As we have discussed in class in our introduction to Race & Ethnicity we have come to an important question, "Are people born with racism in their blood or are they taught to hate?" Sociologists and Psychologists have compelling data to prove either side correct - what do you think?
18 comments:
I believe that people are brought up with racism, and they can be taught to hate. If one persons father is in the KKK then his father will most likely share hhis hate with his child therefore teaching them how to hate. It can also be because of the parts of the country you live in, i.e. people from the south tend to be more racist than those in the north.
I think that it is a combination. I think that a child's environment primarily their parents determine their outlook on life went they are old enough to make their own decisions. At the critical age if an infant is around parents who fight or who never seem to have enough time for them then they may be more inclined to be hateful themselves. If a child repeatedly hears from parents" racist comments eventually they will believe them especially at a critical age. I think bad attitudes are spread from parents to children even if unintentionally. But also i think that there are some people who are able to be good people despite emotionally or psychologically harmful environments as a young age. To some extent you do have a choice. Whether this means you were born with a dominant good side I don't know but it could be that you just happened to be more influenced by the sources or good. For example, if your parents are racist but your grandparents or teachers or both are not and they strongly encourage you away from racist feelings, you could really go either way. Your parents have a bigger influence but you may have a better relationship with your grandparents or your teachers are more convincing and so you developed equal views on all people. While I think these are good theories I can't deny that some people are just more willing to listen to the arguments for kindness than others but it is an argument that can conceivably continue for centuries both sides have valid arguments.
In my opinion, environmental factors teach people to discriminate. People who have been raised in a racism environment tend to be more on that side than to break away. This is because they are taught to be this way throughout their lives, but this can also be untaught. Like we talked about in class, anything that can be taught can also be untaught. I think this fits in with racism also, because one can un teach themselves of what they were taught to believe, and find apposing views that support the opposite.
I believe that it is nurture and how you are brought up. Not everyone is racist. So it can't be nature. If you are brought up believing a certain thing that your parents told you, you will most likely believe them and be like them. If your parents told you that people who drive sports cars are all stuck up and mean and not to associate yourself with them, would you? Probably not because you were told to follow what your parents tell you. How the people around you act to other people while you are growing up affects your life because you will likely follow in their footsteps and be like they were.
i believe that people can be born with hate and that hate can be taught. i think that a person is born with hate in them because people who are surrounded by hate doesn't always become a hatteful person. I believe some people can be taught hate because people who household isnt filled with hate could become hateful
People are definitely taught and conditioned to hate as they grow up. Children are born practically as sponges absorbing every little thing they are see, experience or are told. Some, if protected to a certain extent aren't even aware of racism until they're introduced to it. Not only that, but its not often heard that racism may have genetic roots attached to it. This case is similar to that of sexism; the theory of men being superior to women and vice versa is something that often doesn't even cross our minds until the idea is prompted. Its a far less blatant case, but the point is that we are certainly not born with these thoughts, we learn them. There is always something that enforces these things. On the other hand it could also be argued that as humans we have a tendency to judge or divert away from something that may be 'different' to us, which is why we are able to so mindlessly conform to things that the people around us have deemed appropriate. A combination of this natural tendency AND an exaggerated form of this hatred through family and social values boosts that racism, once again, making it something that is in fact taught and learned.
I deeply feel that people are not born to hate, but they are taught it. Parents and peers around people are influences and role models to children at a young age. People that are brought up to hate, in this case, racism, are taught to hate that certain things like a skin color, or a person that looks a certain way. This is why i think people are not born with racism but are taught to hate people.
and anyone that is taught something, can be untaught :)
I think racism is taught. Without an outside influence like a parent or community, people don't become racists or full of hate. For example some domesitc animals are viscious, while some are docile. It all depends on how they were raised. If a person was raised in a househole where they found a certain race horrible and hated, that's all that person grew up knowing. They then would be racist against that race. If a person is taught to respect other races, that person will most likely not become a racist. No one is born to hate in that way, but their environment and things that happen in their lives may make them become racists.
I believe that a person can be taught to hate but cannot be born that way. I believe this because a child is innocent and immitates only what it is taught, a person cannot not be born hateful because when an infant is born their mind in basically a clean slate that has not yet been affected by the outside world or the evils of society. Therefore it is imposiible for an individual to live something it has not yet experienced meaning peopled are nutured this way and are not hateful by nature.
I believe that you are taught to hate others, when your born i feel that your at the prime of your innocence, you dont think bad things and you don't know bad things, but as you grow your able to understand, so i think that parents start their children with hate by showing them things that would cause their child to hate, like rape or domestic abuse, or if your parent is a nazi and or a skinhead, then of course they're going to bring their child up that way, to think that equality isn't a good thing, when in fact it is the best thing for the world. so i believe that people are brought up to hate others.
I believe that racism is something that is taught and it is not something that a person is born with. Whether a person is born racist or not all depends on the environment that they are raised in. Those who are raised in an environment where they are taught to discriminate against others will most likely carry these views with them all throughout life. Everything that a child sees, hears, or is taught influences their opinions or outlook on life. So, when an parent or another adult says something discrimating towards a certain group of people it is likely that the child will pick up on this behavior. Another reason why I believe that racism is something that is taught is because very young children rarely show signs of being a racist. For example, if a child is at a playground with children of other races, they're not going to care about the color of their skin, to them, it's just another person to play with. So, since children don't typically show signs of being racist, then they can't really be born with a "racism gene." Which is why I believe that racism is something that a person is taught.
