William Hazlitt Quote

“Prejudice is the child of ignorance.”

~ William Hazlitt


Ratings and Comments


joe, canada

superbly said!!!!

Waffler, Smith

Talking about ignorance and prejudice yesterday Limbaugh spoke about building a Japanese Hindu Temple at Pearl Harbor. Then he talked about a Japanese Buddhist Temple finally he was informed that the Japanese are Shinto.

jim k, Austin,Tx

A rare Limbaugh mistake, but never accuse the man of being ignorant. When Obama was running for election, he was promising to get the troops out of Iraq and that he would close Guantanimo within a year. Rush was one of the few voices saying that these promises would not happen while no nothing Obama supporters were swallowing all the baloney hook, line, and sinker.

Mike, Norwalk

Waffler, pretty funny, thanks for the example. Pertaining to the first quote today from Alan Barth, that being about character assassination, what does trying to assassinate the character of Rush Limbaugh (making an honest non-prejudicial error) have to do with the quote; except, the prejudice of the individual trying character assassination does demonstrate a child of ignorance.

E Archer, NYC

It is just as ignorant to be prejudiced FOR someone than to be prejudiced AGAINST someone. Stand for principle, not for or against a person. You will never hear Waffler criticize Obama, and you won't hear Rush criticize Bush, so neither are worth listening to in my book. Partisan politics is about POWER nothing more -- it is just mob tactics and furthers the idea that the truth is relative to the number of people who believe it. That is the path of endless war and strife -- exactly what the social planners are counting on.

Waffler, Smith

I was telling the truth of what Limbaugh said, in my view a man who is held in the esteem to which many hold him to show that much lack of knowledge of the world in which we live is shocking. Any reasonable person would admit that his statement showed immense ignorance. Now Jim K. says it was a rare mistake, ha, ha, ha! Jim K. also fails to know that the troops are coming out of Iraq, amazing totally amazing.

GunnyCee, Durham

I disagree. Unless one believes that ignorance is a human condition that affects us all, then that's a pretty sad commentary on human life. Prejudice is, however, a human condition. Everyone is prejudiced whether they want to admit it or not. It comes under the same concept as sin. We are all sinners in the sight of God, therefore we have no right to judge one another. But we do, don't we? Liberals, of course, won't have anything to do with concept of sin. They are too arrogant and proud to have an invisible God condemn them to sin, so therefore there is no God. You can see how ignoring the fact that we are all sinners, they also ignore the fact that we are all prejudiced. Just because we are all sinners, yes, even Billy Graham was a sinner, it doesn't mean we all go around committing heineous sins everywhere we go. It's the same with prejucices. With the exception of the professional race baiters (Jackson and Sharpton), just because we have prejudices doesn't mean we all go around spreading hate and discontent everywhere we go. One doesn't have to ignorant to commit sins just as one doesn't have to be ignorant to commit racial prejudice.

E Archer, NYC

Those defending their prejudices indeed prove their ignorance. There is a difference between truth and superstition, knowledge and belief, and principle and desire. I do not believe we are born ignorant -- yes, we are born 'uninformed,' but ignorance is the _willful_ disregard of fact. The acceptance of facts does indeed dissolve prejudices. But those who have invested a lifetime in illusion will not let go of it easily -- the lies that bind us are often too hard to face. It is easier to write someone else off, than face hard truths oneself.

Tomas, Veritas, USA

People hate themselves because few have ever felt truly loved for themselves as children. sadly, as a result we cannot help but hold hatred inside ourselves for others. Race is irrelevant. We just have not learned to meet the needs of our own children and until we do we will continue to do untold harm onto others in an never ending cycle through war, crime and and our own selfish unmet needs. The better we can truly love our children then the more they will be able to give to their own. It's all about evolution stemming from the violent beginnings of our species.

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