Why do people hate other races and religions?

Question

I can bet you a lot that if I befriended an antisemetic person(like I ever would) and they didn't know that I was Jewish, that they would really like me as a friend. If I told them that I was Jewish, though, they would hate me all of a sudden. It's the same thing with African Americans, Jews, Muslims... etc.

Why do people hate before they get to know people?

Do you know how embarressing it is to one race/religion when one person who follows that religion/race does an idiotic thing?(Nazis,kkk, etc.) At one point, I was thinking that all Christians and Catholics were similar to the Nazis(Which OF COURSE I know isn't true)

What has happened to this world? I mean, I'm 13 and I have these questions. Will I have more and more unanswered questions as I get older?

Answer 1

I think there are a few different reasons, all of them unfortunate. All of them come from thinking about people of another group as being all the same--all bad--instead of dealing with them as individuals.

Historically groups of people may end up as enemies because of disputes over who owns a piece of land or water or because one race or religion exploited, conquered, or enslaved another. Those groups of people have animosity towards each other that can be passed down through their children when the actual conflicts themselves might have ended centuries before. Like you say they might like each other just fine until they found out they belonged to those opposing groups and then everything can change.

For political reasons someone in power may want to stir up hate between different groups of people. Hitler and the Jews is an obvious and tragic example. When Hitler was rising to power in Germany the German people were unhappy because of the Great Depression and losing World War I. Hitler encouraged the majority of German people to blame the Jews for their problems. Once he got them to believe it--to hate--he offered to 'help' them feel like they were in control of their lives again by attacking the Jews.

It's a sad thing but many people like being able to blame their problems on others. Once someone does that--imagines that another group of people are all evil and the source of all problems--it can be easy to discriminate against them, attack them, or even kill them.

Many people don't realize they do it, or don't understand that it's a weakness to blame your problems on people you don't even know. Many people just like that feeling that they get--like they're in control--if they're speaking out against or hurting the 'bad guys.'

As far as religions are concerned, most religions preach that there is only one 'true' religion--theirs! Most religions say that they are the only way to know God.

If you believe that--that your own religion is the only true religion-- it isn't a very large step to say "People who don't believe my religion cannot know God." From there it's just one more little step to say "People who cannot know God must be evil." From there you can start the whole cycle again of blaming a whole group of people for your problems and even feeling good about hurting them.

You will also find that people who are perfectly pleasant and tolerant of other individuals can be swept up in hatred for others if enough people around them just feel that way. This is especially true for people who aren't educated or don't do much critical thinking.

However, even someone who doesn't start hating just because the people around them do can get pulled in. It happens like this:

If many people of one group of people hates another then those people who hate will start a conflict. You might not be one of those people who hate, but let's say one of them who's part of your race or religion hurts one of the other group. That person's family, freinds and neighbors get mad and attack back. When they do they end up hurting someone you love, like your mother or your brother. Now, when you're sad and angry, you might hate that other group and confuse vengeance with justice. You might go attack them yourself and end up killing someone else's sister or father. That can go back and forth until everyone on both sides knows someone who's been hurt or killed.


If you're thinking about this at age 13 then you will definitely have more questions about this when you get older but you already know the most important thing. It's all about individuals. There is no big, catch-all solution for stopping war or hatred between groups. There is no making sense out of why groups of people must hate each other. There's no way you or I or any one person can stop all of them. The only difference any of us can make is by being better, stronger people ourselves.

The best advice I know is to always try and keep an open mind about other people. Always be ready to show respect for people you meet and try and be polite. You will be amazed at how far this can get you, and how it can surprise people who might be thinking you would hate them or treat them badly or suspiciously. If they don't appreciate your show of respect then you've lost nothing. Go about your way and try and avoid them in the future. Don't ascribe their actions to everyone in their race or religion.

Realistically you might have to be careful if you know that people from another group might want to hurt you just because of who you are but never let that turn into fear or hate. You may even have to defend yourself and there's nothing wrong with fighting to defend yourself, your family or your country. Try never to allow yourself to blame whole other groups of people for your problems. Never let yourself be weak and lazy enough to fall into that trap of hating others because of their race or religion. Try and make your own life as good as it can be, try and show respect and live in harmony with people you meet, and try not to judge too much or harshly. That's all anybody can do. If everyone did it then all that hate would just disappear. Maybe that won't ever happen but it's still something to aspire to. At least you will be able to say you didn't make the world a more hateful place than it was already.

Answer 2

I hope you will have more questions as you get older. Its healthy to want to know more -- and quite honestly
I find as I get older there are even more unanswered questions
but I believe its important to never stop asking those questions.

There are no easy or simple answers
to what you ask, but I'll share some of what I think to
be true.

People sometimes hate what they don't understand.
One reason is that they are afraid of what is different and lash out. Sometimes people are raised as children to believe that other people are a certain way and this often leads to distrust between different groups of people. That's a tough thing to
break as evidenced by what is going on in the Middle East
right now.

Sometimes fear and prejudice is based on religion or politics or race, or simply just looking or acting differently. (That's the
reason nerds get beat up after school.)

If we were all the same, this would be a pretty boring world
don't you think? So what can be done to change the
state of the world? I believe change begins with me, nobody
else, and reaching out to the people around us.

