I think most of that is true, (born in 1959 myself), but I’m not remembering them being such happy days. Maybe less well informed days would be a better way to put it; before we had instant news of every bad thing happening, we lived in a kind of blissful ignorance.
Everyone on earth is racist, make no mistake. It’s hardwired into our brains to see other certain groups of people as lesser or less deserving. Maybe it’s a holdover from primitive times, we’re not that far out from having been cave-people, maybe being tribal was a way of protecting ourselves. At any rate, everyone has some racism and/or phobia about others inside themselves.
A modern tribe is a class, or race, or people from a certain country, or even fans of a different sports team… It’s far more complex now. Each of these tribes are seen differently by each person, both within the “tribe” and external to the tribe. Eg, an American sees other Americans differently than a European sees Americans. Different clarifications and qualifiers are put on who is “in” the tribe and who isn’t. Where one individual may see “Americans” as anyone with a valid American citizenship, and another may see it as “only God fearing white Christians living in America are really Americans”… Kind of thing.
Personally, I see all peoples of all races and nationalities, who live on earth as part of the tribe of humans. I am a part of that tribe and all other tribal tenancies or definitions are irrelevant for me. So I’m not excluding someone because of what they believe, how much they make, or what their heritage might be.
In the before times, tribal mentalities were very useful, ensuring your tribe and your family survive. If that means taking all you can from another tribe, then that is what needs to happen. The tribe is of paramount importance. Even if you are killed, the tribe will help raise your offspring and the survival of your genetics is ensured.
It was a very greedy and selfish mindset which was required to ensure survival back then.
In the modern era, tribalism only creates division among the population. Whether this takes form as racism or nationalism or a religious crusade, it’s no longer required and only sews dissonance between you and your neighbors.
You have a choice to make over who is “in” your tribe and who isn’t. I would argue that drawing that line based on race is possibly one of the worst ways to choose your tribe. We no longer need to fight over resources to survive. We do not need to divide ourselves over these petty things.
Maybe less well informed days would be a better way to put it; before we had instant news of every bad thing happening, we lived in a kind of blissful ignorance.
Wasn’t uncensored violent footage of, for instance, the Vietnam War or civil rights conflicts readily broadcast on national news in the 60s? This was always my impression of the previous era as someone who graduated high school in the relatively sanitized 90s.
I don’t think anyone is above implicit/unconscious bias. We are all at least a little bit prejudice subconsciously, and it helps to be aware of it, so that you don’t accidentally treat others differently.
Implicit bias can turn into racist actions, if not kept in check.
It’s literally engrained into your DNA but go off I guess.
Racism is a part of “outsiders bad” which is bred into us because well, outsiders were bad. There was almost nothing more dangerous than running into an outside group.
They might be friendly! They might share knowledge or food or resources! But more likely they’ll either kill you because you’re competition/not in the group/their god says your unclean.
Racism is just the magnified effect of this well documented behavior.
I agree that it’s a learned behaviour, but probably disagree on how it’s learned.
I consider it a natural form of learning. Animals that don’t have predators are known to lack any cautious behavior towards other species. We even caused the extinction of such a bird by introducing predators into their habitat. Children who start out as blank slates are like that. They don’t care until they accrue enough experience to start recognizing the differences.
We learn to distrust through experience. Whether this is directed by outside manipulation or self-realization, degrees of separation are gained over time through interactions or lack of.
And the colour of one’s skin is an easily identifiable attribute that can give rise to the simple thought that we’re different. While to come to the conclusion that even if our skin colour is different, we are still the same on the inside is a lengthier thought process.
The bias you might fall to in this context is generalizing racists. I don’t know if you do, so this is a hypothetical presentation.
You don’t know how individuals have reached their conclusion to become racist and whether their personal experience has made them justified. You just assume that because racism is bad, they must be bad.
Just like someone who becomes racist due to their bad experiences assumes everyone of a specific race is the same. It’s the same form of bias - to generalize a group based on your own experience with a few individuals.
All we can say in support of our theories is “all the representatives of a group that I’ve met have been like this”, but even so, on a planet of 8 billion people, all of those are only but a drop in a bucket.
Do you have documentation proving (beyond doubt) that racism is only a learned behavior? As an anthropology student I read so many textbooks that state otherwise, and I agree with their conclusions that racism is inherent in the “reptilian” human mind. If you don’t know what that is, you need to do more reading.
It is actually part of the survival mechanism of us recognizing that we might be endangered by something unfamiliar to us. We DO have racist tendencies, all of us - including the tendency to call people “stupid” just for bringing up the idea of something new or challenging.
We like to think we’re all above that, but in truth we’re still very primitive in many ways.
A stupid thing is dismissing new information without considering it because of your own prejudices, you’ve just proven what I was saying, everyone has racism or phobia (and you certainly do).
Put a chimp and a gorilla in a cage and see what happens. This is true all the way down to black ants and red ants.
Most species tend to stick together and tolerate other species. But when something happens, like food shortage or not enough space, they stop tolerating the other species in favor for their own.
There are even social experiments when a group of humans are given 2 colors of tshirts and random tasks. The people with the same color shirt tend to group and work together for no appearant reason… Other than it is built in behavior.
You can’t deny this even if you find it an unpleasant property.
I think most of that is true, (born in 1959 myself), but I’m not remembering them being such happy days. Maybe less well informed days would be a better way to put it; before we had instant news of every bad thing happening, we lived in a kind of blissful ignorance.
