Is Racism Natural?

[tablariddim]

In a previous thread (Imagine) I gave a few reasons why I don't think pacifism is a workable concept, which led to another insight which I have harboured for a number of years now, I warn you it's a sensitive subject and look forward to some interesting replies.

Pacifism is a great ideal, perhaps it's right for some of the people, some of the time, in certain contexts, but it's probably something that actually goes against fundamental human nature; survival of the fittest and all that. Which leads me to another concept. And that is, 1) that racism is indeed fundamental to human nature and that it is a ploy for survival, maybe even genetic.
2) Probably everybody, is, or has been, racist or ethnically prejudiced at some point.

[mirror]

tablariddim,

Hello. Have you ever had the opportunity to observe young children at play? It seems apparent to me that, when one year old children are left with their own devices, the color of another child's skin does not affect the social interaction of the play. It seems like a learned behavior to me, for sure.

[Malaclypse]

I can agree to a certain point with that.

I watched a special on TLC about the Neanderthals and Homo Sapians interacting with eachother in Europe.....basically Homo Sapian killing-off the Neanderthal for reasons beyond just race, granted, but the underlying theme of fear and misunderstanding are the new frontiers of a smarter and more close-minded culture aware in the present day.

[tablariddim]

Primates are, it seems, racist. It has been observed in chimpanzees attacking and killing clans of other monkeys.

I look at present day societies and I see a myriad of prejudices afflicting probably everybody. From hair-styles to music, from the cars they drive to the roads they live in, from the food they eat to their choice of magazine, it just doesn't stop. People living in cities--even small ones--feel prejudice towards certain regions of that city and the type of people that they perceive as living in them. Regions beyond that city are usually treated with light-hearted contempt, as are their inhabitants, their dialects, their apparent lack of sophistication and quaint customs. Beyond shores, this built in prejudice becomes even stronger and as we go beyond neighbouring friendly countries, to cultures which are fundamentally different to the West (for example), the prejudices become virulent.

Racism begins, when people of these distant cultures--who may stand out more because of their colour or language--decide to go to another country in search for a better standard of living, or even a holiday.
Why?
A simple answer might be, fear. Fear for their job, their house value, their childrens safety/influences; fear of change or of anything radically different to what they're already familiar with.

Whether the fears are justified or not, the fact remains.

Another reason for the fear, contempt and loathing of another race, is history! Wars! Political wars and religious wars. Previous subjugations and enslavements. Previous colonisations and exploitations. It's all recorded and each race remembers its own grievances from a baest and prejudiced viewpoint.

Racism is handed down from generation to generation
and racism begets racism.
An irony is, that 2nd generation immigrants and beyond may become just as racist as the indigenous bigots. After adopting the political styles, fashions and attitudes of their (usually more humble) parents land of choice.

Mac and Mirror---thanks for your input.

[pragmathen]

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<i>Originally posted by tablariddim</i>
I look at present day societies and I see a myriad of prejudices afflicting probably everybody. From hair-styles to music, from the cars they drive to the roads they live in, from the food they eat to their choice of magazine, it just doesn't stop.
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This is very true. Case in point: I was out playing basketball last night (ironically, inside a local church) with my brother and a couple friends. As I type this, my hair is somewhat long on top and I have a goatee trying to fill in which graces my features. I noticed, however, that some of the other guys playing would take a hard line towards me or not look or speak to me for quite a while. Since I can usually adapt to others, I opened up and eventually they were "okay" with me. Do I fault them? Of course not. Nothing was said in a belligerent manner and it was just basketball after all. But the point is that <i>difference</i> is initially very unpalatable to a homogenous culture. It could be that they were prejudice against my hair and goatee (since no one else, save my brother, had facial hair or even long hair), or it could be that they didn't care one way or the other. But, it was easy to tell that I made them uncomfortable at first, until they realized that my mind was in the game and not according to their stereotypes.

