Intercultural communication Essay

Prejudice The purpose of this paper is to discuss the idea that ‘prejudice can never be eliminated because it is so deeply rooted in human nature. ’ This idea seems to be accurate when reflecting on daily events, which occur in society. Most people believe that they are not prejudiced against others, but more often than not, they are prejudiced even when they are not aware of that fact. For example, it is a known fact within the criminal justice system, that members of ethic minority groups are found guilty more often in cases where there is insufficient evidence. This situation is extremely common especially when the jury is composed of Caucasians. â€Å"More diverse juries, specifically ones that include black and white members, are more likely to share information, make fewer errors in evaluating the facts, and perhaps reach fairer verdicts than all-white juries,† (MacGregor, 2006). Moreover, ethnic minorities receive longer prison sentences that Caucasians for the same criminal offenses. It is human nature to sympathize more with people who are similar to us and to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, when dealing with people who are completely different from us we are more likely to discriminate, subconsciously and sometimes consciously. â€Å"Ordinary racism is very hard to see if you are white,† (Blee, 2003). In general, America is an ethnocentric country. When Americans travel all around the world, we will notice that in most countries the people speak several languages and learning different languages is something to be proud of. However, in America, we do not want to accept other languages into the American culture. We think that the English language is somehow superior and believe that the rest of the world should try to learn ‘our’ language. Even when we do business globally, we expect our global business partners to speak English while we make no effort to learn their languages. We make comments such as ‘they drive on the wrong side of the street’. How is it that they are wrong and we are correct? We express disgust when we hear that some countries in Asia eat ‘dogs. ’ We do not realize that some cultures in Asia are disgusted with Americans because we eat ‘cows. ’ Who decided that dogs are superior to cows? Ethnocentrism often leads to danger. We misunderstand others because we can only see the world through our eyes, and we fail to realize that the problem is not the other culture. â€Å"The problem is that we do not understand and we don’t know that we don’t understand,† (Barger, 2004). I believe that the best way to lessen the negative effects prejudice is through education and personal experiences. We need to learn more about different ethnic groups, other countries and foreign languages. The most effective way is to travel to different countries. If this is not possible, we can begin by making friends with people from different cultural backgrounds and make an effort to understand their views of the world. We are becoming a global society, and in the future we will be forced to learn more about other cultures. We may even be required to learn other languages. I believe that people are more alike than different. Everyone has something in common with someone from a different ethnic group. We should make a connection. This will lead to a better understanding of others and ourselves. This will also help to reduce prejudice. References Barger, K. (2004). Ethnocentrism. What is it? Why are People Ethnocentric? What is the Problem? What Can We do About it? Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://www. iupui. edu/~anthkb/ethnocen. htm Blee, K. (2003). In C. Gill Created Equal. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://www. umc. pitt. edu/PITTMAG/summer2003/feature1. html MacGregor, H. (2006). When Diversity Adds Fairness. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://ase. tufts. edu/psychology/sommerslab/LATimes. html.