I think that it is unrealistic to say that someone is born with racism in their blood. I really think that this is impossible and I believe that the only way that a person becomes racist is by being taught to hate. Children who are born into a family who is racist and do things that show hate toward others, their children watch and learn. These children are being raised by parents who give them the understanding that it is okey to discriminate others. Parents are role models for their children so whatever they do basicly shows them that they can do the same. For example, if a parent is racist toward a certain ethinicity and goes through life constantly showing that hate towards them, most likely this will trasfer on to this parent's child and he will have the same kind of hate for that particular ethinicity. So the environement that one grows up in and is raised in definitely has an influence on a person and whether they show hate towards others. Someone who is growing up and is taught from the beginnig that hate and racism is not acceptable will most likely go by these rules their whole life. I think that hate is definitely something that is taught, just like learning to for exmaple to use different manners at the dinner table. I think that it is how you are brought up that has an influence on how you act later in life. Some things bring out the best in some poeple while other things have negative impacts on people.
I believe that a person is both brought up to hate and sometimes losely born to hate. In my opinion a person is sometimes born to hate because of the people around them and what they believe in or the groups they may be associated with. When the person is born, all they know is hate because of what the people have taught them. Now on the other side of that I strongly believe that most of the time people are brought up to hate. As a person no matter who you are you could always choose not to follow the beliefs of other people. Such as lets say your family is part of the KKK you would be brought up with those beliefs but in my opinion it doesn't mean that you have to follow them. When you are born your an innocent soul and your the one who makes the decision whether to follow along or decide that your better then that.
I believe that individuals are brought up to be racist and hateful. Society and important figures in ones life dictates that persons mind set. For instance, if my father was a neo-Nazi, chances are I would be too. I would be so immersed in that particular lifestyle and culture, that by the time it came to be my chance to be my own person, making my own decisions, i wouldn't be able to look beyond the way i was brought up. In a way this happens to a majority of people. We are brought up to accept all ways of life, that when it finally comes time for us to move out, live on our own, and make our own judgments, we judge minimally because that's the way we were brought up.
i think that hate is something that is leanred but is also a part of human nature. Skinhead groups are examples of learned hate because most of the people who make up the group have been influenced or tricked into joining the group and taking part in their beliefs. Most of them have been taught to believe what they do, thier role models did so they just copied what they knew. But i believe that at the core of this whole thing, the only reason why all of this hate started was becuase most people are afriad of or even hate what they don't understand, and people that are different than them.
I don't understand how psychologists think it is possible for a person to be born racist. It just seems absurd to me that a baby is already meant to grow up and hate people of a different skin color. I can't think of any "compelling" examples to support psychologists' theory, so I strongly believe that hatred and racism is a learned behavior. Children are taught, whether by someone else or by themselves, to hate. If a young kid is kept away from adults who are racist, there is no way he/she is automatically going to decide to hate people of a certain race. But grown-ups are not the only thing that influences a child's thinking- it could be any outside event that affects the child. For example, in the movie American History X, Derek becomes a skinhead after his dad is killed and he believes it was a black man who killed him. However, after spending time in prison, Derek "UNLEARNS" to hate.. therefore proving that hatred/racism is a learned behavior, not something that is already in our DNA. I think the only "psychological" explanation for racism could be that children who grow up to become skinheads are just born with so much anger that racism becomes an outlet for all the anger they have inside.
More than anything, I think it all depends on what kind of person you were BORN to be, and what choices you make in life. Children can learn both sides of an issue- being racist or loving everyone. Their parents might be racist but, (at least in this country) they are also going to see a thousand other people who are NOT racist. They can choose whether or not they want to follow their parents' path. But you can't say a child is going to grow up and murder someone because of their race just because it's in their blood.
I feel that when children are born they are sweet and innocent and over time they are taught to love or hate depending on how they are raised. If you are raised in a racist household than you will grow up to become racist and only like your race. However, if your family is not racist and you are raised that way than you will not care what anyone looks like and not judge someone over the color of their skin. Also, even though a child could be raised to be not racist, they can be influenced by their peers and society and overtime can become racist. I feel that it is a mixture of both.
It is a combination. It begins with your childhood and how you are brought up. If one only hears racist comments and sees acts of hate being committed and is surrounded by prejudice beliefs they will probably lean towards being just like that. But as they get older and are able to hear, see, and be surrounded by the opposite of what they grew up hearing, seeing, and being surrounded by they have the oppornuity to have a change of heart. I can relate this to child abuse. In "The Child Called 'It'"
the boy was severly abused by his mother every which way you can imagine,making it the third worse abuse case in the history of California. He could have easily become just as much a monster as his mother was. But he saw others' ways of life and realized that what he grew up under was wrong and very disfunctional and is now a very successful author, motivational speaker, has a healthy marriage, and a strong relationship with his son. We are products of what we come from but it is up to us to decide if we diverge into a different future. We do not have to stay the same. We can change.
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