Prejudice: a precomposed mindset, a foregone conclusion, seeing something through the smallest of lenses. We all have our prejudices even though we do not like to admit it. We think we see things fairly and test both sides before coming to our well-thought-out conclusion. We tell ourselves that we are trying to see things through the eyes of the "other" side. We sometimes even rally our defenses in the event that someone will point out we are being a little too one-sided in our response.
Let us face it. We do not have even half the tools to overcome any prejudices we hold. The emotion is the first to clog our conclusion. Emotion: love, fear, and anger are too strong to make us sit and count to ten and then see where we stand and do more research.
Last year my husband and I had planned a trip to Turkey with some friends. They had gotten a "good deal" through their Catholic newsletter. Hubby and I were a little hesitant as we are not Catholic and actually not religious. We assumed it would be an overdose of the history of the Christian religion without the balance of the "other" in that area. But we also assumed we could pull away from some of the tours and balance our time with more pagan or other religious explorations. Then the war in Syria grew more intense and certain factions came right to the southern borders of Turkey. Intellectually we knew that our tour group would not go near this area, but emotionally we realized that as part of a Christian tour group we would stand out like flag wavers at a rally even in the North. There was always a slight chance that terrorism could erupt in the northern part of Turkey. Needless to say, the increase in security itself might be an issue as our tour bus went from location to location.
We cancelled our trip.
This spring we are planning a trip to France as part of a tour group. The group is non-religious and the tour is much more expensive so the travelers will all be upper middle class and mostly westerners. We are not even considering cancelling this trip in light of the now tragic terrorist activities in Paris and surrounding areas, even knowing intellectually that a rich group of tourists is just as attractive to hostage taking as a group of devout Catholics. I think this is partly because this is just a non-religious tour group, but also because France is a "western" country. France is in Europe and not the mid-east. France is more like us. We are certainly prejudice thinking we could be safer on this tour and that the uprising will not get worse than a few crazy zealots by the time we begin our travel. We have no facts to base this on. Just our prejudice and level of emotional reaction.
probably a good decision on the first...as religeous groups surely make fine targets....i would love to o to france as well and would not let that dampen my desire....i think we all have to excercise our own caution and intuition...
ReplyDeleteI feel the same, Turkey vs France, on a gut level, which to me that is a part of sensible logic.
ReplyDeleteI want to see Monet's garden.
Not just prejudices but assumptions. They get us in such trouble. You would have loved the Roman ruins in turkey, and check out the Smithsonian tours...they have one going there I believe. France arouses my prejudices. There are good AA meetings there, I loved their architecture and the Metro, but we had trouble with their prejudices against us. LOL
ReplyDeleteIf you listen to your local news, you realize no place is safe, including the streets where we live.
ReplyDeleteI visited Greece and some of its islands about 30 years ago. While there, we had the opportunity to visit Turkey but I have to admit, I was worried even then. We chose to visit another Greek island instead.
Enjoy your trip to France. I always wanted to visit Paris.
I'm so sorry to hear that you cancelled your trip to Turkey, one of our favorite destinations. We made a two week bus tour through Insight Tours. It wasn't a religious tour but religion is hard to avoid in that part of the world, and it would be a shame to do so. If you ever want to talk about traveling in Turkey, I'd be glad to discuss it with you, or you could check out the Insight Tour site for more information.
ReplyDeleteTurkey is an incredible place to visit. We went there soon after the Gulf War and it was not crowded with tourists. We had an incredible time and consider it one of our best trips ever. We also enjoyed Egypt, but times have changed since then. I can understand why you'd choose France right now.
ReplyDeleteIn my thinking, "Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home."
ReplyDeleteThe key, with the prejudices that we all have, is to see them for what they are and try to suspend judgment for the moment, looking at the situation in other ways.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that we won't ever completely overcome it.
Is it prejudice to weigh facts according to your own experiences? How else do we make decisions. What I have against Turkey right now is their political decisions which are very different than what seems okay to me. Also that they are said to be supporting ISIS. Now whether that's to keep themselves safe from them or because they agree with them, that's the question I don't have the answer to but I wouldn't reward them by going there right now-- irrespective of worrying about danger. I don't think that's prejudice though and if they change how they treat their people and who they support, I'd change how I see it. I also know those who have had second homes there and loved it-- but that was some years back when that world was less radicalized. And did my daring to say that word mean I am prejudiced? Some would say it did. :)
ReplyDeleteI think there is a big difference between an ongoing war on the border of a country you plan to visit and a single terrorist attack in a different country you plan to visit. single terrorist attacks happen everywhere, even here whereas a war is a definite constant danger. that doesn't strike me as being prejudiced, only sensible. there might have been a bit of prejudice in your reluctance to travel with a religious group. it certainly would be for me as I am prejudiced against religion, all religion. but my prejudice against religion is based on personal experience and history, not on assumptions I might have made.
ReplyDeleteMuch like Ellen stated so well, there is indeed a huge difference between the two places. France does seem to be a safer bet but no place is untouchable. We still have to live and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteIs it prejudice or a certain trust in your own instincts? But then, I would be taking a good hard look at a trip to France right now and probably be putting it off as well.
ReplyDelete...and I forgot to ask you, what's your name on Facebook? You can friend me so I can find you. :) Mage Bailey
ReplyDeleteI don't know if prejudice is exactly the right word for what you are trying to say. Bias might be better. But even so, I think you were informed by more than one factor. For one thing: you didn't seem all that keen on the trip to begin with. For another: one isolated and directed attack in an historically peaceful country does not reach the same level as a more ongoing situation in a more troubled part of the world. I do realize that Turkey is not exactly the same as Syria right now, but there is stuff going on in that general region that should give anyone pause. Mind you, I would go, given the opportunity, but certainly not with a church group.
ReplyDeletei live an hour out of Philly and have not been there at night for over 10 years. I live in the country and I don't really feel safe walking around at night here either. Our streets have become dangerous because of drugs and the easy availability of guns. Then there are all the good citizens who carry concealed weapons and we have all seen what can happen there.
ReplyDeleteTurkey is probably safer.