Prejudices—a form of mental aberration—are a standard by which the least intelligent claim to estimate the capacities of others. And those prejudices which proceed from stupid customs, absurd fears, silly superstitions, have led to the most annoying assertions.
It is a matter of general belief, for instance, that the number 13 is unlucky, that the song of a black bird is a sign of death, that three lights bring misfortune; and the belief is not less general that persons of high birth are inevitably lacking in great intelligence. It has been decided once for all that they are unfit for intellectual work, and capable only of being pleasant company, as superficial as useless. If these persons take up any intellectual pursuit, be it the publishing of books, or devoting themselves to art, they are misjudged, there is an outcry at the unreality, the gross impossibility; for it has been decided that high birth should be a patent of incapacity.
Prejudice thus destroys beforehand the proof of intelligence and tarnishes reputation. At the same time, in the form of conventional, generally-received opinions, it overawes timid spirits.
It is in frivolous society that prejudices are most ineradicable. They creep into conversation, obtrude themselves in all their bareness and ugliness into the midst of chatter and compliments.
Even if some strong personality appears, and disposes of some prejudice, it shoots up again directly the disturber is gone. Born of folly and fear, prejudices are parasitic plants whose roots are in the brain, and which are transmitted, like an heirloom of ignorance, from one century to another.
Prejudices, so numerous in these days, fall foul of everything: art, science, law, the liberty of the individual, conscience, truth.
Is it not regarded as a fact, in certain circles, that the Jew is incapable of fine intelligence? Now, for the last twenty-five years dramatic art has given the lie flatly to such an assertion. Has not the man of science, in spite of every proof of his capacity, been attacked by prejudiced people who see in him an insulter of the Divinity?
Is not the education of the people regarded in many cases as a danger to society? Is not the creation of new laws, designed for ensuring the rights of all, considered monstrous? Now that human consciousness has developed, now that the will is being trained to righteousness, now that personal responsibility has entered our life conditions, and moral education has become rational, it is really strange to see people who claim intelligence, and who pass for well informed, accept the absurd prejudices in vogue.
Women, it must be said, are for the most part hostile to progress. Through heredity, through habit, they take up prejudices with a fervour that deludes their superficial minds. Two pernicious elements, jealousy and envy, conduce to this. Prejudiced men are no less dangerous, for, being incapable of thinking for themselves, and not willing to think through others, they are unable to correct their own errors.
My conclusion is that all slaves of prejudice should be compelled to live together, separated from the living and thinking world, until the day comes when, being no longer satisfied with themselves, they will begin to be endurable to others.