Editor explores age and latent prejudice

Connor de Bruler

Opinion editor

 I wonder if getting older entails becoming more resentful and bitter. 

     I’m not very old yet, but I’m no longer a child. As the years went by I found myself maturing in some ways: becoming more responsible and studious. I also discovered a few nasty truths about myself. The years made some things clear and other things unclear. 

     As I experienced more cultures and more points-of-view and continued to push on through life with an even keel, I found myself growing more cynical, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic and generally more curt and unpleasant. 

     I’ve always hated teachers and I’ve always hated Danish people. 

     It’s led me to accept that prejudice is a learned thing: a form of education rather than a lack of education, which implies that all people are born with bias. 

     I think living life makes it difficult to maintain one’s child-like sense of altruism. We are molded in the shape of what we see. People who stay “good” fight against the terrors they see on a daily basis. 

     Indeed, I wrestle against making hateful remarks every day, knowing all the while that my opinions are biased and without foundation.  

     Sometimes my warped sense of resentment slithers out of my flawed mind in the form of off-hand jokes, which I instantly regret for a lifetime. I once called an Italian girl a “guinea” and one of my friends a “spik.” He is not Hispanic, just for clarification. 

    I think what makes people rise above prejudice is the intelligence to accept that it is irrational and the choice not to allow the skewed views to affect everyday decision making. 

     The universe is exceptionally random, and it’s easy to want to see patterns and connections where there are none. Prejudice is simply the social application of this irrational will to connect what is ultimately un-connectable. The human brain must deal with order and categorization. Once someone has had enough random bad encounters with grocery store clerks, that person will come to hate grocery store clerks. 

     It’s just operant conditioning. 

     I’m not sure how much my prejudices are supposed to change with time. Charles Dickens was once profoundly anti-Semitic and realized his flaw very late in life.  My grandpa, on the other hand, has become very bigoted in his elderly years. 

     These ideas are not new, but they’re worth reiterating. I also think the general unhappiness with which many young people must live translates into misguided rage. 

     I’m sorry for ending the school year with such a depressing column, but I think it’s good to highlight that those of us behind the printed word are just as flawed and hateful as everyone else.