Prejudice is an injury due to a particular judgment. Anyone is entitled to their opinions, feelings, gut reactions, intuitions and frame of mind. However, we betray our personal prejudices to the public at large when we are biased against someone or something. We literally cannot help our prejudices. Everyone has them, despite their cries to the contrary. People cannot help but be the products of their environment and life experiences. This does not give us the right to impose those hurtful attitudes upon others - words do hurt - and for that reason alone, everyone should be aware of their own preferences when speaking publicly.

We betray our personal prejudices by fixating or dwelling on particular issues, people or groups. Most often the harder you are, the harder you fall and no amount of back-pedaling can escape the pillaring by the pundits. Once your outer shell has a crack in it, or the press corps crack it for you, nothing can put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. The best way to address your own personal prejudices are to be honest about them and own them outright.  

Like an alcoholic AA member, take ownership of who you are, what you are, who you side with and be prepared for the convoy of critics to circle their wagons around you. People in very public arenas, like journalists, should be especially aware that their personal biases are not showing. Good editors usually prevent prejudice by including exclusion by contract. Unless you are specifically encouraged to inflame others like a radio talk-jock, responsible journalists, politicians, teachers, ministers and others conveying conversations from a public podium, should make sure their near-sighted slips of the tongue are not showing.

Recently, President Obama during a press conference alluded to the U.N. Ambassador, a prominent public figure and woman of color, as an “easy target” for Congressional conservatives to question. This not only exposed the President’s inner insights about how strongly he feels about issues of race, gender and political persuasion, but may have left the U.N. Ambassador wondering what those prejudicial words meant - does this educated, successful person have the need to defend herself now?

What is worse is that Senator John McCain, who is well-respected and certainly in a position to question the credibility of any governmental public figure, forgot that even he was the target of questionable credibility when he chose Sarah Palin as a Vice-Presidential running mate years ago. It seems that having been the target of prejudice oneself, does not dampen the spirit of inflicting prejudice against others.