Where did you learn your prejudice? Where did you learn tolerance?

Hi there Handsome,
Well for me it was my grandparents. They were afraid of certain races. I always knew it was wrong even as a young child. It just felt wrong. People are people are people are people!!

I learn tolerance from my dad, prejdice if i learn it i don't remember , because i have God in my life so therefore i don't judge, good job.Thanks good article

Which Lutheran synod?

Doesn't matter. I don't think I learned prejudice in church so much as I absorbed it from the general culture - except toward Jews, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Oh, and Seventh-Day Adventists, and Roman Catholics . . .

I learned my tolerance from school, family. Predfidice...my parents to a degree...but I over-rided that & taught them tolerance!

I don't think I ever learned prejudice.

Being in Chicago, I was always going to different parts of the city for festivals and culture. My dad took me to the different museums and Gospel Fest, Blues Fest, Taste of Chicago. My mom took me to Greek Town, Boys Town, Wrigleyville, and China Town. Both parents accepted everyone.

I think I was always taught to be responsive and polite to those who were different to me. We lived in various places around the world when I was growing up. My mother's mantra was always 'Things aren't better at home, they're just different here'.

Worked for me!

I learned prejudice from my father. He used to say to me "if you come home with a black boy I will slap you".

I learned tolerance from my summers visiting my grandparents in Provincetown, MA. It is a predominantly gay community and a wonderful place to visit. I learned great things about human sexuality at an early age.

I was brought up not judging someone based on color (or anything else), but only on how they treat others, and other, more important values.

I was raised Missouri Synod in Illinois. The church didn't teach prejudice (except against the other religions - to show they were "correct") but they didn't do too much to dispel it. Most the racial prejudice came from family (that included ELCA Lutherans in Iowa).

Once my grandfather told me that when I saw a black man I was to walk up to him and kick him in the shins because "they don't like that". Of course I thought he WAS CRAZY!!!! What is a kid supposed to do with something as stupid and crazy as that??!!!! And he said that to me with a straight face!!!! He would have long talks with me about how horrible black people were and it was all stuff like that - stuff that made absolutely NO SENSE!!!!!!

yes, you are right, us to. but i think what we learn as we are young sticks in your mind. but as you get older you realize that its wrong and you start to see that though right. at least i think it is for some people anyway.

I learned tolerance from my parents, especially my mother. She was 1st generation American from European immigrants. She could not speak English upon entering school and was ridiculed. She remembers that feeling of being ostracized for being different and raised us to always put ourselves in other people's shoes in any situation. The "Do Unto Others" rule was tantamount in our house. It's hard for me now to deal with people who seem to be totally devoid of empathy, no matter what their religious beliefs are.

I'm sorry about what you had to deal with as a child. It must have been very hard to hear those things from people you loved.

I had a black room mate in college and he had been raised with super dumb things too. As a little kid some relative had told him that white people were ghosts and it had really frightened him. He believed it for awhile. We shared crazy stories like that back and forth. We just laughed and laughed at how super stupid it all was. To hear it out loud, to each other, was just too crazy!

Most prejudices are learned at home. The saying" Racism is not inherited but learned" is very correct. I grew up in an environment that never took a person's race or religion into account. It was a matter of character that really mattered. Being a musician and having music as a part of my entire life has given me a better view of the world. Music is the only true universal language. If you take a look into the lives of the extremists and radical racist you would see an ancestral heritage of intolerenace and hate.

Peter, thank God you were intelligent enough to recognize that the comments didn't make sense.

I learned prejudice from society. I found tolerance inside of me.

Interesting question, Peter. I'm sure I learned prejudice in my home and neighborhood. It was a very closed unit of society. But I can remember always being more tolerant than the rest of the family. I'm not sure how I learned that quality or if it was just something I was born with. Then, of course, the sixties happened and that just affirmed my already strong beliefs.

I learned prejudice from my father...and learned tolerance from the rest of the world. Now, if I don't like someone, it's because I don't like them as a person; not because of what kind of person they are. Now, I experience prejudice myself...and have no tolerance for those who discriminate against me.

