6 Simple Strategies for Becoming Unprejudiced

Summary

The article outlines six strategies for fostering unprejudiced behavior and fair treatment towards individuals.

Abstract

The piece titled "6 Simple Strategies for Becoming Unprejudiced" provides guidance on how to approach interactions with others in a fair and unbiased manner. It emphasizes the importance of questioning one's environment to avoid normalizing harmful behaviors, recognizing the complexity of individuals beyond a few descriptors, avoiding stereotyping entire groups, offering help to all individuals regardless of their background, treating others with respect to encourage respectful behavior in return, and refraining from hastily labeling others as hypocrites. The author acknowledges the article's alignment with the blog's egalitarian ethos and commits to continuous improvement in content alignment.

Opinions

The author suggests that while a person's environment may influence their actions, it does not excuse them; critical reflection is necessary to improve societal norms.
People should not be reduced to a handful of characteristics, as this oversimplifies their identity and can lead to incorrect assumptions.
Group generalizations are discouraged, as they can perpetuate prejudice and double standards, whether positive or negative.
The article advocates for helping individuals, including those who may have committed wrongdoings, to foster positive social change and personal growth.
Respecting others is presented as a straightforward way to encourage them to act more respectably towards you.
The author advises against quickly calling someone a hypocrite, considering that people's words and actions may not always be consistent due to various reasons such as forgetfulness or changes in opinion.
An update acknowledges that the article's tone may not fully reflect the blog's intended egalitarian message, with a promise to strive for better alignment in future content.

Here are some tips that you can use to help yourself treat people fairly and avoid double standards.

1. Question your environment

Sometimes I hear people defend someone’s actions by pointing out that they are a product of their environment. While this may be an accurate explanation, it’s not an excuse. Neglecting critical reflection should not be normalized. It can be all too easy to take what you have grown up with for granted and assume that it is the right way of doing things. Questioning it can help you realize its areas for improvement, keeping you humble while working toward a better future.

2. Don’t reduce individuals to a low number of descriptors

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Remember that people are complex. Don’t let your entire understanding of a person be limited to a few characteristics — or worse, just one characteristic. If you don’t know someone well, remember that there is a lot about them that you haven’t learned yet, so it’s too early to jump to conclusions about who they are as a person. Some people have done very bad things, but if you define the person by those actions, you will end up forgetting about good things they have done.

3. Don’t describe groups as if they’re individuals

The only exception to this is if you are referring to a requirement of being in a group. Otherwise, you promote prejudice by applying an attribute to an entire group. It’s not even good enough to add that there are some exceptions among the group, as you already manufactured an association between the group and a concept. Negatively depicting a group fosters prejudice against them, but positively depicting a group runs the risk of double standards in the group’s favour.

4. Always try to help people, no matter who they are

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Obviously, don’t do anything to let yourself get manipulated, but helping people improve is very important. It will allow you to realize that everybody has challenges and that we are all just trying to get by. It’s awful how poorly some people treat abusers, for example. Imagine where society could be if they helped the abuser realize that they are not worthless and decided to help them get over their problems instead of harassing them. Abuser or not, if you do a good job at helping someone, they will appreciate that, which may result in building positive social bonds with them.

5. If you respect others, they will act more respectable to you

It’s that simple.

6. Don’t call out people as hypocrites

You know, not everybody someone will say will be 100% consistent. They may forget other things they said, they may change their mind, or they may struggle to be as motivated as much as they once were. It makes more sense to gently mention the thing that is making the person’s words seem a bit “off,” and ask for some sort of clarification.

UPDATE TWO MONTHS LATER: Just wanted to mention that I noticed this story does not match the egalitarian tone that my blog is meant to express. This was written shortly after I created my blog, back when I didn’t have as clear of a plan for the topics it was supposed to cover. I promise I will try to do better from now on.