Hauser's World

The Elephant in the Room

You know you're not supposed to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Jimmy Carter called the elephant out and introduced it to us as "Racism." But there are a lot of elephants in the room that go unmentioned. I'd like to introduce you to the mother of all the elephants in the room, prejudice.

prej·u·dice 1 : injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially : detriment to one's legal rights or claims 2 a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristic (Mirriam-Webster Online)

Was Joe Wilson being racist? I don't know. Frankly, I don't care. Racism is indeed ugly. But it's just one baby elephant. It certainly has deserved attention, but again, it's just one member of the herd. We've watched two specials on "Black in America," had it implied that Obama called Kanye West "a jackass" as a political artifice. Of course, the fact that Obama is only voicing an opinion that most of the United States probably shares at this time becomes irrelevant. I have to admit I laughed at it all. I particularly found amusing the fact that Kanye is even allowed within 3 miles of a microphone during an awards show. But racism is really only part of the picture, isn't it?

Looking at the definition furnished by our friends at Mirriam-Webster, prejudice is "an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge." Simply, it's the ability to believe the worst of something or someone before anything has actually happened. Democrats represent one form of prejudice. Republicans represent another. We have the "birther" movement that somehow cannot accept the fact that Obama was actually born an American citizen on American soil. We see on television people, that for whatever reason, think that Muslims are taking over the country. So much for a country founded on religious freedom. Gays have some hidden agenda, though if you know many gay men the idea of a hidden agenda in the face of a penchant for gossip is rather ludicrous. The Freemasons, the Illuminati and the Trilateral Commission are working together with the Papacy. We need to fix "Our Broken Borders," a codeword that always seems to be associated with some form of xenophobia. White people don't care about black people (Sorry, Kanye). We see that the road goes in two directions. Everyone wants to believe the worst of everyone else.

"The great melting pot," an illusion of homogeneity that has been pushed in our culture as trend like molecular gastronomy, has utterly failed to encapsulate the reality that is American culture. It would imply that we were (and are) on the same page. We're not. With homophobia comes heterophobia. Guess what? We don't trust you either. With religion, we get schisms, crusades and jihads. With politics we get blind adherence to a party without sufficient knowledge and trophies made out of the head of whichever party member has managed to embarrass themselves that week. We're not the same, don't think the same and don't act the same.

But the issue, I think, boils down to the simple phrase "before sufficient knowledge." When I still taught college classes, I'd often be asked what I thought about the "War" in Iraq. I would see my military students cringe and brace themselves for what they thought would be a liberal diatribe about the evils of war. My answer was always the same, "I don't know, I haven't been there, I don't necessarily believe what I've been told and I don't have first-hand knowledge, so I can't give you an opinion." One student gave me his deployment coin one term. He gave me that coin, which I will always treasure and keep safe, because he said I refused to voice an opinion before I had sufficient knowledge. I refused, at least in that instance, to give in to prejudice.

I'm not some paragon of tolerance; I have my own predilections (Mirriam-Webster lists predilection as a synonym for prejudice.) I've been part of diversity groups, interest groups, diversity training and every conceivable grouping of people grasping for some shared form of rationality. I must admit, I'm prejudiced against the prejudiced. I keep adding people to that group as my general cynicism grows. I've added a lot of educators to that list. I've added relatives, friends and former friends, colleagues, supervisors, media outlets, journalists, pundits and just about every other type of person. I want to believe the best of everyone. I really do. I desperately fight not to generalize out or categorize from many of the unpleasant experiences I've had. It's getting harder.

But, I'm still going to fight that fight. I'm not going to accuse Joe Wilson of racism. I have to admit, I'll accuse Kanye West of utter and complete tactlessness. I'm not going to accuse Jimmy Carter of oversimplifying the situation. I won't even smack the people who think Muslims are taking over the country. But the one battle I will continue to fight, every day, is the idea of formulating an opinion "before sufficient knowledge." That's all I can do.

So the question is: what do you think you can do?