Is racism really learned or something that can develop over time?

Question

ohshee · Accepted Answer

It starts somewhere I believe it thought. And if you a follower. You follow . Then you talk to another follower. And they feed off of each other. They get each other all pumped up now they have and excuse there anything they might say or do
When I was 5 years old 6 years old my stepdad and I was driving down the road I've never heard this man cuss or swear say a bad word ever and when they were driving down the road and a car c u t s us off he puts his arm out in front of me as he hits the brakes.
And then I hear very loud voice you mother fucking N Word. and every word out of his mouth was a cuss word N word as he pulls up next to the guy and they are yelling at each other. My step dad yells again you fucking N then he looks at me yelling call him a Fucking N
I just looked st him and he's yelling at me say it CALL HIM A.
N I SHOOK MY HEAD NO he yelling top of his lungs. Say it I shake my head no. 3 min later we are at home.
He tells me to go in my bedroom I go to my bedroom 2 minutes later he walks in takes off his belt and starts beating me with it.
Yelling at me telling me when I tell you to say something you said smack smack smack. Let me hear you say it say you fucking N Word I didn't say it. Smack. SMACK . Smack. say it now smack. Smack smack. He walks out of my room and hr later my mom gets home.
Comes into my room looks at all the welts all over my back and my ass, back, and legs ask me what happened I tell her you walked out of the room. And then they start fighting she's screaming why did you try to teach him that why are you hitting on him they went at it for about a half an hour my mom getting back into my room I asked why he wanted me to say that I said I don't even know what it means.
As I got older I realized it's a choice do you want to be in this world and to this day I see the same way it's a choice who do you want to be in this world.
But now do you want to be a part of the solution or part of the problem the way I see it I might look at myself maybe once or twice a day well I'm out and about where can you doing whatever going someplace I don't look at myself I can't see myself so I don't see color but I look at somebody I don't see color I see a person I went to an all-black School I went out for track and field and of course I made the team but there is a group of boys they didn't want me on that thing because I could outrun them there's always four or five of them that would chase me home every day of school.
When I was in 3rd or 4th grade there is three brothers that used to pick on me and when there was two of them they wouldn't pick up me because I would take them both on in high school I did the same thing if there was more than 2 I would run who in there was only two of them I would fight them.
One day there was 4 of them chasing me home I lived about three blocks from school I could cut through the foot ball field go through a gate and I was on my street I got to the gate one day there were boys chasing me to black guys at the gates. All i new is i had to get to them take them on before the other guys showed up I got about 20 feet from them it was a good friend from Junior High and his brother Dwayne and is brother Maurice townsell. We all three played basketball together your brother was Jojo he was on the Jets football team anyway that you asked me why I was running and he said why you running I said because there's more than two of them and they said the list take them on you can't run like this everyday I told them I'll fight each one of them one at a time but not all of them together they said will back your play just about then 4 guys show up and their mouths are running I tell them I'll fight each one of you one of the time and I started walking towards one of them and they stopped and start backing up and I know it's because of Dwayne and Maurice all I know and Maurice says this is our friend if you ever fuck with him we're going to fuck you

Lost_in_the_Woods · Accepted Answer

My sister rescued a pit bull in Richmond. Her dog is afraid of large black men in red shirts. Nobody ever told her to be, but... she is. It's tough because we don't always remember that until she comes out of nowhere with the teeth. (she doesn't bite people, but she sure scares the hell out of everyone snapping and growling.) She's the sweetest dog, but it's obvious that she's just terrified.

And I explain it to people like this, if you met 100 different aliens with the same hat on, and 100 who didn't wear hats, every one who had a hat tried to kill you, and every one with no hat gave you free jellybeans, would you react the same way to both or would you avoid the ones with the hats? You'd react the same way the dog does because that's common sense.

That isn't racism. That's a survival instinct. It's called learning.

But, that doesn't make it true. It's still prejudice. Most of the guys I saw my sisters dog flip out on were on our larping team.

Racism is the belief that you are superior. Not fear. Not predjuice. Not even hate. The believe that you are inherently better than someone else because of your race.

That has to be taught. But honestly, I don't believe racism even exists anymore. You've seen the Olympics, you've seen the national spelling bee, you can't possibly believe one race is always and inherently better than another. I know people are discriminatory, but I don't believe actual racism even exists in 2021.

But you have to understand what the world means to understand that statement.

