[lit-ideas] Re: Muslim Prejudice
- From: "Veronica Caley" <molleo1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:10:58 -0500
Ursula:This is exactly the reason that so many writers write so passionately
about the importance of libraries in their young lives.
When I first came to this country, I used to hang around the library and the
Detroit Institute of Arts. I couldn't read in any language. No matter, it
felt good to be there, the librarians smiled a lot and I could look at books
with pictures. And it had a certain scent. A little like office supply stores
when they were small and privately owned.
Long before I could afford books, I bought comic books. Some of which were
versions of the classics. Imagine my surprise and delight when I learned that
there were whole books that told a lot more than the comic books.
I still love libraries, work there as a volunteer in the book shop and go there
with my own book, sometimes electronic, to read. I like the peace and quiet
and lack of car noise.
Veronica Caley
Milford, MI
----- Original Message -----
From: Ursula Stange
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:48 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Muslim Prejudice
This is exactly the reason that so many writers write so passionately about
the importance of libraries in their young lives. Books can show you the
possibilities when nothing in your environment will. And it's no wonder that
those young people, so profoundly awakened from their slumber, need to write
themselves.
I'm particularly reminded of Annie Dillard's homage to her childhood library
experiences (visiting friends, she called it) in her memoir An American
Childhood.
Even more poignant (because of her impoverished chidhood in the deep south)
is Dorothy Allison's ode to libraries.
Thanks, Mike, for bringing these to mind,
Ursula
On 27/01/2011 10:59 AM, Mike Geary wrote:
Doesn't Eric's definition depend on what is meant by "experiences"? I know
from having lived my formative years and 90% of my adult life in Memphis that
when one's social milieu is drenched in bigotry and prejudice, it's a miracle
to escape sharing that prejudice. How many times does one have to be told by
one's society "They live like animals", "these people are savages", "these
people can't be trusted" until one starts experiencing those others in the ways
one has been taught to experience them? I took Eric's definition in that
light. We become prejudiced by being taught the prejudice and coming then to
experience the other through the prejudice. Prejudice need not be towards
other peoples. In fact, I would argue that 99% of what we believe and how we
conduct our lives is through prejudice.
We were taught how to conceive the world and we experience it as we were
taught.
Mike Geary
Memphis
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 2:51 AM, Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Eric: Prejudice is NOT by definition "a form of unjustified and
> false belief." It is rather a blanket judgment about a group
> or class of people or things that has developed as a result
> of the experiences of the prejudiced person
Judy: I have never seen a definition of prejudice -- pre-judgment --
that did not in some way accord with Donal's suggestion, rather than yours.
Can you link to a dictionary definition that matches yours?
Wikipedia: "Prejudices are abstract-general preconceptions or
abstract-general attitudes towards any type of situations, object, or person."
Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate: [second definition] "preconceived
judgment or opinion"
See? It is still possible to discuss "prejudice" without immediately
imposing the conditioned moral aversion terminology. Thus one may discuss how
social prejudices arise from commonly observed behavior and become
generalizations.
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