How are prejudice and bias created?
People who cannot find a reasonable answer for their problems and are in need of someone to blame create prejudice and bias. During the Nazi era, Germans were blaming Jews for all of the Fatherland’s misfortunes. The Jews were blamed for making the country lose the war, for stealing, taking money from others, being greedy and malicious. In the Boy in Striped Pajamas, Bruno’s tutor and family as portrayed Jews as unpleasant, ill-natured creatures that were at fault regarding all of Germany’s problems. Once this state of mind is established, the people being blamed persecuted and discriminated against in various forms such as dwelling separation, tags, announcements, propaganda etc.
Causes can also be classified into various sections such as: Anger. In The Boy in Striped Pajamas, Kotler expresses anger against the Jews for making his time harder, for ruining things for his country, for polluting his life and environment with their pest-like presence. Suppressed anger always leads to some sort of outburst often than not, if the end result is not controlled, it ends up being completely irrational if not “out of control” For example: People being angry for losing the war, keeping it in for so long, then going bankrupt, keeping it in, being robbed… and then comes the outburst. Who is to blame? Experience: In this case it would be fake experience. The entire Nazi party proclaimed to have, in the past been: betrayed, cheated, and deceived by the Jewish population, therefore causing a need for Jews to be separated from the rest of Germany so as to avoid the same experiences again. Take for example: Someone is attacked by a Jew on the streets: robbed of their possessions and belongings. Sometimes, this leads to developing a resentment of Jews, for fear that all of them are the same, looking out for a place where they can attack and rob you. So people decide to protect themselves from going through those experiences again, which results in isolating themselves from Jewish company and/or presence. Lack of empathy: in The Boy in Striped Pajamas, characters like the tutor, father and Kotler expressed no empathy of the situation of the Jews and were completely oblivious to their pain and suffering. The inability to feel creates a blockage between people that can then lead to things like bias, prejudice and segregation. The Nazi regime showed complete ignorance of other’s situation in the thought of: it didn’t matter or that’s fine because it’s them and not us. Lack of knowledge, in The Boy in Striped Pajamas, the tutor was completely misinformed about everything and hadn’t the least bit of knowledge about anything then what he was taught by the Nazi regime to be the truth. Father and mother didn’t know any better than to believe what the country was making them believe, therefore making them acceptant to the prejudice demonstrated in front of the Jews of Germany. Gretel didn’t know any better than to just follow what Kotler said and believe that it was correct and truthful. People supporting the isolation and bias acted blindly: in completely ignorance and in faith that what they were doing would be best for the Nation. Nobody held any knowledge whatsoever about the real cause and fixing of their issues. Fear of the unknown: In Bruno all the characters (apart from Bruno) seemed to hold (apart from loathing) a certain feeling of apprehension and dread towards the Jewish. This was, perhaps, because they feared fro the unknown, what these people were really like, what they really did and what actually happened if you let them into your lives. “If you were to find a friendly Jew, well BOY! Wouldn’t that be a first!?” Fear of difference: people who are afraid of difference create prejudice and bias, people who can’t fathom living in a place where everyone has their differences, people who fear that having diversity will bring chaos and misfortune to the world.
Culture and religion: Sometimes, the thought that one religion is superior to another can bring on discrimination and bias. In any circumstance, believing that you are better than someone else will make you treat them as someone of a lower kind, making them lesser, maybe sometimes not even human. Take the Boy in the Striped Pajamas, in the book, Judaism is looked down upon and considered something that nobody should be. Lack of open-mindedness: Nobody, whether it was in real circumstances, in the book or in any situation of unfairness and intolerance has open-mindedness. This closure of the mind, these thoughts that resonate “this is how it is and that’s that.” It becomes a giant dam, stunting any possible growth or progression and intensifying this “inevitability” that things are the way they are meant to be (with the bias and isolation.) But one of the biggest causes of widespread seclusion, chauvinism, partiality and discrimination is indoctrination. Propaganda, books, teachers, activists, speeches served as tools of indoctrination in real situations and in the book and acted as great influences to persuade people that all of this was right. All of these things are masterminds behind the beginning of bigotry and injustice towards other people. It’s just that we have to learn to think for ourselves and go against these things: we have to be like people from the Rose Blanche, like Bruno, like the Chambonnaise and all of the others who had to the courage to stand up to this.
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