Class Video: "Paul Bloom: Can prejudice ever be a good thing?"

 Article link: Paul Bloom: Can prejudice ever be a good thing?


When I think of prejudice, my first thought is that it's a synonym for discrimination and it's reserved for people who are truly ignorant immorally biased. But Paul Bloom argues that prejudice can be completely natural and rational. Prejudice helps us to make judgments, whether they're accurate or not, and Bloom argues that if we couldn't make guesses and perceptions about things then we wouldn't survive.

On one hand, I can understand Bloom's argument. But at the end of the day, to me there's always been a difference between "judgment" and "prejudice." Maybe it's just the English nerd in me but the two have different connotations, different undertones. To me, a judgment is a guess or an idea based on one's immediate perception of something else, while prejudice is much more negative and more equal to discrimination than just a simple judgment. I can't exactly agree with Bloom when he states that prejudice is necessary to our survival because to me, being prejudiced is just being discriminatory.

Lastly, something that was really interesting to me was the study that Bloom mentioned about the many who are suffering versus the one who is suffering. The study basically proved that people are willing donate more money to a single person who is struggling somehow but they won't donate as much if they discover just how many people are struggling. This is absolutely wild to me. I feel like I'm significantly more moved to action when I realize a problem is incredibly widespread. I'd feel just as much sympathy and desire to help if I stumbled upon one person who was suffering but if there are many more people suffering with the same problem then that tells me that this is an issue that needs solving.

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