Society has served to teach me prejudice -

Forgot to answer the second question:

My Family taught me Acceptance - I find "tolerance" to be a mis-used word in reference to the subject.

tolerance, acceptance, whatever word you want to use - you know what I mean.

I learned from situations; from having a methodist mother and a catholic father; from traveling to school on the same bus as people (all races, all colors) going to work in the factories; from walking past union picketers outside offices; from carrying the binbag full of an old lady's belongings because if I didn't someone else would, and I was there first. I never thought about prejudice and intolerance growing up, and though I'm aware of them now, in myself and others, I use the past to inform the present and try to remember I'll miss out if I don't look and listen.

Yes, I do know what you mean Peter - but words have such power which is why I brought it up - to me "tolerance" means as in we are taught to "tolerate" pain and other negative things - Acceptance is a slightly different word in that it implies an understanding of what we are to tolerate and not tolerate.. that was all, sorry to have been such a nit-picker!

Neither Jesus Christ, nor Martin Luther taught prejudice, nor would they have tolerated it. Martin Luther wanted the church to focus on the love of Christ instead of the law as it was. During the 70's, many church's were teaching the same "our way is the only way" curriculum for some reason, and those involve in civil rights struggles had many other arguments as well. None of which had much to do with the teaching of Jesus. It was based on the way that many in society felt at the time, not anything else. Unfortunately, the views of a society can inflict negative impact on the doctrine of many religeous groups, unintentionally. Many have seen the error in this, and sweeping changes have been made to include this. Unfortunately, It takes great time to affect these kind of changes.
I learned how naive I was, growing up in a Baptist church under the same kinds of teachings you talk about, when my mother moved us to a small Indiana county to get us away from Busing in Louisville because we would change schools our senior year. There wasn't even 1 black family in the county at the time. I learned acceptance from our Lord Jesus Christ. I also grew up with an Aunt with severe Cerebral Palsy, and my best friend has an artificial leg. I never liked the way some people treated them. So I had to learn a better way to treat people.

Well, um, the big epic silent film about prejudice is called "Intolerance".

(and I'm a nit picker, too, or better yet, a quibbler!)

I learned both from my grandparents. They were from a different era and German immigrants. They had a lot of preconcieved ideas about other races. They repeated them, but then I would see my grandfather (who owned a meat stand at market downtown) hug little black ladies and tell them how pretty they looked that day. He always had a smile or joke for everyone. He treated everyone the same. He would always tell someone without money that they could pay him next week. All the little things that showed me (much more than words) how much every person matters. That people deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity. I judge a person on the basis of their character and NOT their color.

Hmmm...well Peter, I'm not native to America and the film "Intolerance" was never viewed by myself in Northern Ireland, neither in school, at home on the telly nor in theatre...

Thanks for the additional response though, I'll see if it's avaiable at the local library or video store ect..

Film is one of the most important of all media for purposes of propaganda (meant in a positive way), education etalia..

Humm...this is a good question.
I was a military brat, so I grew up with all races. I don't think I ever had prejudices on any race or looked down on anyone and I still don't. My parents were not like that either. In my case~you live what you learn~
I love all races and religions and love learning about them.

I'm glad I'm an alien and don't have to go through all this pain of discovery. I think it's crazy that humans only live about 80 years. I wasn't weened until I was 150.

Then again, if I get depressed it lasts for centuries, so maybe 80 isn't so bad.

All depends on your point of view.

I hope to get my movie THE PARCHENE CONSPIRACY on the independent film channel so look for it in about 6 month. There's a lot about prejudice. It's Science Fiction and the four races involved are not very enlightened.

I love Ireland -- the dancing and the dialect -- and the people are good looking, too.

This is such interesting discussion...

I guess I learned prejudice from family and possibly school. I also learned tolerance/acceptance in the same places. I have always been one to accept people regardless of race, culture, etc. If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with reapect. I think that if everyone was like that, maybe we would have less hate in the world.

Only a few film nerds like myself have seen Intolerance - it's a silent film. I saw it in a silent film class in college.

