The Prejudice Paper I have chosen the topic The everyday nature of prejudice. There are many forms of prejudice. Some people are just born with or raised with a prejudice. During the war, Americans became prejudiced against the Japanese. They used racial slurs and violence to get rid of and exclude the Japanese. They were all moved to internment camps and some were killed. Families were torn apart. The Japanese were put through many hardships, and when they were able to return, they were only slowly accepted. The three main types of prejudice are Racism, Sexism, and Ageism.
The first type of prejudice is Racism. This is a belief that you are better than other people based solely on their race or religion. I am sorry to say that racism was very prominent in the United States, and though it has calmed down a bit, is still a problem today. Some white people still hate black people and I’m sure there are some blacks who hate whites, too. Religions have also been attacked. The Mormons were persecuted and forced to move west when they were rejected by other people. The Jews were attacked for just being Jews.
When this was happening in Germany, the U. S. A tried to stop it. However, at the same time, the United States were detaining the Japanese. That is just not right. The second type of prejudice is Sexism. This is the belief that you are better or smarter than another person based on whether they are a man or woman. This form of prejudice is mainly found in boys and men. They feel that, because they are mostly stronger, that they are overly superior to women. That is not the case. I have been looking around and I find that girls mainly get better grades in school.
Also, just because someone is a different sex, it doesn’t make them any less important or inferior. Women beat men in about half of the Olympic sports. Men are usually better weight lifters and women are usually better at gymnastics. These are just generalities though. They are not set in stone. Third, but not any less significant, is the prejudice Ageism. The definition for Ageism is discrimination against persons of a certain age group. This is like a young teen disliking a person just because they are old or young.
The reason I say “teen” is because that is where I believe most of the Ageism comes from. This is not a major problem though. In fact, it is relatively tame in comparison to the first two discussed prejudices. It is also used slightly in theme parks. The managers of the park don’t want little kids on some rides even if they are tall enough. I think that Ageism is not a very prominent thing in our society today. It’s not visible to me, but it is still there. In conclusion, I would like to say that we, the people of America, need to understand our differences and accept them.
To carry prejudices against other people just for being different hurts all of us. We should remember past history lessons of prejudice and never let it happen again. We don’t want to be treated unfairly, so why do we treat others unfairly? I would like to remind you of my main message which is this: the three main types of prejudice are Racism, Sexism, and Ageism. I hope that you never feel like you are better than anyone else who is a different race, religion, sex, or age than you are. Don’t let something that silly tear people apart.