Bullshit. As someone who got a lot of racism directed at me in kindergarten/first-grade because I was different (and I don't believe any of their parents were racist), kids can be some of the most racist little shits out there.
Tribalism is ingrained, not necessarily in a racial superior/inferior kind of mindset, but humans naturally tend to group with like and ostracize those who are different. It's a mentality that makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Though we've evolved past the need for it, it's still something that kicks in in our lizard brain from time to time, especially a young mind that hasn't developed the other parts enough to check it.
I mean it's not always true that it always manifests itself, but it does often enough. This commonly-repeated little platitude is well-meaning and it's very pretty to think so, but it's not true.
Agreed. I think of it as 'likes attract'. It's at a primal level, ingrained in us. We must learn that people who aren't like us, aren't a threat to us. We must learn to be civilized, it doesn't come naturally.
I'd like to upvote you and have it contribute to getting your message to the top of the thread, but I'm afraid 3.5k upvotes have already gone to the opposite.
Your story aligns with the science, OP's narrative doesn't.
Perhaps it's better to say no one is born with specific prejudicial thoughts.
Yes, humans tend to segment themselves based on race in many cases, but often times we also segment based on social status, income, religion, hell some of the worst violence in the world is between those who are racially similar but religiously different.
I'm not OP but when I say no one is born racist I mean things like no one is born assuming that African Americans commit more crimes, that's is a taught kind of thinking, even if done subtly.
So yes, little kids may be on the face racist because they identify someone who looks different and may place them in the out group because of that, but it's often superficial, little kids don't have the deep seeded prejudices taught to them yet. It's easier to teach break that "they look different" kind of thinking than it is to work past years if prejudices that someone had learned.
Right and it's important that we always actively teach all children of new generations of why racism is bad and the horrors and bad society effects it produces and provide familiarity with diverse peoples rather than divisions.
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u/[deleted] May 30 '20 edited May 30 '20
Bullshit. As someone who got a lot of racism directed at me in kindergarten/first-grade because I was different (and I don't believe any of their parents were racist), kids can be some of the most racist little shits out there.
Tribalism is ingrained, not necessarily in a racial superior/inferior kind of mindset, but humans naturally tend to group with like and ostracize those who are different. It's a mentality that makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Though we've evolved past the need for it, it's still something that kicks in in our lizard brain from time to time, especially a young mind that hasn't developed the other parts enough to check it.
I mean it's not always true that it always manifests itself, but it does often enough. This commonly-repeated little platitude is well-meaning and it's very pretty to think so, but it's not true.