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Comment by stcredzero | Hacker News Reader

When prejudice reveals itself, costing you nothing, it's a time to be thankful. However, the prejudiced shouldn't be vilified as somehow subhuman. When you do that, you're taking a simple token and using it to lay a reductive judgment on a complex person. In other words, you are engaging in a form of prejudice yourself.

Grandparents watching Fox News or saying something racist over Thanksgiving dinner doesn't make them horrible people or evil. They are a product of their time, as are you. This doesn't excuse their behavior, but it doesn't by itself render them subhuman or worthy of hate.

Prejudice is best counteracted by engagement, commerce, and exposure. The vilification of political enemies in the US was understandable given some of the truly horrific things done as recently the 20th century. Today's 1st world should be a different place.

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Grandparents are a product of their time? This is deep. I have to admit that I know people that are racist and they are not horrible or evil -- just wrong. And, some are old and some are young.

> the prejudiced shouldn't be vilified as somehow subhuman. When you do that, you're taking a simple token and using it to lay a reductive judgment on a complex person.

I didn't say they were subhuman or monsters, I said they were assholes. And they are, they are no different than the guy who cuts you off on the way to work. And yes, they should be ridiculed for it.

> saying something racist over Thanksgiving dinner doesn't make them horrible people

Yes, it does. It is basically the definition of horrible people.

> you are engaging in a form of prejudice yourself.

Nope. A prejudice is "preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience." I called the author an asshole based on their writings and actions. I will call my FIL an racist asshole when he spouts racist remarks. I didn't say everyone in the US South is a racist.

A prejudice is "preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience." I called the author an asshole based on their writings and actions.

This is "technically correct" in a naive sense, if you assume groupings of people and attributes like "asshole" can be treated like mathematical sets. I find that the hair-trigger and reductive application of pejorative labels anti-intellectual, divisive, and counter productive. It takes very little cognition to do such simple pattern matching and it cuts off any involved discussion. Often, the real motivation is self-aggrandizing at the expense of others. It is one of the pernicious behaviors I've often seen in bigots, who will also argue their "technical correctness" and cite examples to assert that their labeling is based on "reason or actual experience."

The real act of righteousness and courage is to live with people.

I see you only mentioned Fox News. You do know CNN and MSNBC are horribly biased as well.

I was writing for the majority HN crowd. (I utilize what seem to be trivial prejudices in my writing to keep it shorter. In reality, those prejudices are just as bad. Don't vilify, though!)

How does arguing over which news provider is more biased contribute anything to the argument you're responding to? All news outlets are biased. Fox is known by many people for taking it to an unrelenting extreme and it's perfectly acceptable to use them as an example of such without listing ten more networks.

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