Study: Babies Show Racial Bias « CBS Seattle
People love to say that racism is a learned thing, perhaps hoping that it
might be cured completely some day by our just becoming more advanced.
Does the above linked study dash such hope?
Pretty much.
Racism, however unpleasant and unpalatable it is to most of us, is a natural and innate reaction in the majority of people and is probably a survival mechanism: I don't recognise the other group, he is "other", and must be a threat; the appearance of one would probably have factored into that to some extent.
Some people have claimed that racism is borne out of lack of exposure to people of other ethnic groups, but living in an area which is incredibly diverse, I can say that this is often not the case.
Sadly, all it takes is one person to do something to another of another group, and then it frequently becomes not the action of one prick in particular, but everyone who looks like that guy, who also share in his status of being a prick, even though they had nothing to do with it. I've known a few people go from very liberal and multicultural to becoming bigoted racists -- at least against a particular group -- after just
one bad incident.
Dismissing racism and racists and ignoring it (like all forms of bigotry and bigot), rather than trying to understand where it comes from and finding ways to remedy the causes, is something that I think is bad for society in the long-term. Even if it vanishes out of the public sphere, it can still continue underground, but people will be more select about where and with whom they discuss it, but will be oh so much more bitter.
Maybe when we're fighting the Zerg people will stop blaming things happening because of ethnic group/"race", sexuality, religion, gender, sex, and so on.