Everyone on earth is racist, make no mistake. It’s hardwired into our brains to see other certain groups of people as lesser or less deserving. Maybe it’s a holdover from primitive times, we’re not that far out from having been cave-people, maybe being tribal was a way of protecting ourselves. At any rate, everyone has some racism and/or phobia about others inside themselves.
The thing that’s “hardwired” is tribalism.
A modern tribe is a class, or race, or people from a certain country, or even fans of a different sports team… It’s far more complex now. Each of these tribes are seen differently by each person, both within the “tribe” and external to the tribe. Eg, an American sees other Americans differently than a European sees Americans. Different clarifications and qualifiers are put on who is “in” the tribe and who isn’t. Where one individual may see “Americans” as anyone with a valid American citizenship, and another may see it as “only God fearing white Christians living in America are really Americans”… Kind of thing.
Personally, I see all peoples of all races and nationalities, who live on earth as part of the tribe of humans. I am a part of that tribe and all other tribal tenancies or definitions are irrelevant for me. So I’m not excluding someone because of what they believe, how much they make, or what their heritage might be.
In the before times, tribal mentalities were very useful, ensuring your tribe and your family survive. If that means taking all you can from another tribe, then that is what needs to happen. The tribe is of paramount importance. Even if you are killed, the tribe will help raise your offspring and the survival of your genetics is ensured.
It was a very greedy and selfish mindset which was required to ensure survival back then.
In the modern era, tribalism only creates division among the population. Whether this takes form as racism or nationalism or a religious crusade, it’s no longer required and only sews dissonance between you and your neighbors.
You have a choice to make over who is “in” your tribe and who isn’t. I would argue that drawing that line based on race is possibly one of the worst ways to choose your tribe. We no longer need to fight over resources to survive. We do not need to divide ourselves over these petty things.
Wasn’t uncensored violent footage of, for instance, the Vietnam War or civil rights conflicts readily broadcast on national news in the 60s? This was always my impression of the previous era as someone who graduated high school in the relatively sanitized 90s.
deleted by creator
I don’t think anyone is above implicit/unconscious bias. We are all at least a little bit prejudice subconsciously, and it helps to be aware of it, so that you don’t accidentally treat others differently.
Implicit bias can turn into racist actions, if not kept in check.
deleted by creator
It’s literally engrained into your DNA but go off I guess.
Racism is a part of “outsiders bad” which is bred into us because well, outsiders were bad. There was almost nothing more dangerous than running into an outside group.
They might be friendly! They might share knowledge or food or resources! But more likely they’ll either kill you because you’re competition/not in the group/their god says your unclean.
Racism is just the magnified effect of this well documented behavior.
deleted by creator
I agree that it’s a learned behaviour, but probably disagree on how it’s learned.
I consider it a natural form of learning. Animals that don’t have predators are known to lack any cautious behavior towards other species. We even caused the extinction of such a bird by introducing predators into their habitat. Children who start out as blank slates are like that. They don’t care until they accrue enough experience to start recognizing the differences.
We learn to distrust through experience. Whether this is directed by outside manipulation or self-realization, degrees of separation are gained over time through interactions or lack of. And the colour of one’s skin is an easily identifiable attribute that can give rise to the simple thought that we’re different. While to come to the conclusion that even if our skin colour is different, we are still the same on the inside is a lengthier thought process.
The bias you might fall to in this context is generalizing racists. I don’t know if you do, so this is a hypothetical presentation.
You don’t know how individuals have reached their conclusion to become racist and whether their personal experience has made them justified. You just assume that because racism is bad, they must be bad. Just like someone who becomes racist due to their bad experiences assumes everyone of a specific race is the same. It’s the same form of bias - to generalize a group based on your own experience with a few individuals.
All we can say in support of our theories is “all the representatives of a group that I’ve met have been like this”, but even so, on a planet of 8 billion people, all of those are only but a drop in a bucket.
Do you have documentation proving (beyond doubt) that racism is only a learned behavior? As an anthropology student I read so many textbooks that state otherwise, and I agree with their conclusions that racism is inherent in the “reptilian” human mind. If you don’t know what that is, you need to do more reading.
It is actually part of the survival mechanism of us recognizing that we might be endangered by something unfamiliar to us. We DO have racist tendencies, all of us - including the tendency to call people “stupid” just for bringing up the idea of something new or challenging.
We like to think we’re all above that, but in truth we’re still very primitive in many ways.
Honestly humanity’s biggest hurdle is learning to ignore millions of years of instincts that helped us survive in a world that no longer exists.
A stupid thing is dismissing new information without considering it because of your own prejudices, you’ve just proven what I was saying, everyone has racism or phobia (and you certainly do).
But it is hardwired in every sentient organism to give your own race/species more survival chance.
deleted by creator
Put a chimp and a gorilla in a cage and see what happens. This is true all the way down to black ants and red ants.
Most species tend to stick together and tolerate other species. But when something happens, like food shortage or not enough space, they stop tolerating the other species in favor for their own.
There are even social experiments when a group of humans are given 2 colors of tshirts and random tasks. The people with the same color shirt tend to group and work together for no appearant reason… Other than it is built in behavior.
You can’t deny this even if you find it an unpleasant property.
deleted by creator
And I wonder if you just can’t accept any other point of view, because it challenges you and threatens you in some way.