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People living in cities--even small ones--feel prejudice towards certain regions of that city and the type of people that they perceive as living in them...
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Even as I write this, I'm resorting to stereotypes ... But, has anyone ever met a born-and-bred Texan that <i>wasn't</i> obnoxious about their home state? If someone puts down California, I don't get all riled up, because I just think they had a bad experience there or something. But other Californians will, or Texans, or Australians. "Better not say anything about [fill in your homeland here], or I'll ..." They'll what? Get offended? Why? Because they don't want others to stereotype <i>them</i> based on where they come from. The mindset becomes the Me vs. You (<i>cf <b>tiassa</b></i>). Get a group of people together and, pretty much no matter what they thought about each other in the beginning, ask which country so-and-so is from and, more likely than not, you'll get people from the same location. Thus, these same people will, in turn, congregate and discuss their respective common denominator. Moreover, the mob mentality comes into play and turns them against the other groups, especially those that are solitary. It's a known fact that Provo-ites (where I'm from) and Salt Lake City-ites (about sixty miles away) are viewed quite differently. Provo is considered to be extremely conservative, while Salt Lake is considered to be extremely liberal. It's easy to see the Provo girl's expression change when confronted with a Salt Lake City-ite. As <b>tablariddim</b> pointed out, this is quite rampant.

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Racism begins, when people of these distant cultures--who may stand out more because of their colour or language--decide to go to another country in search for a better standard of living, or even a holiday.
Why?
A simple answer might be, fear. Fear for their job, their house value, their childrens safety/influences; fear of change or of anything radically different to what they're already familiar with.
<hr>
</blockquote>

When I was in Japan, I noticed that the Japanese were extremely weary of blacks. They considered them to be either sex gods or untrustworthy. In fact, I met a black man in Japan and spoke a bit with him. I found him to be quite sociable, very modest, and an overall cheerful attitude. Unfortunately for him, he had married into that religion where a Reverend Moon performs a mass wedding ceremony and links together different cultures regardless of any knowledge of the cultures. In this man's case, he was married to a Japanese woman who spoke no English (and his Japanese was rudimentary at best), whose parents despised him (and sometimes hit him with their canes), and he could not find a job due to his skin color. He had expected things to be different. Unfortunately, he was a "different" variable thrust into a homogenous culture. Another thing about Japan is that, sometimes people will look at different cultures and say, "They all look the same to me." This is a statement which tries to automatically distance the speaker from understanding a different culture. The Japanese look as diverse to me as Americans.

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Another reason for the fear, contempt and loathing of another race, is history! Wars! Political wars and religious wars. Previous subjugations and enslavements. Previous colonisations and exploitations. It's all recorded and each race remembers its own grievances from a baest and prejudiced viewpoint.
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</blockquote>

When I was in junior high school in California, I had one of my first memorable encounters with blatant racism. Without naming names, a group of friends of mine (self-described geeks) were out walking around the grounds. Another cultural group came up and basically coerced one of my friends to kiss his shoe in front of everyone (it was lunch). Thankfully, I didn't have to do anything. Despite this experience, I still maintain that the only thing I'm severely prejudiced against is stupidity.

So, whether we want to or not, chances are very good in our favour that we'll tend towards others like ourself. People seek to be different, but eventually even being different becomes the norm. I would say the point to consider is to try to judge and group others based on one specific system. For me, I like to hang around with people that aren't afraid to question or to ramble or to study or to read. People that are stagnant in life earn my eternal intolerance.

Not exactly cheery, but it does get the point across.

yoroshiku (regards),

prag

[piffi]

:rolleyes:
I think racism comes from two sources. One, which pertains to blacks, is more of a case-sensitive type scenario. It seems to me that when the Europeans came to africa, they saw the color of the africans skin, which was also the color of dirt and fecses and the color of their skin when they were dirty, and drew some inapropriate conclusions. It just kind of eveolved from there.

next is religion. i think the mindset of religion, which is that you should stay within your own group because it is surperior, contributes to unneccessary hostility to outward forces. People just didnt understand that other people felt the same as them about their surperiority, and became arrogant. Racism, always, is mutual. Blacks have never liked whites as whites have never liked blacks. (sorry 4 the stereotype)

[WildBlueYonder]

Originally posted by mirror
tablariddim,

Hello. Have you ever had the opportunity to observe young children at play? It seems apparent to me that, when one year old children are left with their own devices, the color of another child's skin does not affect the social interaction of the play. It seems like a learned behavior to me, for sure.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, having grown up in racially & ethnically diverse neighborhoods. And seeing kids of all backgrounds play together. I do feel though, that racists ideas & ideals may spring from our 'bonding' response to our parents (who are exactly like us), and then gets aggravated in our teen years, by our wanting to 'belong' to a group (usually like us and not like 'them').

[wet1]

Originally posted by mirror
tablariddim,

Hello. Have you ever had the opportunity to observe young children at play? It seems apparent to me that, when one year old children are left with their own devices, the color of another child's skin does not affect the social interaction of the play. It seems like a learned behavior to me, for sure.

