Their Roots In Religious Prejudice example essay topic

Prejudice is an irremovable aspect of human life that can be caused by almost any kind of experience because it is spawned by the very freedom of taught that mankind covets above all else. Prejudice is spawned by the things we are taught, the learning experiences we have, and the choices we make. Prejudice is also spawned by such things as the races we are born into, and among many other reasons, our religious affiliation. Take for instance a small child growing up in a supremacist household of any kind.

All the people that are close to this young and malleable mind live their lives filled with this unfounded hatred of the other races that inhabit the earth. Many of the lessons that the child will learn are tainted with this hate, as is the very language that he or she will use to communicate with the rest of the world. This unknowing child will probably act blatantly racist towards people of another race for the simple fact that nothing better is known, and the reaction of other ethnic peoples towards this tainted innocent after such an introduction will probably only feed your hate. It is understandably difficult for a youth to look past the hate that they have known for their entire being, but I m sure that at least a few people have been able to look past hate-filled childhood's into a far more understanding adulthood.

The reverse of the previous scenario is also very possible. For instance, single experiences quite commonly turn once open-minded individuals into violent racists. If a person from any race, religion, sex, or social class has someone or something violently taken away from them by a person who is different from themselves in any of the ways listed above, or the violator fits into any other of an innumerable amount of stereotypes, the group as a whole may bea the wrath of the violated instead of the single guilty individual. Sometimes it is just easier on the distraught mind to blame a large section of society instead of narrowing the hate to an individual. Hate movements such as the Neo-Nazi organizations, Klu Klux Klan, and the Black Panther movement also spread hate by preying on often insecure or misguided members of society who are looking for direction in their lives. Words and actions of racial and religious revenge and racial and religious superiority are the tools and weapons of these groups.

These groups use their group hatred and unity to lure lost souls into their distinct type of a family. The members of these groups are often fanatical as they prepare for an ultimate racial Armageddon. It is the choice of the member to join such a group, and I m sure in the mind of the initiate their choice is the righteous choice to make. The prejudices that people learn, are taught, or choose are not limited to such a serious subjects as race or religion. Some people are taught by their elders and peers to drive a certain brand of car or truck, or look upon certain brands of cola with distaste, although the colas may taste identical. Indeed, prejudice probably runs over into every aspect of our lives.

Some things on this earth are not subject to free choice, and a major aspect of life that we have no influence over is the race into which we are born. Each of the races has different issues that have developed over centuries of dispute and wrongdoing between one another. To many people it doesn t matter if the dispute or source of attitude expired centuries in the past. Most Native Chinese have looked upon themselves as a step better than the rest of the rest of the world since the earliest dynasty that ruled over that land. The people of China have called their homeland The Middle Kingdom since the earliest of recorded times. The Middle Kingdom is said to be between Heaven and Earth, and the rest of the people in the world are regarded as barbarians, or foreign devils, regardless of nationality, race, or stature.

This assumption is not meant to be demeaning or malicious, but has been and still is taken as a simple fact of life. Similarly, many of the imperialistic cultures throughout history have traditionally looked upon the native people of the lands they have conquered as ignorant brutes or bloodthirsty savages. Some cultures, European as well as many others ranging from African Tribesmen to the South American Native Empires, have even gone as far as to treat the conquered people as tools, property or even offerings to their individual gods and goddesses. To these cultures there seemed to be nothing wrong with such actions as have been previously listed, and the world in which they existed knew no better. Unfortunately these atrocities from the distant and not so distant past are still looked upon as grounds for prejudice between races in the modern world, and admittedly there is still some, if not a surprising amount, of active residue left over from this past in the world today.

This residue takes the form of such groups as the Klu Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, and Black Panthers that I have mentioned earlier as well as many others. Xenophobia is another phenomenon that relates to prejudice based on race. Xenophobia is the fear of people who are different. This is prejudice in one of its purest forms. Xenophobia is based on nothing other than the fact that the persecuted party is different from the persecuting party in appearance or in the actions that they perform.

Xenophobia can be practiced with equal ease against both individuals and large groups. Religion is another major source of prejudice. Many of the great wars that have been fought in the history of the world can find their roots in religious prejudice. The Crusades were fought between Christians and Muslims, both of whom laid claim to the same Holy Land, and both thought that the other was completely unworthy of control of this land.

A religiously based war still rages in Northern Ireland, but ironically both sides belong to the same religion, just different denominations. Catholics and Protestants regularly shed each other's blood for the deep prejudice they have for their different factions of the same religion, and I m sure in the minds of the combatants the reason for fighting is not prejudice, but they are fighting for the religious and ethnic good of their homeland. Religiously and to a degree racially based so called ethnic cleansing is also the cause of Hitler's murderous actions in World War II, which led to the death of millions of innocent people whose only crime was being Jewish or Slavic in origin. Similarly the recent wars in the Balkans were spawned by prejudice between Muslims and non-Muslims, or prejudice between people from different regions. Prejudice has been a factor in peoples lives since the dawn of time. Many of the cases used in the previous pages are extreme, but prejudice affects us all in at least a small way.

Prejudice can be and has been targeted against anything or anyone. Prejudice is a nasty part of life, but it is an undeniable part of life indeed. Even those who devote their life to the destruction or lessening of prejudice in the world use certain stereotypes, as is human nature, and as long as man has the natural-born ability to think freely stereotypes, ignorance and the prejudices that go with them will be a part of human existence. People will always make decisions based on the lives that they have lived, and regardless of what society dictates as wrong or right, people will do what they feel in the way that they personally feel they should do it. So goes the natural world, and thus so goes life..