51. "RE: That's cool and all, but if humans were like chimps" In response to In response to 43 Fri Feb-13-15 12:40 PM by Tommy-B
>There would be no America as the native folk would have just >slaughtered them on first contact. >
>Sorry I refuse to believe bigotry is a part of the human >condition. I believe it is cultured and ultimately that >culture has convinced us that it's in our nature. > >None of that however is good justification for just letting >bigots be bigots. >
i get your point on bigotry not being innate in every human. bigotry does depend on how one is brought up and whether they were taught to respect other people's cultures and beliefs. that's why i said the best way to combat it is through education. the human mind can override our deeply embedded chimp-like characteristics if we work at it.
i was talking more about racism and the instinct to feel 'aversion' to someone or something we feel is different. this is what racism is rooted in: ignorance and/or fear of the unknown. obviously this can be overridden, but we all have an "us vs. them" mentality to some extent. some people just feed it a bit too much and look to degrade and destroy other people because of it
If you're innocent, be cool. Only the guilty's catchin' offence.