions
What if you were born into a prejudice family? When
you were very young you may have heard jokes or
negative comments about people and thus learned to
group others, who were different from yourself,
into a micro-definition. Grouping people together
is a practice that helps us to understand
differences and assume generalities. Unfortunately,
prejudice thrives on such micro-definitions and
limited thinking. Any statement that begins with
Blacks are..., Jewish people always..., Russian
deals never..., Gays often...or White men
usually...screams prejudice to your listener.
However, prejudice
statements can cost you business clients, good
friends, co-worker respect and future deals.
Prejudice lowers societies as a whole and raises no
one. In this world of travel and change any
definitive statement about a set of people can no
longer have much truth or validity. Ask yourself if
your preacher is racist declaring that only your
denomination is allowed into Heaven and question
how can they know? Is your school sexist allowing
special treatment or funds for male footballers
while ignoring the girl's teams? Are Whites
promoted before people with more pigment in their
skin?
Most prejudice begins in
young children as early as pre-school age from
opinions overheard from parents. Borrowed bad
habits from our parents can be eliminated. If your
mind is operating in a default mode you may be
saying or doing things that scream, "I am a
prejudice fool." If each time you tell a joke or
make a comment, you are making someone a victim,
then you may want to make a concerted effort to
change old inherited bad habits. If you stop and
take a good look at your behavior, are you
confident and open to other very different people
or is your self esteem so low that you treat others
badly, just to try to feel better about
yourself?
The world is shrinking and
families are blending into many races, beliefs and
behaviors. A supremacy attitude is ridiculous
because your group has dwindled to just one - you,
the individual. See if you can begin to relate to
the rest of the world as individuals with dreams,
talent and hopes. There is really only one group
left ...all of us.
©2009, Molly
Barrow
* * *
Dr. Molly
Barrow holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is
the author of the new book, Matchlines:
A revolutionary New Way of looking at relationships
and making the right choices in
love. She is an
authority on relationship and psychological topics,
a member of the American Psychological Association
and a licensed mental health counselor. Dr. Molly
has appeared as an expert on NBC, PBS, KTLA, and in
O Magazine, Psychology Today, Newsday, MSN.com,
Match.com, Women's Health and Women's World. Please
visit: www.askdrmolly.com
or Take the new relationship compatibility test,
Match Lines Systems for Successful Relationships
for Singles, Couples and Business at
www.DrMollyBarrow.com.
Molly has a radio program, Your Relationship
Answers at www.blogtalkradio.com/drmollybarrow
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