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Monday, September 15, 2008

An Elitist Looks at Prejudice

With Obama knocking on the White House front door, I've been thinking more about the ignorance of racial (and gender) bias.

Years ago I had a co-worker, Darryl Pierson, who maintained that all humans were prejudice, that we were instinctively drawn to people that most closely resembled ourselves, that it was in our genetic self-interest to favor our own gene pool, and we should be taught that, so we could better understand those feelings and overcome them. At the time I thought he was just another redneck trying to justify his prejudices. Of course then I got to know him better, and met his wife and children - White, Black, Brown, Oriental, Native American, whatever. If racial prejudice is instinctive, he certainly found a way to overcome it.

I do think he helped me better understand what the guys down at the corner bar, drinking Bud Lite and watching NASCAR, are feeling.

NASCAR and light beer! - damn, there's two more bias's I have to work on.

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