ACKNOWLEDGING MY INGRAINED PREJUDICES

To preface this post, here is some seemingly random information for context: 1) my dad has decided to grow a goatee, 2) I am not a fan and that is common knowledge, 3) I’m fairly sure his main reason for doing this is to annoy me.

So, a couple of days ago, when hanging out with family, my dad said he was thinking of doing some busking to raise money for Spinal Injuries Ireland. My cousin said that he would need to dress up, wear a colourful sequin jacket etc., and I “joked” that he would need to get rid of the facial hair so people didn't think he was homeless. I didn’t think about it before I said it, and no sooner was it out of my mouth, did I feel ashamed. It was just such a privileged and ignorant thing to say. Homelessness is not a joke, particularly in a country that currently has a major housing crisis and that has a government who repeatedly shows they don’t care about poor people.

I once heard that the first thought you have is the one that you’ve been programmed to have by society, the second thought is how you really feel. I think this is true, but it’s important that we also hold ourselves accountable for those first thoughts. I’ve been thinking about it since I said it and have realised I need to do some work to really look at where that thought came from and what I can do to make sure I don’t make another comment like that in the future.

I think people often get defensive about comments like this, telling themselves that they don’t mean it in a negative way because they’re not a bigoted person, it was just a joke, meant in a light hearted way. But that’s such a privileged position to take and it doesn’t help us move past them. We have to acknowledge our own ingrained prejudices. Having these prejudices doesn't make us a bad person, growing up in the society we do, it would be a miracle if multiple biases hadn’t seeped into our minds. But in order to progress and make sure future generations don’t have the same prejudices, we need to actively work on dismantling these thought patterns within ourselves.