do you think its a natural instict to be a little racist?

Question

kind of a serious question
though i dont consider myself racist, i believe everyone harbors some small amount of racism...

Answer 1

No. I don't think it has anything to do with racism in the sense of judging people because of their skin color.

I think it has more to do with observation and forming judgment based on cultural differences. Unintelligent people then relate this to skin color.

I think it has nothing to do with race. I think it has everything to do with association of stereotypes.

I do think there's an evolutionary process in which a community, culture, or family teaches the child to hate a person based on race. This has nothing to do with sense or judgment. I believe it has more to do with fear and irrational beliefs. I do not believe this is 'natural'.

Observe children. They fear very little. They feed off of their parents.

Answer 2

Almost everyone is at least a little bit racist in one way or other. I don't think it has anything to do with "natural instict," though, I think it's all in the way you associate with other people. For me, the small bit of racism I can't shake is due to the fact that I grew up in a small town with 17,000 white people and maybe 500 all other races combined. Things that are different seem scary. On top of that, media exposure of other races (especially African-Americans) is not as positive as it is for the white race so I don't see the positive role models or other racial groups that would give me a healthier view of other races.

Some people (although not very many) really do grow up in an atmosphere that is really authentically racially balanced. For most of those people, friend groups will be formed along racial lines so again they will not have the affirmative encounters with other races like they do with their own race.

Finally, a very small percentage of people will grow up in racially balanced environments and will really, honestly have friends of all races. If those people are racist I don't know why.

Answer 3

Racism is: "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

That is not natural, and I don't believe that very many people believe that. However, what gets called racism is simply instinctual self-preservation. For example, if you were stuck on an island and needed to find food, you'd try different plants, right? If most of the vine plants made you sick, you'd stop even trying vine plants. If the flowering plants were mostly sweet, you'd try just about every flowering plant.

It's basically the same with people, except that most of us don't really judge by skin color, but by dress and demeanor. If I see any teenager of any race wearing "gang-banger" clothes and walking the "gang banger" walk, I'm suspicious of him because he CHOSE to look that way.

Don't tell me that any black person wouldn't be concerned if a white man were walking down the street in jeans, a Dixie flag t-shirt, cowboy boots, big shiny belt buckle, and wearing a John Deere cap. It doesn't mean that he dislikes black people, but he does match the description of the stereotypical person who does, and it's not wrong to judge him by what he's wearing and how he carries himself.

Answer 4

It is natural to prefer the company of your own race as they are the ones you have the most in common with culturally, but racism is not natural. The word implies hate and if you hate and think someone should be treated differently based on the color of their skin you are not a natural person. Racism is a natural human thought, we as humans are supposed to be able to distinguish between what is right and wrong and and choose the right path. It is what separates us from animals. And the world at large is not doing themselves any favors by hating fellow humans based on nothing more than a bit of pigment.

Answer 5

Yes. Go see Avenue Q or listen to the song off the soundtrack: "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist". It's actually pretty true when you think about it. Everyone's taught stereotypes when they're younger and you can be a little racist by generalizing but nobody really DOES act on that little bit they have...so a little bit is somewhat insignificant.

Answer 6

I don't think people harbor racism but i believe everyone is stereo typical in one Way or another. Ex. Last week my friends and i went out i said i don't want to go to that bar cause there are mad white people in there and they going to play that country BS, but i gave it a try and went in anyway and they ended playing Hip Hop music. Point is i did not care if the people were white I figured because they were white they were going to play Country Music.

Answer 7

I was raised by color blind parents and I have never felt identified with rasism at all. That being said I think it is 'natural' for the fear based ego (the barbaric human as opposed to the evolved human) to see 'OTHER' as a threat. It's something that evolved in human tribal society that kept us 'safe' from competing tribes. "Different' is a threat to the survival based self, but once that self is transcended and replaced with our highest self we are no longer threatened by differences and in fact celebrate and embrace diversity as a positive and desirable thing. Racism stems from deep seated emotional and survival fears, and until all those fears are brought into consciousness they can't be released and transcended. So in this way, we all have our prejuduces until we are in effect developed inwardly beyond them. The 'victim' and the 'victimizer' are both unconsious shadow elements of an undeveloped self. We are each responsible for overcoming our own shadow. Until we do, we are all in a web of illusion and ignorance.

Blessings

Answer 8

I think that it is a totally learned behavior. No instinct about it. Small children don't care about the color of their friends until their parents teach them to do so.

If everyone harbors a little racism, it's only because it's so prevelant in society and therefore everyone is exposed to it, not because it's inborn.

Answer 9

I agree completely.... no one is without some prejudice... and racism is considered when you don't like ANY race for whatever reason. Although people try to say they're not racist, everyone is to a point.

Answer 10

I don't think it's instinct, I think it's your surroundings that make you racist. I grew up with a family that is racist. I'm not just racist to a certain race though. I'm racist to black, white, mexican, ect. ect. If your an idiot, I'm going to say something. You know something I've never understood, people think the N word is for black people. If you look it up, it actually means someone who is ignorant or dumb. So in my oppinion, there are N's of all color. Not just black.