Is Racism wired into you genetically ?

[Michael_W]

It's your assertion, I don't believe you, prove it.

 

I'm off to work now sunshine, hope you don't mind

[Mr Clowning]

Depends how you define racism, the goalposts keep moving .... when I was a kid it was acceptable to refer to black people as coloured, now it is deemed as racist !

 

I think the terminology that different generations disagree about changes because at some stage any word that shows indifference between races gets hijacked, or seen to be, by those who want to highlight difference, and thus offence is taken.

 

Also you have to be more and more concious about it the more and more multicultural we get. I remember having a dog called 'Blackie' back in the 70's, but out of choice I would not name a dog that today.

[Agent Orange]

babies aren't racist, they learn it as they grow from their surroundings

 

Exactly. Get a load of toddlers, of every race, in a room and watch what happens. They will play with each other, regardless of race.

[Mr Clowning]

The scepticism part is a non-factor, an animal being sceptical is nothing to do with race, it is to do with survival instinct. A dog in the wild will not go up to a pack of lions for a bit of a sniff. But lions and dogs are entirely different animals. It is not racist to call a donkey a donkey, and a parrot a parrot is it?

Your making my point for me where I have Highlighted your post.

 

that exactly what I'm saying, is Racism drawn from a more deep rooted instinct ?

 

---------- Post added 11-12-2013 at 12:36 ----------

 

According to a new study by European researchers, some children are born without the ability to form racial bias.

 

These children have Williams Syndrome. It's a rare genetic condition that affects about one in 10,000 children.

 

So if defective genes can stop someones ability to form racial bias, then genes must play a part in racial bias.

 

Thank you for that information, I will go look that up.

 

---------- Post added 11-12-2013 at 12:38 ----------

 

No, it's conditioned the same as anything else

 

The act of being Racist may be conditioned but what I'm asking is is it drawn from something that is genetically in us, something that would have helped us survive back before we became as sociably mobile ?

[Agent Orange]

Your making my point for me where I have Highlighted your post.

 

that exactly what I'm saying, is Racism drawn from a more deep rooted instinct ?

 

No it is not. Going back to my toddler comment, as an expample... humans do not have a deep rooted instinct to fear other humans. Kids would not openly go and play with other kids, of differing races, if that was the case.

[Mr Clowning]

Exactly. Get a load of toddlers, of every race, in a room and watch what happens. They will play with each other, regardless of race.

I don't think any studies have been done on this sort of thing. If say you put a load of black toddlers and a white one, then what happens ? Does the group notice the difference and act accordingly and not share their toys as much ?

 

I don't think anyone today would ever want to conduct such an experiment but without the lack of scientific proof, one way or the other, you cannot suggest what will happen.

 

Would the toddlers have been brought up to see other races up to that point, at what time in our lives do we learn to distract ourselves from instinctive urge ?

[Pritt Stick]

If anything I'd hazard a guess that, genetically at least, we're attracted to people who are different to us. It makes us healthier (at a community level) and minimises the chances up picking up inherited genetic disorders. It's unconscious, of course, and probably has to do battle with any acquired feelings of fear/hatred of others we pick up.

[angos]

No it is not. Going back to my toddler comment, as an expample... humans do not have a deep rooted instinct to fear other humans. Kids would not openly go and play with other kids,] of differing races, [/bif that was the case.

 

Babies are generally attracted to people that look like their parents and will usually shy away from people that look different.

 

This appears to follow people all their lives.

 

Study demonstrates sexual attraction to those who resemble our parents, ourselves.

Researchers reporting in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin last week say people are drawn to others who resemble their parents or themselves. This may explain why incest taboos are found in many cultures - to counter a natural tendency.

[Pritt Stick]

There is evidence that there is a wired in fear of snakes even though you may never have seen one, this could be considered an irrational fear as not all snakes are poisonous and this could lead to a hatred of all snakes.

 

 

Think you're being a little disingenuous here. Back in the day it would have been wise to be fearful of all snakes and avoid them. Those individuals that weren't, and thought 'that's a non-poisonous one', would have been at a greater risk of being wrong, being bitten and dying and therefore less able to add to the gene pool. Those that were more cautious would have had a higher chance of reaching adulthood and procreating and them passing on their values (genetically or through nurturing, I guess) making the next generation more wary and likely to survive to a pro-creating age. Hence our current, modern, perhaps slightly anachronistic fear of snakes.

 

Simple evolutionary biology.

[angos]

If anything I'd hazard a guess that, genetically at least, we're attracted to people who are different to us. It makes us healthier (at a community level) and minimises the chances up picking up inherited genetic disorders. It's unconscious, of course, and probably has to do battle with any acquired feelings of fear/hatred of others we pick up.

 

Its actually the opposite, if we were attracted to people that looked different, the defective gene that caused the caucasian mutation wouldn't have been passed from generation to generation.

 

Scientists discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.