To draw upon my own childhood...
I remember playing with others, who were of different racial makeup. I look back today and remember that there wasn't a problem as to who was what. Wasn't important.

I am now adult, and to me it still isn't a problem, (in the sense that it isn't an issue). The problem comes usually that someone else has a beef and will want to draw you in for support to their side. Many of my co-workers aren't of my race. So what? They get the job done, I can depend on them, they can depend on me. Their points of view are valid and their concerns are very often my concerns. So what is the issue? So they are different...yet they are not.

[Corp.Hudson]

Children aren't able to make racial distinctions until age 3.

Just an interesting tidbit.

[wet1]

I will take your word for it That has not been an area I have studied much in. ...and you are right it is interesting.

[Chagur]

Corp.Hudson

Don't agree that Children aren't able to make racial distinctions until age 3. If what you meant was that children don't associate racial stereotypes, that's one thing; but children are quite capable noticing difference, even as infants, and skin color, the most obvious 'racial difference' is something that they are quite aware of. Unlike adults they just don't associate a whole bunch of garbage to the difference - but they soon learn to.

[Corp.Hudson]

Actually, children arent even aware of their own appearance for the most part until around age 3.

Having no self image, children are unable to impose racial distinctions on other, not knowing what they themselves look like.

[thecurly1]

Racism WAS a very important quality to human evolution. This will be a long reply to just brace yourselves. First, humans are an intresting species. Being a concious, and intelligent species we are able to identify ourselves, and recongnize that even there are others of race that they are still belonging to the human race. Coming out of Africa, we were one race, then we spread to all corners of the globe, affected by different enviroments, we begain to look different, as well as develope different customs and languages.

In the early days of humanity, racism was a good thing because we were tribal animals. If you saw something, or someone to be more exact different than you, they weren't part of the pack, and proved to be a threat to you and your family. Thats where racism began, so we hated other sub-divisons of humanity.

I noticed posts on that it couldn't be a natural thing to humans. Half right and wrong. It was an evolutionary program inside us, but now with hundreds of years of society intermingiling with other races the evolutionary process is gone, replaced with an intellecutal one. (I don't like using the word intellecutal with anything concerning racism). Young children supposidly don't care about race when they are young. Which is true. Most racism is now inherited by older members of society, which teach children the wrong thing.

To conclude, racism was natural millions of years ago, but now that we depend and live with other racial groups, I think we've replaced the evolutionary fear, with an conscious one. Both shouldn't exist in the new century. I'll be starting another spin-off thread on this. Please respond.

DIDN'T SPELL CHECK, DON'T CARE.

[Chagur]

Corp.Hudson,

Have you ever had any kids? And if so, were you around to watch them grow up?

Had to ask after reading your last post.

[Corp.Hudson]

No, I dont have kids.

I have been around to watch 2 sisters and a brother (all of which are over 10 years younger then I am), and I have observed this.

Also, a study came out a while back showing the same thing...damn, I wish that I could remember who published it...I will look.

[ripleofdeath]

what is natural?
...
capitalism?

groove on all :)

[thecurly1]

Ripleofdeath, that made no sense!

[ripleofdeath]

thecurly1
mental illnes takes many forms!
sometimes we call it rascism
sometimes we call it a work-a-holic
sometimes we call it communism/capitalism
sometimes we just want to not care anymore!(some people)

and very, very occasionaly we do something that is for the major benefit of someone other than our selfs, to attempt to cure ....
our mental illnes.

:D
groove on all :)

[gardenofdreams]

Pacifism is workable on an individual level, but for it to truly work everyone would obviously have to adopt to that philosophy. I think we would truly evolve to the next step together as a race if that could happen. We would become wiser and peaceful and have a great understanding in how to deal with each other much better :)

[gardenofdreams]

Could humans not rebel against survival of the fittest and go for survival of love together as a human race?

[Simon Anders]

In a previous thread (Imagine) I gave a few reasons why I don't think pacifism is a workable concept, which led to another insight which I have harboured for a number of years now, I warn you it's a sensitive subject and look forward to some interesting replies.

Pacifism is a great ideal, perhaps it's right for some of the people, some of the time, in certain contexts, but it's probably something that actually goes against fundamental human nature; survival of the fittest and all that. Which leads me to another concept. And that is, 1) that racism is indeed fundamental to human nature and that it is a ploy for survival, maybe even genetic.
2) Probably everybody, is, or has been, racist or ethnically prejudiced at some point.

I don't think racism is natural. It never remotely occured to me as a kid in the multi-culti neighborhood I was in. I did not reel back when first meeting a black child only to be educated that despite his skin color he was like me and OK.

