Archive for September 2nd, 2010

Thoughts on Bigotry

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Bigots rarely confess. In fact, those epitomizing bigotry believe their oppressive and discriminatory views to be perfectly reasonable and justified. So don’t waste energy proving a bigot’s bigotry to him. Instead, cultivate acceptance in those open to it, and maybe, the bigot will eventually come around.  But then again, sometimes, it’s rewarding to argue with a bigot (or any other form of dogmatist), because while you may not convince your opponent of his wrongness, you may persuade many others of your rightness who are silently watching and listening; those so-called on-the-fence folks.  So keep debating because you’ll win hearts, though perhaps not your opponent’s. 

Now I don’t mean to suggest that ALL dogmatists are bigots, but instead that it’s due to dogmatism that bigotry remains so prominent. That is: While not all dogmatists are bigots, most steadfast bigots do tend to be dogmatists. Why? Because they don’t change their views even when hard-core scientific evidence refutes the view, or when there’s little objective scientific evidence that supports the view. While some dogmatism can result in good for society (like the steadfast belief that murder is wrong for example that helps keep us safe), bigotry rarely offers any similarly positive effects. Dogmatists can be simply well-principled and resolute while the most noteworthy bigots are typically just closed-minded, and way overplay the devotion-to-a-belief card. A little dogmatism is healthy. But when it remains, and escalates to the point of bigotry, then, it’s bad. Unfortunately, though bigotry is a subset of dogmatism, it’s nonetheless way more common than it should be in this day and age. I’d think we would have learned by now not to accept or reject people based on single attributes. But we haven’t; yet.

Moral standards that cause a systemic exclusion of ANYONE from mainstream of society and thus strip him of the ability to fully partake and enjoy the fruits of that society, are highly suspect and should be challenged in a free society such as ours. True. Not all moral standards equate to bigotry, and we haven’t discussed those particular standards much in this blog. However, the standards we HAVE been discussing — those that apply in the same-sex marriage or mosque at ground zero cases, I believe, DO equate in large part to bigotry. No, it’s not that I deem any standard that I disagree with as bigoted, but rather, any standard that triggers strife, hatred, violence, and so on — more generally, any standard that leaves any person or group out in the cold.

I disagree with the assertion that bigotry need not always result in the rejection of people. Why? Because at some level (internal thoughts or external behaviors), by its dictionary definition, bigotry ALWAYS results in rejection. It embodies intolerance,   prejudice,   extreme disapproval, harsh judgements, and so on. Indeed, none of these traits of bigotry I submit, would ever make someone to whom it is directed against, feel welcome or accepted. However, they would far more often, make them feel rejected and excluded.

You personally may not reject homosexuals due to bigoted views. If that’s true, then you are the rare exception to the rule. Indeed the most prominent homophobes that appear in the media these days become tongue-tied when they’re really pressed to explain why they hold such discriminatory and hateful views. They cite as fact, reasons that turn out to be inaccurate. For example: They exaggerate the harm a homosexual relationship might do to society as fact when there’s mounds of evidence that these types of relationships are actually good for society because they allow gays to more fully embrace their sexuality.

Now for the sake of the discussion, I’ll stipulate that what defines a bigot is more his actions than his thoughts. But since all voluntary actions start out as thought in the human animal, then there is a danger that if one harbors bigoted thoughts, then he’s more likely to act in bigoted ways than someone who does not entertain such thoughts in the first place. As a society, we can combat bigoted actions with laws. But until we’ve gone that extra step and evolved beyond bigoted thinking, we’ve not really abolished bigotry. True, bigotry can have little external manifestation. A person can have bigoted thoughts without ever displaying them outwardly. So does that mean that internally-harbored bigotry is any more justifiable or okay than acted-on bigotry? I doubt it. 

When a person decides to hold an oppressive view in the absence of corroborating evidence, this is the WORST KIND of closed-mindedness, in my humble opinion. Again, by dictionary definition, closed-mindedness results when someone is not open to other ways of thinking; whether those ways are valid or not. I hope it’s clear therefore, that closed mindedness is a necessary component of the negative sorts of dogmatism, such as bigotry.

Tom Hesley

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