YOU STUPID CHINK! Options

[LoveToMySilas]

There are a few topics on here about racism but they didn't really get into the topic that I wanted to discuss. Today, our class was talking about prejudice and racism and what caused people to be racist. It was quite interesting really, because my teacher said that the reason why people are racist is because they're afraid.

What do you guys think about this? Or what do you think causes people to be racist?

[MissHygienic]

Well, people innately search for other people who look like them, and depending on their environment in their childhood, if they have been told back then that black people have gangs in spades and carry around guns and smoke crack for fun, they are going to start believing that this is the truth. It's hard to force a child to change his or her mentality when they're fully developed adults, and so racism is developed this way. I was brought up in a strict Catholic home, so I wouldn't call myself a racist, but I do feel uncomfortable around people who are drastically different.

Our psychological evolution has just been this way. If we weren't all conditioned to believe in and or take stereotypes seriously in our youth, racism would decrease significantly. It's worsened because stereotypes exist for a reason; some are true, and some are plain exaggerated, but once you've witnessed more truth in those stereotypes, you start believing that it's the truth. Some people are able to distance themselves entirely and say that they are not racist whatsoever, who knows if that's the truth, but more people cannot and the majority rules.