# A vast majority of people are bigots. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 19, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728 "2018-04-19T19:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/21 "2018-04-20T10:15:13Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Almost everyone is intolerant of someone or something. Indeed, but you’re not a bigot (per the OP) if you respect the right of that person to hold those views. Anyway, I have page 233 of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary open in front of me right now: > [@OED](#): > > **bigot** > > 1 A hypocritical or superstitious adherent of religion > 2 An obstinate and unreasonable adherent of a religious or other opinion; an intolerant and narrow-minded person. > > - **bigoted** _adjective_ unreasonably intolerant The last part of section 2 applies here, but not quite in the way the OP suggests. Of course, this could be an American English (or Antipodean English) vs English English thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/22 "2018-04-20T12:40:41Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > [At the Museum of Tolerance in L.A.](https://ohdizzle.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/29-new-things-visit-the-museum-of-tolerance/) > > You two doors, one for prejudiced, the other for unprejudiced. > > [sub]The one for unprejudiced does not open[/sub] > > Their point is that we all have prejudices. Some are not obvious, even to ourselves. Even if we are intelligent and enlightened enough not to let them guide how we act…they are still there. > > And that is OK…if we do not let them guide how we act. Well said. Although I’d add that the vast majority of people are subtly influenced to act on those prejudices, including bending over backwards to deny/overcompensate for their beliefs. As for the narrow definition in the OP, one would have to say that virtually all Dopers are intolerant of those with contrary opinions, especially those involving deeply held convictions.\* \*i.e. lists of best Hitchcock movies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/23 "2018-04-20T17:49:12Z")
I don’t believe “intolerant” and “bigoted” are synonyms - all bigots are intolerant, but not all intolerant people are bigots. Specifically, people who are intolerant of a specific class of people (preferably for inaccurate, illogical, or unjustified reasons) are bigots. People who are intolerant of (for example) dirty countertops aren’t bigots (at least not for that). ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/24 "2018-04-20T19:47:12Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I don’t think it’s incorrect, I don’t think it’s okay (I think the level of discourse these days is terrible), and I don’t think disagreement is the same as intolerance. I think, by the base definition, that, at least on the internet, more people are bigots than not. Even here on a moderated forum things get out of hand rather frequently. So your point is that most people on the internet in general and here on the SD forums are intolerant of others’ ideas, and your means of doing that is to invoke one definition of the word _bigot_? If that’s accurate, what are we debating here? That many people arguing on the internet are intolerant? That this intolerance is bad? That we should call all such intolerance bigoted? Further clarification would be much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![TallPoppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@TallPoppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TallPoppy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/25 "2018-04-28T03:59:34Z")
It seems like so many who proclaim “Bigot!” towards another, are often the actual bigot themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/26 "2018-04-28T20:24:38Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > So, I actually took the time to look up the dictionary definition of the word bigot: > > “A person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.” > > Based on context, I always assumed it was somebody that held prejudices against certain groups of people. The latter is how most people use it, and whether or not they use it unfairly or too often (I think both are pandemic) that’s what they typically mean, the ‘especially’ part in the Merriam-Webster definition: " especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (such as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance". It’s seldom used to mean intolerance of differing opinions. Practically everybody thinks being a ‘bigot’ is a bad thing, whereas many strongly political people nowadays think intolerance of differing political opinions is a good thing. Or else they redefine more and more _political opinions_ as ‘moral imperatives’, ie in practical terms they are intolerant of differing political opinions but think they should be intolerant of differing political opinions, because those differing ones aren’t the righteous opinions, the ones they hold. So the OP point is kind of semantic. But yeah by the first definition the internet is full of ‘bigots’ and self admitted ones as in ‘if you don’t agree with my politics you’re a hater and a bad person’. ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728/27 "2018-04-30T00:16:59Z")
I used to look down on people who make snap decisions about people based on their appearance, until I realized that this is a survival trait. Our ancestors would occasionally be walking along and suddenly see a very large unfamiliar animal. Those who made a snap decision about what to do (run away? hit it with a rock? talk to it?) had a survival advantage over those who hesitated in careful thought, reserving judgment until all facts were in. I still think it’s better to be slow to judge people but I understand why our instincts tell us to judge quickly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vast-majority-of-people-are-bigots/812728.md?page=1)