Ivory Tower Egg-Head Prejudice

If you can't spell very well, or if your writing lacks punctuation, some people will not bother to read what you have to say. If your writing is really sloppy, people may take pains to misunderstand you, just to teach you a lesson. The same is true of speech - there are speech patterns that, to me, reek of a lack of education, or a knuckle-dragging unintelligent persona. Knowing that you are prejudiced is an important step in managing your prejudice. I had a fantastic 6th form History teacher (almost missed out the capital letter for the subject name there!). One day he asked the class - "Who here is racist?" understandably, nobody wanted to put their hand up. His follow up question was, "Who here is prejudiced?" Then he put up his own hand. The class (a good mixed Waikato class, about 60/40 Pakeha/Maori) were a little shocked, but he went on to calmly explain his position (obviously I'm paraphrasing here - it's been about 14 years): "If I see a person walking down the street, and they are of a particular ethnicity, or are dressed a certain way, or are listening to a particular type of music, I make assumptions about them. I can't help doing it - we all do. Now, I don't cling to those assumptions - I'm happy to change them. But if I see a huge guy wearing a gang patch and dark sunglasses, covered in tattoos, I won't start talking to him about historiography. In fact, I probably won't even make eye contact with him. I don't know that he's a dangerous guy, but my best guess is that he might be. We try to fit people into categories that we are familiar with, so we can know how to interact with them. Prejudice is not always a bad thing - especially not if you recognise it, think about it, and are prepared to change your mind as more evidence comes to hand." That was the gist, and I thought it was really refreshing to hear someone being honest about the fact that we do judge people based on how they look, that racial stereotypes exist, and that we shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that we have those reactions - as long as we control them, analyse them, and change them when we can (and it's appropriate). Now, poor punctuation or typing can make an otherwise reasonable comment come across as particularly simplistic or shallow or pig-headed. Punctuation and care in typing help to create the writer's 'voice', as is shown by the use of CAPS below: "You shouldn't believe everything he says." "You shouldn't believe EVERYTHING he says." "YOU SHOULDN'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING HE SAYS." "YUO SHOULDNT BELEIVE EVEYTHING HE SAY" I'm now going to quickly reread my post, make sure it actually says what I think it does, and check for errors. Being human, some may well still be there after proof-reading, but it will be a lot neater and more coherent than it would be had I simply typed furiously then hit publish.