People are prejudice. People are discriminatory. But they don't actually believe they are better. They are either afraid because of what's happened to them, or they are devicive and divisive because they want an unfair advantage.

Fear isn't the same as hate, even when it's misplaced. Fear is a natural reaction to pain and trauma that keeps us safe. Our brains are just falling behind our world on how to apply it. Fear leads to hate and discrimination, and that isn't right, but it isn't actually racist. It's predjuice, and they aren't actually the same thing.

Waving flags and wearing hoods is taught. That isn't fear, that is willful discrimination for personal gain. Racism has to be taught. But I don't think anyone actually believes it anymore. People pretend to because they want an unfair advantage.

All you have to do is look around to see it isn't true. No one race is the best, and that much is fucking obvious. People are taught to lie because it gets rewarded. People use racism to cover up the reality that they are actually just selfish.

So is racism taught or learned? It depends on how you define it.

There are people who are afraid because of what happened to them.

There are people who were taught to wear hoods to get an unfair advantage, but that honestly doesn't even work anymore.

But are there people who actually BELIEVE one race is inherently superior to another?

I doubt it. They'd have to be blind deaf stupid AND miseducated. And if there are, they aren't the ones pulling the strings and reviewing applications.

Some people are predjuice.
Some people are discriminatory.

Most people don't know how to use a dictionary and it shows.

Hannahm67 · Accepted Answer

Personally, I believe that racism is completely natural. I think that due to evolution animals (which includes humans) have a natural fear of the unknown. We can see this with people today where the most racist people on earth come from places that are racially homogeneous like China and India for example. Hell, I have a friend from India and she said that in India alone there is mass racism against other Indians based on skin shade.

I was raised to not be racist and have been around other racism from when I was little. But with my experiences over the years have shaped my views to ones different from what I was taught. Also as a white person the blatant anti-white racism in the west today is honestly making me want to go full racist. I mean somehow a sign saying "it is okay to be white" is considered racist in the mainstream. What the hell is up with that? I have also seen an increasing number of black and brown people on social media calling for the genocide of white people among other things.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

A and B are really the same option. Racism is learned, through our family, friends, from the community of people around us, through the media, etc. When we're born, we all have a clean slate. We have no preconceived notions of the world. We learn these things from the people around us and our life experiences.

ODC2112 · Answer

Racism is a pseudoscientific theory that ended in the 1950s and lasted for a century.

What they call racism is actually xenophobia or more precisely misoxenia that is the set of active attitudes of intolerance that can translate into threats, discrimination, violence towards groups of people identifiable and different from ours.

Misoxenia is natural?
The answer is yes, sadly.

Henri Tajfel and his colleagues in the early 1970s made a seminal experiment about group dynamics. Participants were assigned to groups that were designed to be as arbitrary and meaningless as possible. Nevertheless, when people were asked to assign points to other research participants, they systematically awarded more points to in-group members than to out-group members. The minimal-group studies were interpreted as showing that the mere act of categorizing individuals into groups can be sufficient to make them think of themselves and others in terms of group membership instead of as separate individuals. That finding deviated from a common view at the time, namely, that an objective conflict of interest is a central factor in the emergence of intergroup conflict. Thus, social identity theory originated from the conviction that group membership can help people to instill meaning in social situations. Group membership helps people to define who they are and to determine how they relate to others.

This experiment paved the way for other studies on the dynamics of societies, showing that each individual tends to maximize contact with people he considers part of his group and to despise those he does not consider part of his group, namely the Greek word xenos for different.

This theoretical approach fits everything, family, sports team, social class, ethnic group, education, sexual orientation, physical sex, friendships, religion, social networks. When there is any form of pride of belonging to a group, there is automatically a form of active discrimination against those who do not belong to it. This is done by anyone against anyone else. And no one is excluded, no one is good and fair, all are discriminatory against those who are not part of their group (except misanthropes, they discriminate against everyone).

In some cases this discrimination becomes stronger. It is the case of collective narcissism (or group narcissism) is the tendency to exaggerate the positive image and importance of a group to which one belongs. It is strongly correlated with ingroup's supremacy, collective narcissism is a self-defensive tendency to invest unfulfilled self-entitlement into a belief about ingroup's uniqueness and greatness. Thus, the ingroup is expected to become a vehicle of actualization of frustrated self-entitlement. This is typical of sectarian groups. Primary components of collectively narcissistic intergroup relations involve aggression against outgroups with which collective narcissistic perceive as threatening. In such a social psychological approach, an external enemy is always identified, without which the narcissistic group would be in an infinite golden age. This enemy must be destroyed for the members of the party.

