Prejudice works in odd ways.
Preconceived notions. They happen. It’s a part of how our brains work. With the mass of stimuli out there, our brain likes to put things in little boxes. Neat little labeled boxes that make the world easier to sort out. Now yes, I grant you… there’s quite a difference between your brain deciding that all fire is hot and that all Mexicans are dirty clown car packers… but stick with me… I’m going somewhere.
I grew up in a world where I was a numerical minority. And culturally, the line between black and white wasn’t nearly so important as the line between native to the land and outsider. I will admit, I’ve had preconceived notions about things here and there, and have done my best to be
aware of these thoughts. To try to compensate for my prejudices. It’s the little things, like taking a deep breath and thinking to myself, “Now just because he is pissing you off, it’s not
because he’s a yankee. It’s because he’s an
asshole.”
Well, recently I was forced to realize that there was one connection I’d placed in my head that wasn’t necessarily true. A preconceived notion that my brain automatically applied to situations, as if gospel. And again, I’ll lay this at the feet of growing up in the south. Prejudice or not, it was something that I saw proven right again and again. So, I just took it to be universally true. Who knew I had some naiveté left?
You see, silly me, I thought only ignorant people were racist. Ignorant, ugly people. That’s what I grew up with. You could spot them a mile away. And if maybe their confederate flag jacket was in the wash that day, you could certainly tell they were hate filled fucks after talking with them for about 30 seconds. I just equated that sort of ignorance with stupidity and moved on with my life.
I certainly never thought that I would one day be friends with someone like that.
I never thought that after years of sharing hobbies, dinners, birthdays and late night video games with someone… I would THEN find out that anything other than the tall white man was inferior in their eyes. Yes, there were some signs leading up to this. But I just wrote it off as New England White Bread behavior. I mean, some of these boys think you make sweet tea from a MIX IN A CAN! How can you expect them to know how to act right?
Meh, this just has me in a shitty mood. I hate it when people insist on sucking.
