How To Escape The Power Of Prejudice Series

Arturo Tosconini became famous in the world of music because

of the power of prejudice. He was a young cellist with a touring

opera company from Italy. In June of 1886 they were in the greatest

opera house in Rio de Janerio in Brazil. The house was packed with

shouting people, but what they were shouting was, "Italians go

home!" They had expected the opera to sweep Brazil like an army,

but they were like an army only in the sense that they started a fight.

The conductor of the company was the only Brazilian, and all the

rest were Italians. They had no respect for each other, and when

they got to Brazil a battle broke out. It got into the papers, and the

people came to take the conductors side against the company of

Italians. The conductor refused to conduct, and when the assistant

conductor came to the podium the crowd shouted until he left the

stage. He tried to explain to the crowd, but they just shouted him

deaf.

The tour manger was beside himself. If the opera did not go on,

the company would go broke, and may have been stranded in Brazil.

One of the singers approached him and suggested he let Tosconini

try. "He knows the opera, and he could conduct it," he said, but the

manager resisted. He said, "Tosconini is not old enough to conduct a

village band! He is a boy, a beardless bambino! They would laugh

him out or Rio." "Perhaps," answered the singer, "But what have

you got to lose?" He was right, and so as foolish as it seemed, he

called Tosconini out of the pit and told him he was going to direct the

opera. He was flabbergasted, and he did not even protest as they put

on the conductors tailcoat several sizes to big for his 17 years old

frame. He shoved the baton into his hand, and pushed him toward

the podium.

The crowd roared again, but silence fell on the auditorium when

they saw it was a mere scrawny kid. He looked more like a comedian

than a conductor. He mounted the podium and slammed shut the

score of the opera. He had memorized it completely. The crowd was

puzzled and curious. He turned toward the orchestra, the baton shot

into the air, and they exploded with the opening bars of the opera.

Because of their desperate situation the musicians played as never

before. When the curtain came down the crowd applauded, and

stood stomping their feet. They would not let Tosconini leave as he

stood there trembling and soaked in perspiration. An unknown

cellist became famous in one night.

Here was a case where the evil of prejudice became the power that

led to good for Tosconini, but in the vast majority of cases prejudice

is a destructive power. If Tosconini had not been brilliant, there

would have been only hatred between the Brazilians and Italians. He

was the mediator that brought good out of an evil situation. James is

striving to be that mediator between the different classes of

Christians of his day.

Psychologists tell us that all of us have our in-groups, and

out-groups. All of belong to certain categories, and there are others

outside of those categories, and so all of us are in a position to be

prejudiced against out-groups. You have the rich-poor, the

intellectual-ignorant, the black-white, the believer-unbeliever, and

endless others. Jesus was a victim of the power of prejudice. He was

the Son of a carpenter, and so the religious leaders considered him

one of the out-group. He did not belong to the leadership class, and

so miracles or no miracles, they crucified Him. Evidence makes no

difference when prejudice has infiltrated the soul.

Dr. Gordon W. Allport, professor of psychology at Harvard, and

past president of The American Psychological Association, says that

prejudice can become a mental disease that makes people paranoid.

This is when a person is so controlled by a false idea that no amount

of evidence can change their mind. He gives the example of a woman

who thought she was dead. The doctor was going to try and show

her by logical demonstration that she was wrong. He said, "Do dead

people bleed?" She said, "No." The doctor then said, "If I prick

your skin will you bleed?" "No, because I am dead." So he did

prick her skin, and when she saw the blood she said in surprise,

"Oh, dead people do bleed don't they?" This is an exaggerated example,

but it indicates the extent to which a false idea can become a major

power in a persons life. That is why James is so concerned to warn

his brothers in Christ of the danger of respecting persons.

James makes it clear that prejudice is a form of discrimination