VanillaSalt · Answer

Racism isn’t what people think anymore. You get your feelings hurt by name callings just rude… My grandfather told me of real racism. When a man or woman couldn’t even use the same drinking fountains. When people were denied the ability to succeed for the color of their skin. They were hunted down and hurt or killed.

And you snowflakes think calling someone a slurs racist lmao. In that case if you’ve ever called a woman a bitch or a man an asshole your just as bad. Sticks and stones.

A real man/woman will look at such a person in disgust and move on as will the people around them. As long as their not standing in your way of happiness then I don’t see the issue. You’ll never beat racism if your end goals to stop hurtful words. People will always have preferences and will always seek to better themselves even at the cost of others but if your priorities are right then you won’t be focused on name calling because your too busy succeeding to care what some dumbass thinks of you.

Anonymous · Answer

It can be learned through experience.

I’m kind of racist. There’s good and bad in every race, I like some people of all races and religions, but I think that multiculturalism is a failed experiment.

I grew up in a homogeneous area, and at that time I couldn’t understand racists at all. Why hate someone simply because of the colour of their skin? That’s like hating someone because of their hair or eye colour.

But then I moved to a more diverse area and I saw and experienced a lot of things that changed my mind over time.

For example I kept hearing about people getting mugged by members of a certain race. In my hometown you were safe to roam the streets whenever, in that place it wasn’t safe past 10pm. Sometimes it wasn’t even safe in broad daylight. One girl I knew was walking with her 5 month old baby when a man with a machete threatened to “cut” the baby if she didn’t hand over her phone and all of her money. Even worse the police did nothing about it, which is common here because they don’t want to be accused of racism.

Then there were cover ups of pedophile grooming gangs of a certain race targeting kids of another race, again the police did nothing for almost two decades. In fact they tried to jail people for saying that it was happening.

Hypnos0929 · Answer

It's both typically.
I don't think anyone truly starts their lives as a hardcore, slur slinging racist but at the same time people come to racist solutions/ideas on their own all the time. If a cop works in a majority black area and arrest majority black people he could develop a significant bias. Likewise if they were in a majority white area arresting mostly white people.
With that said people rarely develop racist beliefs about people who look like themselves. A white cop arresting mostly white people is not going to assume most white people are criminals likewise black cop and black criminals. People generally don't go after people they can identify with, or at least don't project those behaviors on people they identify with.
I remember a Joe Rogan podcast where Joe interviewed a lawyer from Maine who basically said the system up there is extremely racist to the point he wasn't really confronted with it until the police "identified" their most violent criminals and he admitted he actively defended more violent people and none of them made the list because of their race.

Anonymous · Answer

The human brain has a way of categorizing and labeling things. These mental short cuts are meant to save time, avoid danger or identify possibilities. This just doesn’t only apply to racism but all sorts of other “isms” as well (sexism, xenophobism, etc.).

Why this can be advantageous in certain scenarios it also has an insidious way of unfairly labeling people something there not. But I also believe that people will eventually behave how they are being “labeled”. They have done psychological studies where a teacher was hold that 2 random students in her class were academically gifted (although they were just average). At the end of the year these kids really did excel on test scores. They were responding to how they were stereotyped.

Anyway the greatest minority is the individual. Sure I got to grow up as a “smart looking” white guy. Sure it benefited me in many scenarios (I look more trustworthy and intelligent). But there were drawbacks as well. I was assumed to be unathletic and socially awkward. This made me a target for bullying when i was younger. It made me much less desirable around females.

I had to work HARD to overcome those stereotypes. I’m actually very athletic. I once ran a mile under 5 mins, bench pressed over 300lbs and squared 335lbs 20 times. I excelled in wrestling, mma and jiu jitsu.

As for the social end that was even tougher. But I took public speaking and improv. I learned how to dress nicer. I worked on my communication , confidence and humor around women. But it is has been and it often tough. Not everything is a cake walk because I’m white.

Nomoturtle · Answer

Those are the same. I assume you mean born with vs learned?

Look at kids, they don't give a shit who they play with. Racism isn't innate, it's a learned idea. Statistically it's also true, hence the politically incorrect "hate facts", the dissonance of which leads proponents of equity to assume socialisation and oppression exhaustively for every disparate outcome, whether it exists or not. Lysenkoism all over again.

