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Home > Bigot


Bigot is a pejorative term for a person who is obstinately devoted to their prejudices even when these prejudices are challenged, often engaging these prejudices in a rude and intolerant manner. Forms of bigotry may have an related ideology, like racism and nationalism.

Bigotry is not "intolerance," but "unreasonable intolerance." Jews are understandably intolerant of Nazi Anti-Semitism; that doesn't necessarily make them anti-Nazi bigots.

As a twist on a classic example: A bigot may be a person who is of the firm belief that people who live in the southern United States are collectively uneducated, racist, intolerant of progressive politics, and unable to speak in a natural accent that does not involve a nasal drawl.

A bigot will continue to hold these opinions even when confronted with evidence that challenges such stereotypes. To protect his views, he may either dismiss the challenges he encounters as an aberration to the norm and trivialize the fact that they threaten to undercut his prejudices. On a more extreme level, he may deny the evidence altogether ("You're from Georgia. We know you don't really sound like that"). Both reactions can be classified as forms of cognitive dissonance.

See also: zealot, partisan

English phrases Nazism Fascism Anti-Semitism

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