Language Pulsations: The Prejudice Against Prejudice
November 9th, 2008 | By C. Puls in Language Pulsations, Politics | No Comments »Prejudice comes from Latin prefix præ-, meaning “before,” and judicium, “judgement” —in other words, a prejudice is a “pre-judgment,” a conclusion reached prior to rational reflection. The word and the attitude it signifies have always had a bad rap; only the most ignorant reactionaries are prejudiced, never ourselves. If we do recognize our own prejudices, we view these as unavoidable vices to be eclipsed in any way possible. But I think it is time to set the record straight, because prejudices are neither inherently bad nor unnatural. We need to address this prejudice against prejudice.