What does this quote mean to you?
Question by T0T4LLY C0NFUS3D: What does this quote mean to you?
“Prejudice is a great timesaver. It enables you to form opinions without bothering to get facts.” I have to think about what this quote means as it relates to how we make assumptions and judgments about people that are different from us and I have no idea as to how to start my introductory paragraph. PLEASE HELP ME….
Best answer:
Answer by Mat
Sorry, but… what’s not to get? The quotation means exactly what it says. Prejudice saves you time because you form an opinion without actually knowing the person first.
And to me… it’s true. It’s not false. Because prejudice IS a great timesaver. It DOES enable you to form an opinion without bothering to get facts.
Answer by chickadee34
A possible way to start your introductory paragraph might be something like this:
While prejudice may be a great timesaver in enabling us to form opinions without bothering to get facts, it also serves as an impediment to correct understanding, thereby preventing us from truly connecting with an otherwise worthy fellow human being.
To give you a real-life example, which I offer only as a way to get your own creative juices flowing…
A young man – a sophomore in high school (let’s call him Jason) — who regularly confides in me recently relayed to me the following story:
He had found himself drawn to a female classmate in his English class. Let’s call her “Sarah.” Sarah was ultra-quiet but obviously tenderhearted. She was also extremely pretty. Jason found himself thinking about Sarah a great deal, though he had not yet found the courage to speak to her. Yet, just as he was finally getting up the courage to initiate a conversation with her, Sarah arrived in class looking very different: her lovely blonde hair was now suddenly marred by several bright pink streaks. Shocked and appalled by her new and “wild” hair , Jason was entirely put off by such garishness and decided Sarah was NOT his type at all. He even figured, based on her pink hair streaks, that she was “trashy” and probably “a druggie” to boot.
Fast forward a couple of months…
For a major project, their English teacher assigned “partners,” and the two of them somehow ended up assigned to each other. Jason was filled with disgust, if not outright dread. The LAST person he wanted to be paired with was “a wild girl” and “a druggie,” never mind that this was someone to whom he had once been attracted. Anyway, in the course of working on their project together, Jason and Sarah ended up talking…and Jason learned that Sarah’s mother was dying of breast cancer. Jason also learned that it was Sarah’s mother’s terminal illness that had prompted Sarah to put those pink streaks (representing Breast Cancer Awareness) in her hair.
What’s more, in further conversations with Sarah, Jason learned that Sarah was so entirely against illegal drugs that she was thinking of one day becoming a Substance Abuse Counselor.
As Jason himself put it: “Boy, did I EVER have it wrong!”
As well he did….all because he allowed prejudice, for a time, to obscure true understanding.
Some pertinent quotes you might wish to ponder, or perhaps use in your essay, include the following:
“The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.” Elbert Hubbard
“I’m not sure I want popular opinion on my side – I’ve noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts.” ~Bethania McKenstry
“Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.” ~Countess of Blessington
“It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” ~Henry David Thoreau
“I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I’ve written there is a thread of this: a man’s seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.” ROD SERLING, Los Angeles Times, 1967
“No man has ever been born a Negro hater, a Jew hater, or any other kind of hater. Nature refuses to be involved in such suicidal practices.” ~Harry Bridges
“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.” Mohandas Gandhi
“We are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the slow, the gaunt or the obese. It is natural to develop prejudices. It is noble to rise above them.” ~Author Unknown
“Hate is a thing, a feeling, that can only exist where there is no understanding.” Tennessee Williams
“Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind.” John Tillotson
“Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.” ~Merry Browne
“It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” ~Henry David Thoreau
“The longer we live, the more we find we are like other persons.” Oliver Wendell Holmes
Add your own answer in the comments!
Edd Miller Training Video – Little league baseball Gloves.