Further, racism generally comes with texts, ideas, rumours, stories, jokes, speeches. You have to get people to think that way. You have to work at it. And parents, generally, need to get that manipulation train rolling.

It takes a lot of propaganda to not see a human as a human.

[DARK_LORD]

Racism is a learned behavior.It starts with superiority complexes that result from ones upbringing,associations and lack of confidence.Racism usually results from individuals with a subconcious unawareness feeling of inferiority.From the beginning of times to now babies know not much!!!.What makes up racism is the upbringing whether taught to hate or feeling out of place or weaker than individuals.

For example

It was a heated debate surrounding why men of African decent tend to have superior physical strength,stamina,speed(not always but common).That is due to the muscle twitch fibers and the bone structure being some 15-20 in some cases 30 percent thicker than many of other backgrounds.That is enough to cause a male/female of another race to feel inferior therefore developing a prejudice,dislike for that individual which turns to using what he/she is superior at and using it to place yourself over them.

For blacks,if you have whites who are highly educated in the burbs the ghetto which has a high percentage of drop-outs can develop a feeling of inferiority which turns to using what he/she is superior at and using it to feel better than the individual they are unaware they feel inferior towards.

That is not innate at all.It is your upbringing,associations and i feel alot of parents or legal guardians can do alot better with raising our young and many have which is why so many of our youth are growing in societies without the prejudice feelings.They see human beings and are often confused when they observe someone disliking someone else because the color of there skin.I know plenty of white people who have become outraged that there children have approached them confused as to why someone they met expressed a dislike for another person because of skin color.They do not teach there children hate at all and do not want them associating with individuals who thrive on hate.

[Diode-Man]

Could humans not rebel against survival of the fittest and go for survival of love together as a human race?

If only... Here on Earth our souls are tested. If we all worked together... Then it wouldn't be Earth and everything would be easy, we'd have to rename it "Heaven Haven."

:shrug:

[Betrayer0fHope]

Stereotyping is.

[Dr Lou Natic]

The "kids aren't racist" argument doesn't prove anything, that's like saying it's unnatural for cheetahs to not have a big white mohawk down their back because the cubs do.
It could be a natural instinct that manifests later in life, like the urge to have sex, or countless other things.
Instincts don't have to be exhibitted in babies, that's inane bullshit perpetuated by people who don't understand how instincts work.

It wouldn't be wise evolutionarily speaking for a small child to be racist, they can't fight for shit so it will only cause them trouble, even a baby lion will lick your face and play with you. It's still their natural instinct to eat you when they get older, partially learned as well. Instinct and learned behaviour aren't mutually exclusive, for mammals instincts naturally require training and practice to reach their full rightfull natural level of prominence.

Ofcourse it is natural for people, which are very visual animals, to use how different other people look from them and their family to subconsciously decide whether they are to be trusted or not.
It's something most of us try to suppress, and an instinct that might even be very much shrivelled back in many people to a vestigial nub.
But racism is still definately a natural attribute, not something invented by some new age equivalent of 'satan' pervading society (what do we call satan these days? Oh that's right, "the media").

Just look at whenever people don't care about being PC, how they act. IE, look at prisons, there is not a prison on this earth that isn't divided by racial lines. Why? because they don't give a shit any more about appropriate behaviour for decent society, they've regressed to a natural animal state, and what we as humans do in these circumstances is find people that look like us to be in a tribe with and establish rivalries with people who don't look like us.

Not only is this the natural behaviour of humans, it's undoubtedly the nature of living organisms in general, it's the behavioural mechanism which spurs speciation. 1 population splits in two but remain the same species, what keeps them separated long enough to eventually become different species would be a natural inhibition to mix with those of the same species which are different from themselves.

[Simon Anders]

The "kids aren't racist" argument doesn't prove anything, that's like saying it's unnatural for cheetahs to not have a big white mohawk down their back because the cubs do.
It could be a natural instinct that manifests later in life, like the urge to have sex, or countless other things.
Instincts don't have to be exhibitted in babies, that's inane bullshit perpetuated by people who don't understand how instincts work.

Many instinctive fears are present in children. I don't think the mohawk analogy or the sexual interest ones work as counterarguments. Teenagers have gone through changes specifically in their sexual systems and there are good reasons for very young children not to be mature sexually. I can see no reason why fears around race - or, literally, differences in appearance - would be delayed.