However, it's always good to approach people with an open mind and have the courtesy to assume good faith. Even in terms of utility races aren't so distinct as to make discrimination of race be better than discrimination of whatever you're actually looking for.

Teaku94 · Answer

For the most part, it's a learned behaviour. But you can also develop an idea about racism throughout your experiences in life.

I am from Papua New Guinea, a country with over 800 different tribes and languages. So you had to be taught about the different people groups at a very young age to learn how to behave and communicate when with a certain group. Mind you, it's 800 so apart learning about it your life experiences gave you many lessons as well.

Interstate · Answer

As we grow up and get older, we decide for ourselves what is true and what is not. What should be and shouldn't be. But it is also important that we follow nature's gift to us... COMMONSENSE. There is such a thing as looking at things with a personal perspective, and commonsense. There comes a point when we need to step back and look at things realistically.

Floppy2112 · Answer

How about we quit talking about racism all the damn time? The word no longer holds any value. When you got articles like, "The Black Face of White Supremacy" and "A black mouth piece for white supremacy", we have long left the reservation when it comes to facts on this matter. I am sick to fucking death of hearing about it all the time.

Anonymous · Answer

This might be an unpopular opinion, but it is learnt. I had a problem in my country where people would rather employ under qualified people of colour then qualified white people. And that made me very angry for a while. Because I was the best in my class and I didn't get employed based on the fact tthat I was white. This didn't make me racist. I was just angry at the system.

Anonymous · Answer

Both of those, usually they come together. Racism is always a product of environment, not nature. People are never born racists. They become racists. Either they learned it from their parents, their peers, their environment or their culture.

Dan_cColt · Answer

racism isn't in our DNA put two kids who know nothing about race at that moment and they become friends based on the person not what they look like it's your environment and your learned behavior from others and experiences that shapes how you see race. Just remember were all literally just a spec of dust in a universe bigger than ourselves and there could be other life out there thinking about something as mundane as race is dumb.

Exterminatore · Answer

It’s always a personal choice. One can develop those types of views on their own or be taught it and believe it. What absolutely doesn’t happen is people become racists due to confirmation bias due to living in an imaginary systematically racist system despite all the mental gymnastics by leftists.

Anonymous · Answer

It's human nature we are all racist against one thing or the other. The media and especially leftist media try to make racism sound like such a horrible crime against humanity but in reality they themselves are racist.
The only way it ever ends is when it becomes a none issue, when we agree to disagree, accept that we are different and that love is not unconditional all harsh realities but realities nonetheless

Mishan97 · Answer

Those are the same things.. it’s learned over time & can develop asa result of an individuals life experiences.

Hispanic-Cool-Guy · Answer

As people grow up and experience life for what it is, see differences, social status, ideologies they began to develop perceptions weather real or not and racism comes from it.

Humans are naturally scumbags so don't expect much from them in terms of being good because they aren't.

Renee_IsCool1 · Answer

No one is born racist, it is wither taught or learned. Sometimes a person can have a bad experience with people of a race and grow bitter towards the race itself. I can understand racism but that doesn't mean I justify it.

shaysh87 · Answer

racism is learned behavior. nobody is born racist, just like nobody is born sexist. Racism is brainwashed into an individual at a very very early age.

Guanfei · Answer

It's also instinct pushing you to be with people who look like you, because it's safer to be in a group of your own "species".
As human, we tend to disregard instinct because we consider ourselves above that. And while we're less likely to listen to it than other animals, we still do it unconsciously.
And unlike what many people says these days, it's not a "white only" feeling.

Sparks32 · Answer

I should have choosen C. As a white guy I learned not to trust other races from racial abuse and for experiencing colored peoples resentment for me being white.
But as a child i really didn't even notice people in terms of race.

Anonymous · Answer

Both Because of how you grew up sometimes it just turns into that certain things that your parents don’t do who they don’t like or what they don’t allow. Rubs off on you. Too many encounters with the wrong people sometimes can mess up your ideal of a certain race

suisuiola · Answer

Racism is developed/learn over time through what people and others are telling you.

Jersey2 · Answer

CRT is racism and it is being taught to the young right now. Systemic racism is giving people access to colleges, jobs and promotions based on race, not abilities. Racism is wrong and so is today’s reverse racism.

Naydyonov · Answer

Humans are tribal by nature. Obviously if your experience with another race always involves confrontation, you will develop a negative attitude towards them.
Children are not born racist, but life can make them this way.

