Difference between revisions of "Unchecked Aversion"

Revision as of 16:07, 1 November 2015

Allowing an irrational aversion to affect ones understanding or treatment of a category of people. For any number of reasons, a person may develop an aversion against a concept, and thus against people associated with that concept. Such aversions might need to be kept in check, lest they bloom into outright bigotry... or even a phobia, in the clinical sense. (In Swedish: ohämmad aversion)

When applied to a category of human beings, this is a facet of categorism.

Interactions

This facet of categorism is an expression of bigotry, leading to prejudice and discrimination.

It is likely to intersect with facets such as:

• Supremacism: Telling yourself that you are superior to the ones you dislike.
• Othering: Distancing yourself from the ones you dislike.
• Representation Bias: Letting the negative experiences grow into bigotry.

As well as with abstractions such as:

• Categorization by emotional bias: Meeting someone nice from the targeted category could be a valuable lesson that the aversion is all in your own head and not something that everyone you target deserves... but it's easier to decide that this person doesn't really count.

Examples of applying this facet to a particular foci of categorism can include:

• Sexism: Having been hurt before by men or women, one might be a bit reluctant to let someone new into one's heart. Which might spare oneself further heartache. However, nurturing this aversion too much may let it grow into outright bigotry against innocent people of the targeted gender.

Stigmatization in example texts

• Adam's homophobia: Adam doing Unchecked Aversion on the individual level by expressing his bigotry.