Is Prejudice rational?

[Soul]

ok this is a question i got a while ago at school, the homeworks was done weeks ago so i feel it's time to unleash it all to you here it is:

'Is a prejudice reasonable/rational providing it does not lead to discrimination?' Please don't just put one word answers e.g. Yes or no because we don't really get anywhere with that, so take it away Naruto fans.

I personally feel that Prejudice is a good thing, in the sense that it tells us to avoid dangerous figures etc.

[JackpottJinchuuriki]

r u serious?? prejudice is bad no matter what.
making assumptions b4 u even kno anything....stuff like ends up leading 2 discrimination anyway!! prejudice is wrong, and its a totally bad thing and people who perform prejudice acts r mean and judgemental

[PriscillaXOXOXOX]

This kind of remins me of the movie Crash, where the lady didn't want to be prejudice and walk away from the two back guys, but she ended up being robbed because of it. And where I live, YOU HAVE to be prejudice, I dare someone walk down the street thinking nothings going to happen where ever you walk, hahaha, I think Prejudice is ok.

[majinsharingan]

Nope.
It's stupid.
Although it's completely rational.
One way or the other it leads to discrimination.

[KaitouSai100]

But Soul's description of this topic specifically states 'if it doesn't lead to discrimination.' If it's in that case, I find it completely rational.

[majinsharingan]

It leads to discrimination either way.

[HinataCuddle]

The question is mis-placed in my opinion.
Prejudice always leads to discrimination, so the sentence "providing it does not lead to discrimination" is undefined in this context.
What instead doesn't lead to discrimination is following one's "gut feelings" (such as staying away from menacing people in a dark alley), and it doesn't lead to discrimination only if taking decisions on this "gut feeling" only affects one's own life.
Decisions which instead affect whole groups of people (laws, regulations, rules of conduct) should instead never be biased by any kind of prejudice.

[PriscillaXOXOXOX]

well I think it's good to judge when you look at someone, it's saved me on more then one occasion.

[HinataCuddle]

well I think it's good to judge when you look at someone, it's saved me on more then one occasion.

It's not just good. It's vital. It's something we've had since when we lived on our instincts thousands of years ago. And it helps us today as well.
But, as I said, it's all good if acting on our instincts affects just our own life. When we take decisions that affect many people, gut feelings and instincts should be kept at bay and analysed. We've come a long way since we lived in caves, after all.

[PriscillaXOXOXOX]

^Ooooo! Good argument:) But yeah, like i said before it's really, really imprtant where i live. At my school, you really hav to judge people, i mean, people will just ask you a question just to steal your phone. No lie, it helps me, i think judging is good.

[riarojr]

prejudice is a completely natrual method of avoiding danger....an evolutionary spidey-sense if you will. while i'd love to sit here and say you should ALWAYS get to know the person first the fact of the matter is that sometimes if i get a bad vibe off someone i just steer clear, at least for a while. but then again there are no generalities with my vibes it's all individual.

anyways it's truly essential to survival and the problem only really comes when it is taught and gets out of hand going against groups of people because of one observed.....hell, most of the time it's just founded on word of mouth.....