Anonymous · Answer

some of these comments make me fear what humanity has come to, why should anyone at all be treated with disgust just because of their skin color and genetics? I’m logging tf off, some of y'all need help.

AmandaYVR · Answer

Learned, taught, life experience. Not born with it. We should grow our curiosity, lessen our divisive judgments.

t-8900 · Answer

both for sure. A is more likely but not always the case. People have a few bad experiences and for them the time for judgement come and goes. such is the way of the human brain.

lovedejj_xo · Answer

Both but mostly learned. Example kindergartener said the hard N word in class I spoke to her and she knew it was a bad word but didn’t understand the word and said it’s something her mom says and yes she’s white. I don’t get it honestly it’s sad.

NetSapien · Answer

It's both A/B, since B inevitably leads to A But it's also a conscious choice to continue being a true racist.

CTOswald · Answer

What the hell is the difference? "Learning" is by definition something that is developed over time. Like language skills...

jshm2 · Answer

There were some experiments done in the past and it was found babies can be racist, but that it's learned behaviour.

Billyscotter · Answer

Some young kids are scared of people who look different, but they don't think the other person is inferior. But believing one's ethnicity is superior and other ethnicities are inferior is learned.

Neosporin · Answer

Racism is invented and spread by society. In group-out group behavior is a real thing but the language and justifications surrounding it are inventions propagated by people.

MJtheCoach · Answer

Since the year 2000 everything‘s racist thoughts are racist breathing is racist thinking is racist being a man is racist being white is racist anything that you don’t agree with anybody majority of people say you are racist

sarahlumpkin · Answer

Does the belief that different races have a genetic predisposition to think differently define racism or just its prerequisite?

FakeName123 · Answer

How about it's something that is inherent. Something that is called in-group bias which is a key part in survival of a species

Dargil · Answer

It is taught during years of puberty. When you are very young, you don't care. When you get older, you stop listening. I was there.

IAMNathanael · Answer

Both the first two options mean the same thing to me. I say yes.

Snakeyes7 · Answer

It can exist in both because we've seen it happen both ways. Both individually and as a society and it really held us back. The last thing I want is to see it again.

Synikal · Answer

It is learned. Can be learned through certain interactions as well. For instance maybe a poor one. If you put different ants in a jar they will actually work together. Shake the jar they will immediately start fighting one another.

FinalFantasyBro · Answer

People isn't technically born racist but they can develop racism in their hearts if they w Ere raised by incredibly racist people.

Aakash_Hangargi · Answer

It depends on groups and idealogies that they share and that one small misunderasting like spark unleashing the wildfire of rage

dragoblack · Answer

It's both. 1part bad interactions with a certain culture/skin-color and 1 part taught from youth. Only the person can choose whether or not to be racist

DiegoO · Answer

It's learned, and it also can be develop (specially if you're from a monoethnic and monocultural place)

LegendaryIcon · Answer

It's learned. If you teach someone to hate, they'll likely do it. Why do you think teachers are SOOOOO important in society.

msc545 · Answer

It is always learned behavior since it certainly is not genetically transmitted thank God.

Soleil8000 · Answer

It is normal to strongly prefer own colours and values/intellect. Shouldn't mean you hate others.

jasco · Answer

Hate is quite easy to develop over time. Of course it's even easier to teach for kids so yea both

TwoToTooTutu2 · Answer

Racism isn't human nature if that's what you're asking.

Anonymous · Answer

I think it can be both. For example, I had no problem with Asian people, until I went to Asia and saw how they treat White people.

Anonymous · Answer

Both. The psyche is complicated stuff, clearly evidenced by the wave of progressive people who are feverishly "anti-racist" yet constantly act racist.

noohair · Answer

It can be taught when you are a child or develop because of you experience.

Nazgol · Answer

It can develop as a result of having learned as well

Wowboi · Answer

Neither it's contagious like covid but only if one have the genetics for ignorance

WhiteBoyChill · Answer

Racism is when one recognizes the facts of reality.

Anonymous · Answer

Racism has always existed and will always exist. Unfortunately, this can never be changed.

tatianamay · Answer

A mix of both, i think?

Anonymous · Answer

I believe racism shares a common cause with womens fear of being raped.

Tyrael · Answer

Those are both the same thing. So yes to both.

Stoner710 · Answer

Learned people don’t come out racist

Is racism really learned or something that can develop over time?

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Do you believe racism is a learnt behaviour or innate?

Is racism really learned or something that can develop over time?

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Do you believe racism is a learnt behaviour or innate?

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