by Joelle Steele
What causes hate and racism? Lots of things. To begin with, we have to understand that hate is all about fear. Yeah, that’s right, fear. People “hate” what they “fear” the most, even when they don’t recognize the relationship between the two emotions. They also hate what is different or unknown to them. And hate is almost always the effect of generational brainwashing and ignorance, a “them” vs. “us” mentality, and/or a single bad experience magnified and multiplied over time.
Evolutionary psychologists believe that our ancient ancestors, the hunter-gatherer tribes, for example, stood to benefit from keeping their distance from “other groups.” But this is a questionable theory on which most experts – including anthropologists who study hunter-gatherer societies – do not agree. In reality, hunter-gatherers welcomed others into their communities, intermarried with them, and worked together for their mutual benefit and common good.
So why do we have so many people these days who are filled with hate and rage against people who don’t look like “us” or believe like “us”? Generational brainwashing is the insidious root of most hate and racism. We are not born to hate each other, nor are we born hating others who are different than we are. We learn to hate from our family members who teach it to us by their own hateful behaviors that were passed down to them by their ancestors. Generational brainwashing can be rooted two generations ago or ten. The modern-day descendents in a family go into the world and perpetuate that hatred throughout the course of their own lives by spreading the hatred around, building a case against someone or something without ever taking the time to find out if the cause of the general hatred was even true or valid – and it never is.
In general, racists and xenophobes react to anyone or anything that is different as being a threat to them, to their very survival. This is because psychologically, racists and xenophobes are insecure and afraid. It is easier for them to identify with and feel complete around other racists – those who are like “us” – because their group identity makes them feel safe. It allows them to hide their deepest insecurities and feelings of inadequacy beneath a cultural or religious belief system that is shared with others and allows them to condemn whatever or whoever is not like “us.”
Taking pride in your religion or your national origins is very normal. But excluding anyone who does not share your religion or ancestral heritage is not. And when that exclusion turns into anger, hatred, and aggression towards those who are not like “us,” we’re talking about serious psychological instability. People who are unstable in this way are generally found to be narcissistic, lacking in self-esteem, and are often paranoid. They tend to strengthen the bonds within their own group and use the others outside of their group as scapegoats for just about anything and everything. They may even attempt to take revenge for wrongs that they feel these other people are perpetrating on good people like “us.”
Prejudices like this revolve primarily around stereotyping. But stereotypes are ridiculous constructs. They are the stuff of urban legends, conspiracy theories, and modern mythology. I have worked with and been friends and neighbors with many people from diverse walks of life. I was a residential property manager for several years, and from first-hand experience I learned that not a single stereotype – positive or negative – is true when it comes to any race, religion, nationality, gender, etc.
In the end, it is extremely important that we all understand that humans are biologically and genetically a single species: Homo sapiens. Our species has no subspecies because none of us has sufficient variations in our genetic make-up to be classified as such. The word “race” is not a biological term. It is used to describe the physical characteristics of humans that developed and evolved over tens of thousands of years, back when all humans migrated from Africa to other parts of the world and needed those physical characteristics to adapt to their new and different environments.
If you haven’t yet had your DNA profile done yet, I strongly suggest you do it, as it is an awesome and eye-opening experience. For example, by nationality, I am half Italian and half Swedish-speaking Finn. But my DNA tells a very different story: I am 39% Western and Central European; 30% Finnish, Saami, and Siberian; 18% French, Italian, and British; 5% Arabic; 4% Celtic; and 4% Ashkenazi Jew. Solid scientific proof that there’s no room in anyone’s DNA for hate and racism!