Peter most people reading your article may follow your train of thought but words do matter especially when written. There is a huge difference between tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is often exercised through looking the other way simply ignoring something or someone. Acceptance requires being more engaged with your surroundings. Home and family introduce and encourage the development of a person's prejudice, tolerance, and acceptance. Later school, church, friends build on the foundation laid by home and family.

I started learning prejudice from the neighbors. They moved. The new neighbors were Greek. It would have added to the problem but their youngest daughter was a lonely BEAUTY. The Father was a protective Giant. Well, he wasn't really but we were in third grade. Two of the greatest shows ever, in my estimation are about prejudice and its consequences. West Side Story, and South Pacific. With a name like Peter Joseph Swanson, you better be a Lutheran. (how's that for a prejudiced remark) I had a great time with a Lutheran girl for a while, she's the mother of my three children. We split up because of prejudice, I did not approve of her choice of boyfriends.

Your question started a great discussion. Thank you. I really enjoyed reading what others have written so far. Wow.

I was introduced to prejudice by the small, rural area that I grew up in. We have alot of Amish so alot of the prejudice was directed at them. But there was plenty left over to include all other races and religions and sexual orientations. I was introduced to it but didn't agree with it. It felt wrong. I loved people and found them interesting and wanted to talk to everyone.

I found the tolerance (acceptance) inside of myself. Others above have said that too. In college, while studying the arts, my friends and I were often the ones who were not always accepted. I learned that you cannot judge people by how they look, but you must get to know what's inside of them.

Peter,

Thank you for starting this discussion. It is very enlightening, and just the kind of thing we need more of.

Great question, Peter. I learned prejudice from a couple of teachers in my exclusive elementary schooling. I learned tolerance from my mother. She never once believed that anyone was better or less than she was. She was a great example. In the end, I have learned through life to accept people as they come. It is easier to love people rather than tear them down.

Peter, I grew up in an all white neighborhood, all white schools, through the twelve grade. The Blacks lived in one small section of the town...growing up, I don't recall EVER seeing them anywhere. My folks didn't talk badly about Blacks, or others who were different than ourselves. My experience was mostly blank.

When I joined the Women's Army Corps, it was a cultural shock. Lots of different folks.

I'm back in an all white neighborhood, etc., I'm not so sure I've learned what I should have.

Peter,

Good people of all backgrounds will somehow find the goodness that lives inside, which can never be destroyed.

Most of us have been exposed to plenty of life situations to make us prejudice toward a certain group. But the "good" heart inside still found its way and survived.

There is something deep within me that tells me when I incline myself toward wrong of hurtful acts. That something--conscience maybe?-- overrides my "Not Me."

Afterwards, I,m grateful to have followed my "Real Self." I am thus, more watchful the next time around for the "Not Me" to raise its ugly head.

It was funny, in my life, my parents were too busy fighting each other, and My Dad was too busy running from me, I was too confused to know about prejudice or Tolerance, while my father was Gone, My mom was too busy struggling to get on her feet, so I was always out and about, seldom had any friends(mostly animals), when we moved into these apartments, my bestfriends were Dora(Cherokee) Yua(H'Mong), and Poa-Kay(H'Mong). I didn't even know there was a difference, other than language. Exept, the fist time I saw a black girl, it scared me because she was so dark and I'ld never seen anyone like that. But it didn't take me long to like her either. I can't remember her name, but she was very nice. Prejudice came later, when my Dad Taught me prejudice against my own mother.

Thanks for posting! I was raised in the Missouri Synod where my dad was a pastor. I got the full bore of Lutheran prejudices too. Fortunately, I learned from social interactions that there was far more to the world than Lutheran confessions! Thanks again!

My mother taight me my prejudices, and I never fully outgrew then.. Just more like I stopped remembering to notice the differences in the people around me.

I regularly don't notice wheelchairs, skin color, or anything else until after the conversation is over and we are parting ways. It's liberating!

I, unfortunately, learned a lot of prejudice from my uncle. But I learned my tolerance from being a part of the real world.