Binging on racism

Everyone has the right to criticise any religion, custom, tradition or cultural practice because there is no social progress without any criticism. But foolishly parroting the same old stereotypes isn't criticism, because real criticism first requires some knowledge.

In every society, people have prejudices. And the disturbing persistence of anti-Semitism, and other bigotry such as racism against black and Indigenous people, reveals that people usually cling to their prejudices. Although some prejudices seem harmless sometimes, they can become fatal when exploited by those in power. Someone always gets hurt.

Prejudices are like landmines; maybe we can call them social landmines. They need to be cleared.

This will require constantly challenging all kind of prejudices in our society. And the best way to clear social landmines for good is to raise compassionate children with critical thinking skills.