If we all agree that we'll make the world a better place there
will be change -- that may seem naive, but its only way
to turn around 1000's of years of hate.

Does this mean we all have to like or agree with everybody?
No. But it does mean we can learn to tolerate other peoples'
opinions, what they believe and how they act, and live with
everybody in peace. In fact even though I disagree
with people sometimes, I will still strongly defend their
right to be heard even when I feel they are wrong.

I'm a Christian but I have friends who are Jewish,
Muslim or even atheists. Most are straight, a few are
are gay, but all are people I care about and
I count myself blessed to have these people in my life.

So from my limited understanding of the world, I would
offer that the answer to your question, 'Why do people hate before they get to know people?' is mostly fear and ignorance.

Answer 3

That is a big question. I think it really is largely because they are ignorant of the othe cultures, or only see one aspect. A lack of education and isolation. I mean, the most prominent (openly) racist group in America is a prison gang.

The truth is we are all far more connected racially and culturally then we realise. Complexion is just climate. We are all connected to the same Indo-European wanderers who learned semetic langauges when they begun building civilization. Most of us all worship the same abrahamic god.


I don't know about others, but when I was around 15 I started reading, listening to Rage Against The Machine, and learning about how the world works. It's pretty screwed up. But there's no easy answers. I say, just try to look at the big picture.

Answer 4

People are shallow and a lot are raised by family to hate a certain group of people and they pass it down through the generations and it's a very sad thing. And yes the older you get the more unanswered questions you'll have, because unfortunately most questions are answered by ones opinion and not by fact. Just like this one:)

Answer 5

There are many answers to that question! A lot of it is history. The feuding and warring goes back, in some cases, for centuries, even millenia. Ancient animosities have been passed down generation-to-generation. As this occurs, different cultures develop different customs, and then each views the other's customs as odd or even threatening. People suffer from envy of others. They want what others have and they do not have, whether they have any claim to it or not. They want to reap what they have not sown.

Answer 6

Here is an answer that I gave someone else with a similar question awhile back:

To begin with...people have a natural tendency to be mean and hateful towards others...no matter what race, religion or nationality.

Secondly, people for the most part are 'sheeple'....if the popular thing to do is to hate another group of people-then they are most likely not going to stand up to it...many will join in on the hate.

Also-people are naturally afraid of and uncomfortable with what is unfamiliar-so we tend to shun others.

Lastly, people have a natural tendency to want to dominate others. It's easy to target some sort of minority. It makes us feel more worthy.

And of course, we have our background and experiences to fuel our dislike. For instance-if a white boy were beat up by a group of some sort of ethnic minority-they may develop negative attitudes towards that minority-undoubtedly (is that a word?) fueled and reinforced by the hate towards that minority that already existed in society.

I guess you could say, it is easier to hate because we have so many obstacles to overcome in order to love...but it can be done!

Answer 7

As the saying goes, even the devil can quote scripture for his purposes. The world is full of narrow-minded people who believe only what they want to believe and ignore the rest. Islam is not a violent religion by nature, but its extremists have twisted the scriptures to justify violence. Jesus would not have condemned gays, but so-called "Christians" hunt through the Old Testament looking for excuses for gay-bashing, ignoring the fact that Jesus said that the forgiveness he brought made the Old Testament laws obsolete. These people aren't truly Chistians because they don't read or preach what Jesus taught. As Robert DeNiro said in "Angel Heart", "There's enough religion in the world to make people hate each other, but not enough to make them love each other."

Answer 8

I dont think this is something we have to get use to, I think its something we have to work on....Like you said at first if they dont know my religion etc. they like me then immediately hate if they find out. I like finding out different beliefs & I understand some & disagree with some. You cant just believe something because someone says thats the way it is, you must be able to make sence of it. I usually follow this guide line. God IS Love, God IS Just, God is All Powerful. Would Love in a sence beyond anything we could ever imagine burn even the cruelest person for eternity?. Would Justice to degree would couldnt ever imagine pick a certain group of people & say no matter what you do you will enter heaven-I dont think so.Most questions thought out practically answer themselves. God knows all, sees all & doesnt run his justice system like america does,lol. No matter who people say they are or pretend to be, God knows the truth. So dont say I'm jewish or black or gay. Just serve god & honor the 10 commandments which answer how to live your life, they dont say you must be jewish or white to be one of Gods servants, you just have to serve him.

Answer 9

It all starts in the home. Children are very impressionable and look up to their parents. Some parents teach their kids to hate. Sometimes it is very openly other times it is through small ques. Then those kids grow up and have kids on their own. The chain needs to be broken. It can only be broken through understanding - this doesn't mean you should put up with discrimination or violence - absolutely not - and you SHOULD defend yourself. It only means you should not return hatred for hatred.

Answer 10

Yep u will i ask my self everyday y r people so mean, like i read somewhere on yahoo!new that 5 or 6 people were shot, and i was like y r people so mean, and what friends do to friends, what family does to family, countries do to other countries its insane, sometime i wish i was an animal lol

Answer 11

I have a personality, people like me until they find out what my religous prefrence is. I am 32 and I still havent figured it out. I will tell you though the questions dont get any easier as you get older, you just get wiser and will decide what battles to fight.