It is easy to recognize that black athletes excel in many of today's most popular sports. However, as far as I know, there are no great black swimmers around. Why is that? I guess my real question is: Could the crossing of oceans by slaves raised such fears that fear of water was then passed on from generation to generation?
2006-12-29 14:20:32 · 4 answers · asked by Harry 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Fears aren't genetically passed, they are learned. For instance I am afraid of spiders, when I was little I must have seen my mom scream from a spider crawling around, and then maybe saw her smushing the spider. I learned that spiders are pretty much scary, icky, and not friendly. But even though my mom is scared of them, its not genetically passed.
2006-12-29 14:30:21 · answer #1 · answered by saddlechic2918 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. not at all. Fear is a learned response NOT something that is genetically encoded except for the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds, those are inherant in ALL mammals.
The main reason that there aren't many black swimmers is that they are not encouraged to get involved in those sports. There aren't many black skaters either. More often than not black athleter are encouraged to play basketball, football, or baseball and to a lesser extent soccer. The only real examples of athletes for black americans are in those sports. That doesn't meant that they coudln't excell in those areas, just that the idea is never encouraged not by others around them, and not by the sports world at large. Too bad too...
2006-12-29 14:51:26 · answer #2 · answered by kveldulf_gondlir 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, not genetically passed on. However It can be passed on socially. The environment you are raised in on a micro and macro level has a lot to do with it. I think the lack of black swimmers is due to lack of interest. A lot of cats are either hooping or playing football. If you think about it you don't see a lot of african-american professional baseball players, which is crazy considering that 3 of the top five greatest players of all time are black.
2006-12-29 14:41:19 · answer #3 · answered by Speed racer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I seriously doubt that the trauma of the the passage in slave ships, as horrible as it was, left a genetic imprint.
That would be like saying a scar from surgery can be passed on to one's descendants.
2006-12-30 00:46:11 · answer #4 · answered by Chrispy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