I was trying to explain a broader social pattern into which I see his [i.e. mine—V.] behavior falling, to the person who’d expressed skepticism about his concerns.
For someone who wields the word “prejudice” as derogatory, you tend to assume an awful lot about people whom you don’t know at all except for a few paragraphs of their writing about impersonal and abstract topics.
I’m not “wielding” the word prejudice; it’s not a weapon. Also, in the above case I’m very specifically referring to prejudice as a phenomenon, and it being something less acceptable to signal—not saying that anything I don’t like qualifies as prejudice. I’m using a specific noun with a pretty basic definition—not suggesting that any particular set of statements is a case example.
For someone who wields the word “prejudice” as derogatory, you tend to assume an awful lot about people whom you don’t know at all except for a few paragraphs of their writing about impersonal and abstract topics.
I’m not “wielding” the word prejudice; it’s not a weapon. Also, in the above case I’m very specifically referring to prejudice as a phenomenon, and it being something less acceptable to signal—not saying that anything I don’t like qualifies as prejudice. I’m using a specific noun with a pretty basic definition—not suggesting that any particular set of statements is a case example.
It is a weapon. It is routinely and regularly used to destroy people’s lives, work, and careers.