Transcript CHAPTER FIVE - Ave Maria Press

CHAPTER FIVE
Justice and Prejudice
Go Worship With Your “Own” People
- We are called to treat all people with respect and as if they
were our sisters or brothers.
- Unfortunately, this doesn’t always occur. Take Mohandas
Gandhi, for example.
- Ghandi, a Hindu, was interested in the Christian church and
was discriminated against when he tried to enter the sanctuary
in a Christian church. He was told to go worship with his
“own” people
.
- How did Christians discriminate against Ghandi? What
kind of prejudice did he encounter?
Real-Life Prejudice
Did you know...
According to Tolerance.org:
Every hour someone commits a hate
crime
Every day at least 8 blacks, 3 whites, 3
gays, 3 Jews, and 1 Latino become hate
crime victims
Every week a cross is burned
Real-Life Prejudice
What is Prejudice?
1. Favorable or unfavorable feeling
toward a person, place, or thing,
prior to, or not based on, actual
fact
2. A prejudgment based on
insufficient data
Real-Life Prejudice
Did you Know...
Negative prejudice is sinful.
Why?
Threatens the rights
of people
Illogical, exhibits
stereotypical thinking
A fault when it resists
new information
- Stereotypes: types of prejudice that are
oversimplified generalizations about some
aspect of reality
Stages of Prejudice
Extermination
– killing the
undesirable
person or group
Physical attack – violence
and hate crimes
Discrimination – harmful
actions against disliked persons
Avoidance – avoiding members
of a disliked group
Antilocution – speaking against
Stages of Prejudice
Types of discrimination
1. Sexism – misguided belief that one sex is
superior to the other by the nature of things.
Examples of sexism
• In no country in today’s world are women treated
as well as men
• Greater poverty in households headed by women
• Women suffer from “glass ceiling” effect
• Some countries restrict the political participation
of women
• Women condemned to unending menial labor
• Women victimized by men through violence
Stages of Prejudice
Types of discrimination
2. Ageism: prejudice exhibited against older
people
Examples of ageism
• More and more elderly are living in
poverty
• Stability of Social Security and
Medicare are of great concern as more
people retire
• The move to legalize euthanasia is an
attempt to remove sick elderly persons
seen as a burden
Stages of Prejudice
Types of extermination:
1. Assassinations
2. Lynchings
3. Massacres
4. Terrorist bombings
5. Genocide
Example: The Holocaust
- Resulted from anti-semitism: prejudice against
the Jewish people
Stages of Prejudice
Nine ways you can fight prejudice:
1. Pray for your conversion
2. Learn to celebrate differences
3. Look for inequalities in your school, work place, and parish
4. Avoid racial stereotypes, jokes, slurs
5. Refuse to participate in any verbal attacks on homosexual persons
6. Treat those with disabilities as unique individuals
7. Visit a nursing home with some friends
8. Avoid sexist comments
9. Include rather than exclude
Attempting to Explain Prejudice
Q. Why do people hold on to their prejudices?
. People are too lazy to think
. Scapegoats are an easy way to deal with negative emotions
. Prejudice makes people feel superior
. Prejudice thrives because it pays both psychologically and
financially
Q. What are some characteristics of people
who are prejudiced?
A. Difficulty dealing with ambiguity
A. Low self-esteem
A. Authority-oriented
Attempting to Explain Prejudice
The home is the central school
for learning prejudice
Prejudice is learned
Sexism is key in forming
early prejudices
Attempting to Explain Prejudice
Ways to overcome prejudice:
Work with
different
groups
Be aware that
prejudice is
inconsistent with
one’s values, attitudes
and behaviors
Participate in
programs that
put self in the
shoes of others
Establish
laws/rules that
require the fair
treatment of
others
Vocabulary
prejudice
stereotypes
antilocution
Discrimination
sexism
feminism
patriarchy
ageism
anti-Semitism
scapegoating