It wouldn't be wise evolutionarily speaking for a small child to be racist, they can't fight fight for shit so it will only cause them trouble,

Natural fears are to help one avoid danger. Children should also be afraid of 'dangerous' things. It was at 10 or older when some of the propaganda began confusing me about other races. There is no reason for nature to delay a fear like that. Children can run away.


even a baby lion will lick your face and play with you. It's still their natural instinct to eat you when they get older, partially learned as well. Instinct and learned behaviour aren't mutually exclusive, for mammals instincts naturally require training and practice to reach their full rightfull natural level of prominence. This seems like an argument for nurture.

Just look at whenever people don't care about being PC, how they act.
When I've been to places where few or no whites had been, the reaction was curiosity. Sure, some caution. No hate - and hell, rumous should have put them on their guard.


IE, look at prisons, there is not a prison on this earth that isn't divided by racial lines. Why? Prison is not a natural environment. The amount of culture that goes into prison culture is tremendous. It is not as if the closing of the prison doors eliminates culture.

Not only is this the natural behaviour of humans, it's undoubtedly the nature of living organisms in general, it's the behavioural mechanism which spurs speciation. 1 population splits in two but remain the same species, what keeps them separated long enough to eventually become different species would be a natural inhibition to mix with those of the same species which are different from themselves. Well, tell it to the shapers of the miscegination laws, cause they sure thought nature might bring those races together. And time is arguing against your hypothesis. I see mixing everywhere.

[Pandaemoni]

This...was a prodigious necro.

IMO racism is "natural" in the sense that we are naturally inclined to form groups and then bind ourselves to them. "Race" is a particularly convenient group because it tends to be so obvious.

My suspicion, though, is that kids raised entirely amongst members of another race would identify *that* race as their peer group and be racist to members of his own race. As such, the "racism" is more a way we draw distinctions between "our people" and "outsiders" and we tend to react negatively to the latter. We then invent complicated rationalizations to justify our position, because "funny feelings" are not something we like to rely on.

I doubt that we have it genetically coded in us to defend the promulgation of our race (on the theory, presumably, that those genes are "more like mine"), since "race" is not all that old in the grand evolutionary scheme.

[Betrayer0fHope]

We have a need to belong.

[CutsieMarie89]

Wouldn't 'racism' from a natural or evolutionary stand point be self defeating. If people have a natural aversion to people who are genetically different than they are? I thought that's what all of the studies with women preferring certain mates by smell. the men that differed the most from the woman genetically was more likely to have a pleasing smell to the woman or why siblings generally do not find one another sexually attractive, because they carry most of the same genes (there's a whole bunch of other studies like this too). So if nature prefers diversity, racism does nothing to further it. If you only mated within your race chances are you would all eventually share the same genes which decreases the chance for natural selection and all that jazz.

[Betrayer0fHope]

We have a need to belong. I'm not sure how much sense that makes from an evolutionary stand point, but it makes some sense. We try to be around others like us for something, probably about survival.

[gardenofdreams]

If only... Here on Earth our souls are tested. If we all worked together... Then it wouldn't be Earth and everything would be easy, we'd have to rename it "Heaven Haven."

Our souls are only tested if we give into it. After all our conscious mind is so much more powerful that we give it, we could change it at any time if we only knew the power we have.

Earth would be easy? I'm not sure in what way you mean, no challenges? If that's what you mean then yes challenges can be good, but it doesn't mean they have to be a race issue, after all we're just talking about pigment or a particular lifestyle, its just down to understanding and respecting differences amongst the diversity that nature has given us. To me some of the posts on here saying that racism is natural is a bit of a contradiction as nature is diverse, its more to do with our conditioning through education and lifestyle that we are often ignorant or unaccepting of other races.

[visceral_instinct]

I remember first meeting my sister's boyfriend, who was black (I'm white), aged about 2/3.

My first thought was 'Oh wow, he's got really pretty skin.'

[OilIsMastery]

Racism is natural for morons. Thomas Sowell and Clarence Thomas are black geniuses and I could show you some white people on this board who are dumber than amoebas.

[DeepThought]

Racism is a clever foil against which a number of social programs and legislation are used by post-colonial Western governments in an effort to integrate and homogenize their populations after Empire, mainly to meet the needs of the expanding free market.

One should never make the mistake, however, that anti-racist sentiment in the West equates to some now irreversible socio-historical course that we are on. In times of economic hardship such sentiments will rapidly evaporate, demonstrating their shallow and insincere origins.

