Poll: Racism: Nature or Nurture?

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Wintermoot

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Jamboxdotcom said:
henritje said:
maybe he got it from kids at his school or he is just a idiot
as i mentioned, he's only 4. he has a couple little friends he *might* have learned it from, but it's unlikely.
well there are some racist families I onced saw one that had little kids that where proud to be nazi,s
 

dark-amon

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Aug 22, 2009
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The brat probably heard someone else say it. A kid at 4 years does not comprehend hate, nor 'people' or "races", they aren't even developed to the level where we can make them morally responsible.
 

Daverson

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Nov 17, 2009
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Both. The movement originated through nature (distrust of something outside our own society), but nowadays, almost all societies were racism is such an issue have integrated beyond the point where this would be the case. The only thing keeping the movement alive right now is nurture. (either people being brought up as racists, or people looking for scapegoats for their own problems)
 

Moromillas

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It's nature. It's how we're geared and it's why there's another war every 10 years. We used to be a bunch of waring clans, where anyone that was an outsider was a possible threat.
 

Jamboxdotcom

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This_ends_now said:
How about you had a bad personal experience with a few members of X group and decided that the entire group is like that for a poll choice. God, I'm sick and tired of all these improper polls.
pretty sure that's covered by "None of the above (explain)". and considering that the crux of the question is how a 4 year old who has never had contact with a black person could claim to hate them, your comment is completely irrelevant.
 

Jamboxdotcom

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This_ends_now said:
your face is irrelevant. Just accept the face you left out a valid poll option.
yes, yes, because it's always possible to predict EVERY goddamn thing a person might respond with. also, your comment to Pirate Kitty is extremely rude.
 

Iconoclasm

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Looking at this epistemologically, it's clear that racist tendencies are driven by the mistaken belief in the system of Racialism - that is, that there are races within the human species and that these racial distinctions are in some way important.

An individual who is aware of modern natural science would be inclined to deny this view, however, there are folks out there still stuck in the 18th Century... I mean, we still have 'demographics' and the like... damn social sciences and their non-cohesion between each other.

Natural Science ftw.
 

Yopaz

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Jun 3, 2009
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Neither. If I would guess it's fear of the unknown. If I am scared of dogs I will end up hating dogs because they're dogs. My parents may love dogs and all my friends may love dogs, I will still be afraid of dogs thus hate dogs.
Now I am not saying black people are dogs, but I am establishing the connection. Fear may lead to hate. I would say it's not so much that he has been taught to hate black people. He's just not been taught not to hate them. It's the absence rather than the presence that makes him that way.
This is however a guess by someone who hasn't studied it, and never will, so there's no need to take any of it seriously.
 

Hucket

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Apr 29, 2010
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I'd have to say its impossible to be only one or the other. Yes we are hardwired to distinguish differences in people, but we don't naturally make judgements on these people. We judge people based on stereotypes and other attributes we've been taught in the course of our lifetime. The fact that it seems to come naturally stems fromt he fact that we have been so exposed to these stereotypes and attributes that we believe that they come naturally. The term race is not biologically constructed, it is socially constructed. With the introduction of colonization and eventually eugenics race was invented to allow the colonizing nation to justify their "superiority" to the people they have colonized.

So basically...It more nuture than nature. Racist ideals cannot be spread without constant positive reinforcement from family and friends that these thoughts are correct.
 

Eumersian

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Sep 3, 2009
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Definitely a little bit of both. It's human, no, animal nature to be afraid or wary of the unknown. But that good ol' Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas type racism I believe is the kind that has to be taught. Given no information, people will be wary, but most will be open to the possibility that it could come out alright.
 

Ekonk

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Well, I'm decidedly non-racist, and I'm human, so it isn't in human nature, that's for sure.
 

historybuff

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What happened with the child? He's 4. It was probably a fluke. I seriously doubt that he is thinking in his four year old mind, "I dislike black people because they are dark! And maybe dirty!"

I would just say, he's four years old. Keep an eye on what he's watching, who his little friends and their parents are and what his parents may be saying around him.

I wouldn't take it that seriously. He's 4, not 14.
 

SenseOfTumour

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to me it makes total sense for a white (or black) kid, who's grown from a baby only seing people of his own skin colour, to be scared or at least wary of the big scary person who looks totally different to everyone he knows and trusts, that's not racism, I'd say it's closer to survival instinct, you know what 'good people' look like, from experience, and then something new and different comes along, and you're not going to like it.

However, that's where nurture comes in, that kid needs to be taught that people who look different are different in small ways but still just people, and are mostly the same as the rest of us.

This is the bit I think that bugs most people about the people who cry 'racism' at every opportunity, we're NOT all the same, we should be aiming for 'equal but different'.

I still think it's a shame we can't say stuff like 'black people are better at sport' despite looking at the results of the Olympics and the like, because some people decide there's some 'unwritten meaning' in that phrase. I'm not saying 'ooh they're good at sport, let's stop them being anything else, lets just train em to run around and win medals for us'.

I think he's been told some stuff about 'those scary black people' tho, and why he should hate them, and just needs to be told that he was told some very silly things and doesn't need to worry.

I do think there's a little bit in all of us tho. I don't know if this counts, but I know I feel kind of irritated when I'm sat on a regular bus, and end up between about 6 indian women who talk away in their own language thru me. I also know they've got every right to talk in whatever language they like, but there's still a bit of me that doesn't like it, knowing they've got no reason to talk ABOUT me, but knowing that it could be happening anyway. It's not that they're indian either, if it was a group of whites all talking in a foreign language it'd be just as annoying.