Curiosity and Racism

The problem of racism concerns every compassionate person. Still, not everyone is sure about the root causes of this ugly phenomenon. Perhaps the main question is whether people are born racists or become them.

Nelson Mandela asserted that

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Of course, Mandela was a politician, and every word he spoke was political. But scholars think the same way: humans are not born racists. They become them because of an innate tendency to categorize others as “us” and “them.”

In this sense, racism is a specific case of group antagonism (or intergroup conflict). Perhaps it is the most troubling due to its pure and unjustified misanthropy.

It’s terrible that some simply hate other people. These people only need a reason for their hatred. If they were to live in a racially homogeneous society, they would still find someone to hate. They will always find those whom they consider “unacceptably wrong.” In reality, racism is intolerance of otherness.

And this is the most terrible of social pathologies. Intolerance of otherness, like a plague, has always pursued humanity. It is so enduring because of the sad tendency of people to project the causes of their misfortunes onto others.

This is our contradictory evolutionary legacy. It compels us to categorize people into one tribe or another, regardless of whether the individual considers themselves its member. Tribalism helped our ancient ancestors survive in group competition, and it was a zero-sum game. Unfortunately, people have not stopped playing this game to this day, and others have occasionally become victims of persecution, up to genocide.

This always happens when the outcome of the social game is reduced to zero. Then, the privileged class needs to point fingers at others to absolve themselves of responsibility. The more distinctly the targeted…

Click