Malaysian writer Rev O Young pushes back against “gay recruitment” accusations:
I believe homophobia, perhaps, is the last acceptable prejudice. Otherwise how could our effort to urge people to not discriminate against gay people be interpreted as imposing a gay lifestyle on others? Can you imagine anyone who urges people not to discriminate against women, or Chinese and Indians in Malaysia in our case, be understood and opposed as ‘imposing’ a certain lifestyle on others?
The L. A. P. knows no country.
In an interview with American Thinker, David Brog is asked the following: “Why do you think that the only acceptable prejudice seems to be a prejudice towards evangelical Christians?” He responds that people just don’t know how awesome evangelicals are:
Stereotypes are like mushrooms — they thrive in the dark. Once certain stereotypes are launched, they often persist, especially among people who don’t know anyone in the maligned group. How many racists have ever had meaningful relationships with black people? Actually knowing black people is the antidote to racism. How many anti-Semites have actually known Jews? Ignorance fuels stereotype, and knowledge combats it.
I’m a little surprised we haven’t seen this one before.
Toni Raiten-D’Antonio at HuffPo contends that appearance discrimination is the L. A. P.:
This fear, which I have seen in every person I have ever treated in my psychotherapy office or taught as a social work professor at Empire State College, is practically universal in the industrialized (and therefore media saturated) world and can become so intense that it inhibits our choices in life. This ugliphobia, as I call it, can seem irrational, but if you think about it more closely you’ll see that it is based on a fairly accurate view of society. In an age when the law and the rules of civil discourse make all other forms of prejudice taboo, it’s still okay to put down people based on their appearance. It is the last acceptable form of bigotry.
The second-to-last acceptable prejudice is bigotry against people with overly complicated hyphenated last names.
Bill Boyne of the Post-Bulletin (Rochester) points to obesity:
Obesity has been described as the “last acceptable form of prejudice” among the general public and also among the majority of health professionals.
Interestingly, he cites this status as a reason to double down on obesity prevention and treatment, taking an approach opposite to that of the fat-positive crowd.
Mormons now have a Facebook group dedicated, somewhat confusingly, to “An Essay on Religious Bias Against Mormons as one of AMERICA’S LAST ACCEPTABLE PREJUDICES” (emphasis in original):
Just as Harvard University has stirred away from its religious roots, I have witnessed a mass emigration toward the dark ages of religious intolerance in America only as it pertains to my faith. This small-mindedness aimed at Mormons is not seen among ecclesiastical entities as a whole, but has focused its aim toward one particular congregation known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This, I contend, is one of society’s last acceptable prejudices.
The essay draws explicit parallels to the true pioneer among last acceptable prejudices, anti-Catholicism.
The Schools Out Blog struggles against homophobia in British schools:
These figures stand as testimony to an issue that I’ve witnessed, day-to-day, over the space of many years: British schools are the final bastions of homophobia, which is, and has always been, at epidemic proportions. In schools where racism is unheard of and sexism is petering out, protecting the rights of gay children is perceived as an equality too far. Homophobia, in British schools, is the last acceptable prejudice.
Does everyone get the pun in the blog’s title?
Unitarian Universalist pastor Gary Bennett preached a sermon on anti-Southern bigotry:
Liberal prejudices are against three related groups: evangelicals, whom we do not give the respect of other religious groups; Southerners, whom we hold guilty of uniquely wicked views and behavior, as well as stupidity, evangelicalism and talking funny; Texans, we say, combine the wickedness and corn pone dialect of Southerners with diabolical evils all their own. Since evangelicals in our own back yard tend to be invisible to us, let’s sum all of this up as a single bigotry, the prejudice of regionalism.
Interestingly, he cites the Catholic claim, then disputes it. What a weird way to spend a Sunday morning.
Gingerism continues to put up a good fight, and those who suffer from it can find support on a dedicated blog — though it is infrequently updated and there is some indication that community infighting has been an unfortunate distraction at times.
Kip Burke, writing for the News-Reporter in Washington, Georgia, thinks it’s intolerance of Southern accents. Describing a personal encounter, he recounts standing up for himself in the face of intolerance:
“Hypocrites?” I suggested. “Blind to your own intolerance? Seems to me that you think discrimination against rural Southerners is the last acceptable prejudice in America. You came here, guests in our community, and mocked our children as hopeless and stupid little rednecks and back-country black kids, simply because you’re so prejudiced you think that being Southern means being backward and ignorant.”
I held the door open for them. “We appreciate visitors who come here with open hearts and open minds, but some folks make it clear that they just don’t belong here. In the words of the great Georgia philosopher Lewis Grizzard, ‘Delta is ready when you are.’ Good day.”
Sherill Cantrell-Brown of the Institute for Personal Growth pushes back against size discrimination:
When was the last time you were with a group of women where the issue of diet or weight didn’t come up in the first five minutes of conversation? We are a culture obsessed with weight.
Our sense of worth and self-esteem is so tightly wound up with our dress/pants size that we literally cannot stop talking, dreaming or thinking about weight. The word ‘overweight’ pisses me off; I would like to know: just whose weight am I over? I am a 42-year-old African-American woman who can honestly say that the hurtful and prejudicial remarks from people concerning my size over the years far outweigh (no pun intended) the issues I have had to deal with as a woman of color. Size Discrimination is the last acceptable prejudice. It is still okay to make fat jokes and hurtful remarks publicly without any repercussions from society. A great many people feel justified in their attitudes since ‘all fat people have to do is stop eating’. If it was that easy we would all be thin. It is much more complex than we have been led to believe.
Toward the end of the article, she advises her readers to stop dieting. I will leave any insensitive jokes about the name of the institution she’s writing for as an exercise for the reader.
The Last Acceptable Prejudice 