http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/opinion/can-goodness-and-prejudice-coexist.html 2016-09-29 20:37:57 Can Goodness and Prejudice Coexist? “Supporting a hatemonger like Donald Trump is — no matter how good a person you are — deplorable,” one reader says. === To the Editor: In his effort to defend his fellow conservatives, J. D. Vance (“ Most people, of all stripes, are good-hearted and want to do what’s right. That said, the dilemma for Republicans this year is that they have nominated a candidate who has built a campaign based on demonizing people who are different. He has used images of hate, refused to distance himself from self-avowed racists, incited violence and spoken in all kinds of thinly veiled bigoted code. Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, she has led a campaign that has mostly tried to appeal to people’s better instincts. Mr. Trump has gone low, then lower, at nearly every turn. I have tried to understand his supporters, and I empathize with their frustration and pain. And, despite what Mr. Vance may think, I have absolutely no illusions about my own shortcomings. But at the end of the day I think it’s most respectful to hold everyone to the same high standard of decency and kindness and responsibility; as such, I think that supporting a hatemonger like Donald Trump is — no matter how good a person you are — deplorable. DAVID T. LEVINSON Los Angeles The writer is founder and executive director of To the Editor: J. D. Vance’s well-written article brings to mind a visit to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. After tracing the history of the Holocaust, the museum focuses on the continuing existence of prejudice in our world. Visitors are introduced to various racial, ethnic and religious stereotypes through a visual presentation. Then you are asked to enter the exhibit, either through a doorway marked “Prejudiced” or the other marked “Unprejudiced.” The “Unprejudiced” door is locked. I consider myself a “liberal,” but I recognize that I, like all people, prejudge others, including Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The real challenge that we all need to work on is overcoming our own prejudices in order to create a more peaceful, loving world. Bigotry in any form is still bigotry. (Rabbi) MARTIN LAWSON San Diego To the Editor: I heartily disagree with J. D. Vance. We are spending all kinds of time and ink trying to gentrify ugliness, because these belief holders are our relatives, our neighbors or our friends. We cannot face the simple notion that these attitudes framed by Donald Trump and embraced by his followers (Mexicans are criminals, Muslims are terrorists, blacks are lazy, etc.) are simply racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, cruel and hateful. I sit in deep blue California at restaurants, social settings, bars and gatherings and listen to the things people say when they are liberated from social niceties and decorum, and I can confirm that a really disturbing number of people you would call financially comfortable and educated believe these things are true. There has always been dissatisfaction with the job, the government and so forth. What Donald Trump has tapped into is not that. He, with the aid of the media, has sought to popularize hatred. NANCY HUGHES San Francisco To the Editor: J. D. Vance essentially says, “We are all fallible mortals — cut us a little slack!” When Hillary Clinton says half of Donald Trump’s supporters hold racist, homophobic and sexist views, she is holding a mirror up for people to ask themselves whether they like what they see. Those in the basket of deplorables are entirely self-selecting. No one is forcing them to be bigots. They could get out of bed this morning and by their own simple act of will climb out of that basket. Whether compassion and decency can coexist with prejudice should not be the question. Once people are made aware that they hold prejudicial views, if they are indeed truly decent people, they will abandon those prejudices and withdraw support from those who advocate them. If they knowingly choose to cling to their prejudices, why should we continue to think of them as “decent”? CARL MEZOFF Stamford, Conn. To the Editor: J. D. Vance seems to imply that because the vast majority of people exhibit bias, then this must be something natural, part of the human condition. I could not disagree more. A visit to any diverse playground will clearly demonstrate this. Little humans are universally devoid of this aspect of the human experience. Just as no one is “born” a Christian or a Muslim or an animist, no one is “born” a racist or a bigot. These are learned behaviors, and what we can learn we can unlearn. That is the one aspect of human nature we can turn to when confronting our (learned) biases on an individual as well as societal level. DAVID DUMITRU St. Louis