[kmguru]

It is not the racism, it is the differential...which is an acquired syndrom. Like in Iraq, they are same people divided by religion. I am sure there is discrimination in Japan, which is, from outside perspective, the most homogeneous group of people.....

Black, Browns and Whites have obvious visual differences that children ignore....

[DeepThought]

The "kids aren't racist" argument doesn't prove anything,


I agree.

Until children are socialized they are little more than animals. They will shit and piss everywhere just like any animal - they have to be broken in through potty training.

Discrimination is the hallmark of civilized man, without it we are little more than savages.

[JDawg]

Discrimination based on race is a product of society, not an instinctual human trait.

That's why there is so little of it today compared to 60 years ago; neighborhoods today are far more multi-cultural.

[DeepThought]

Discrimination based on race is a product of society, not an instinctual human trait.


Races were created by nature, not society.

When a pale skinned person goes in the sun his skin may burn, regardless of society's opinions.

That's why there is so little of it today compared to 60 years ago; neighborhoods today are far more multi-cultural.


Now, this is society's doing.

[Ganymede]

100 years from now there will be no such thing as race.

[Simon Anders]

I agree.

Until children are socialized they are little more than animals. They will shit and piss everywhere just like any animal - they have to be broken in through potty training.

Discrimination is the hallmark of civilized man, without it we are little more than savages.

I am not sure if this was facetious or straight but I think it works better as the former and it had me laughing.

[Zephyr]

Humans are part of nature. Whatever humans do is natural. It is natural for some humans to be racist. It is also natural for some humans to transcend racism.

[Simon Anders]

Serial killing is then natural. As long as the set is inclusive, I can agree.

[epiman]

It is deffinitely natural. It is a natural instinct to isolate yourself with people who look like and act like you.

[Simon Anders]

It is deffinitely natural. It is a natural instinct to isolate yourself with people who look like and act like you.

If it is so natural why is there so much literature, speeches, manipulation, cartoons, jokes within primarily certain proselytizing groups? Why does it seem like people need to be convinced? Why are things like economic depressions seen as opportunities for racist demagogues?

[VossistArts]

Racism WAS a very important quality to human evolution. This will be a long reply to just brace yourselves. First, humans are an intresting species. Being a concious, and intelligent species we are able to identify ourselves, and recongnize that even there are others of race that they are still belonging to the human race. Coming out of Africa, we were one race, then we spread to all corners of the globe, affected by different enviroments, we begain to look different, as well as develope different customs and languages.

In the early days of humanity, racism was a good thing because we were tribal animals. If you saw something, or someone to be more exact different than you, they weren't part of the pack, and proved to be a threat to you and your family. Thats where racism began, so we hated other sub-divisons of humanity.

I noticed posts on that it couldn't be a natural thing to humans. Half right and wrong. It was an evolutionary program inside us, but now with hundreds of years of society intermingiling with other races the evolutionary process is gone, replaced with an intellecutal one. (I don't like using the word intellecutal with anything concerning racism). Young children supposidly don't care about race when they are young. Which is true. Most racism is now inherited by older members of society, which teach children the wrong thing.

To conclude, racism was natural millions of years ago, but now that we depend and live with other racial groups, I think we've replaced the evolutionary fear, with an conscious one. Both shouldn't exist in the new century. I'll be starting another spin-off thread on this. Please respond.

DIDN'T SPELL CHECK, DON'T CARE.


I'm down with that.

Seeing people who are of difference race and color is unavoidable if you can see. Recognizing the differences seen as being racial differences clearly is something learned. At that point its not necessarily a negative thing. Racial prejudice on the other hand, even if it does have it roots in a million year old survival function, at this point and time, can be almost entirely attributed to ignorance.

[flameofanor5]

There are always groups of idiots who are racist. Human's naturally hate something, but it really doesn't make it right.

[swarm]

tablariddim but it's probably something that actually goes against fundamental human nature; survival of the fittest and all that.

"Fittest" is the most misunderstood word in evolution. Think of it more in terms of the best fit. Nothing in particular is "fitter" than anything else. It just a matter of do you fit your environment and conditions well? And the only measure is surviving long enough to have ospring generation after generation. If pacifists fit better than war mongers, they are the fittest. If conditions change then maybe they aren't. The problem with "social darwinists" is they think their agenda represents the fittest, but there are no agendas in evolution. It is just survival and reproduction.

[swarm]

Simon Anders Why are things like economic depressions seen as opportunities for racist demagogues?

The atmosphere of fear, frustration and concern for the future is easily harnessed into hatred of weak out groups.