{"ops":[{"insert":"There is a considerable amount of talk today about the problem of prejudice and bias – especially in terms of the police and within politics. But prejudice is an intrinsic part of the workings of the human mind. Everyone is prejudiced; everyone is biased according to her or his assumptions, concepts, and perspectives. Everyone prejudges situations according to their own (usually unconscious) partialities and predispositions. This will not change substantially until we take the workings of the human mind seriously and until we each see ourselves as biased (rather than pointing to others as the ones being partial). In other words, each of us needs to see ourselves as the potential problem, rather than perceiving the other person, group or nation as the problem.\n \nFor more on the problem of prejudice, see Richard Paul’s article: "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Critical Thinking and the Nature of Prejudice "},{"insert":"at this link:\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#0563c1","link":"https://community.criticalthinking.org/viewDocument.php?doc=../content/library_for_everyone/95/Chapter11-CriticalThinkingandtheNatureofPrejudice.pdf&page=1"},"insert":"https://community.criticalthinking.org/viewDocument.php?doc=../content/library_for_everyone/95/Chapter11-CriticalThinkingandtheNatureofPrejudice.pdf&page=1"},{"insert":"\n \nFor a video that reveals the nature of prejudice in many forms, see the excellent classic movie\n"},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"12 Angry Men"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#0563c1","link":"https://www.amazon.com/12-Angry-Men-Henry-Fonda/dp/B001MLUHXQ"},"insert":"https://www.amazon.com/12-Angry-Men-Henry-Fonda/dp/B001MLUHXQ"},{"insert":"\n \nAnd after watching the movie, imagine a world in which all jurors, all police, and all social workers were required to read Paul’s article as well as watch "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"12 Angry Men"},{"insert":" before declaring a person guilty.\n \nThe problem of prejudice will always be with us, as long as we lack basic tools of criticality based in intellectual standards and intellectual virtues, to which all humans give assent, and which are highly valued in human societies. That world is a long way off.\n"}]}