Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - NEVER...NEVER...Pre-judge people...(a long one)

obediah · 08-07-2003, 12:38 PM

There is a difference between pre-judging and being racist. Pre-juding based on color is a type of racism. And having prejudices based on hype, fear, sensationalism and other irrational stuff is usually bad.

But the ability to form and respect prejudices has been key to our species survival and expansion. If you think about it prejudices are good for everything on the planet except other people. Sure there are always exceptions, but when something could be liefe or death and your's is the only life involved which do you want the 90% chance or the 10% chance. I think it's this deep dependance on prejudices that make it hard for us not to pre-judge other people. Not making excuses, just trying to understand the problem.

All this said, the guy you work with sounds like a racist ass, and a salesperson that wouldn't have helped a white family in the same situation would be an ass.

All that said, being nice doesn't seem to be a big requirement for car salespeople, so perhaps over time it usually works out that a salesperson does better not wasting their time with people that don't look like they could affortd the product.

I'm sure some one out there that has memorized all the fallacies knows the name for the one using an extreme-but rare example to make a generalization. I'm sure some one else probably has a story about a poor looking black customer that pulled a gun or knife on them when they tried to be helpful.

I swear I had a point somewhere...I guess it's be nice to people, especially if you're a salseman, and looks can be deceiving or indicitive. So it's probably best to ignore them even though it could bite you in the ass.

08-07-2003, 12:38 PM	#31 (permalink)
obediah Crazy	There is a difference between pre-judging and being racist. Pre-juding based on color is a type of racism. And having prejudices based on hype, fear, sensationalism and other irrational stuff is usually bad. But the ability to form and respect prejudices has been key to our species survival and expansion. If you think about it prejudices are good for everything on the planet except other people. Sure there are always exceptions, but when something could be liefe or death and your's is the only life involved which do you want the 90% chance or the 10% chance. I think it's this deep dependance on prejudices that make it hard for us not to pre-judge other people. Not making excuses, just trying to understand the problem. All this said, the guy you work with sounds like a racist ass, and a salesperson that wouldn't have helped a white family in the same situation would be an ass. All that said, being nice doesn't seem to be a big requirement for car salespeople, so perhaps over time it usually works out that a salesperson does better not wasting their time with people that don't look like they could affortd the product. I'm sure some one out there that has memorized all the fallacies knows the name for the one using an extreme-but rare example to make a generalization. I'm sure some one else probably has a story about a poor looking black customer that pulled a gun or knife on them when they tried to be helpful. I swear I had a point somewhere...I guess it's be nice to people, especially if you're a salseman, and looks can be deceiving or indicitive. So it's probably best to ignore them even though it could bite you in the ass.