Prejudice
I'm racist. I'm sexist, ageist, homophobic and can get in to a righteous indignation if families with young children dare to get in to my path.
I'm not a nice person.
But then again, so few of us are. Having no prejudices is incredibly rare, and most people who will tell you that they don't have any are lying, whether or not they realise it. It's a natural thing, really. The world is so huge and vast and diverse that we have to cling to our beliefs that such-and-such an idea or a way of behaving or a way of looking is right and natural, and anything else is - well, for most of us it's just wrong. It serves a psychological purpose - it keeps us at the centre of our own universe and gives us the ability to go on from day to day without getting exasperated by the futility of it all.
When I give up work and write my great nuvvel, this will be my central theme, maybe.
17 June, 2006
