Bigotry

:For various famous people called Bigot, see Bigot (disambiguation).

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A bigot is a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from their own. The origin of the word in English dates back to at least 1598, via Middle French, and started with the sense of religious hypocrite, especially a woman. Today, it is considered a synonym of narrow-minded.

Related Topics:
English - 1598 - Middle French - Synonym

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Bigot is often used as pejorative term against 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 a related ideology, like racism, religion, and nationalism. Bigotry is not "intolerance," but "unreasonable intolerance". For example, some Jews may be intolerant of Nazi Anti-Semitism; that doesn't necessarily make them anti-Nazi bigots.

Related Topics:
Pejorative - Ideology - Racism - Religion - Nationalism - Jew - Nazi - Anti-Semitism

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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 ignore the fact that they threaten to undercut his prejudices. On a more extreme level, he may deny the evidence altogether. Both reactions can be classified as forms of cognitive dissonance. In some cases, the word bigot is used as an ad hominem abusive to terminate a discussion without having to consider the actual arguments voiced.

Related Topics:
Cognitive dissonance - Ad hominem abusive

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BIGOT was also a D-Day codeword, defining ultra top-secret clearance required to know details of the landing plans. Those with this knowledge were called "BIGOTed".

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