Innate is defined as existing in one from birth. Prejudice, however, is any preconceived opinion or feeling formed beforehand, either favorable or unfavorable, without knowledge, thought, or reason. The assumptions of other races, religions, financial backgrounds or gender are not determined at birth. With internment camps, slavery and the Holocaust, prejudice against certain races have been part of the human history for a long time. Prejudice is not something innate, but taught or learned. Children are born innocent, thus have no prior animosity against anyone of different backgrounds or race. The media and events can reinforce stereotypes, influencing peoples’ views, and thus making them prejudiced. As stereotypes and prejudice go hand in
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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 that it’s opposite.’ Children are born innocent, and pure without knowing right from wrong unless taught. Without any predetermined hate for others, it can be concluded that children are taught prejudice. Similarly, children can mimic their parent’s behavior. With parents as role models, prejudice can be learned at a very young age. An example of prejudice being taught is Hitler Youth. Its initial goal was to enable the youth as future soldiers as preparation for World War 2. It also included the indoctrination of the youth to be prejudiced against the Jews. The Nazis found ways to ensure that the youth were surrounded by propaganda. The media was full of messages expressing the superiority of the ‘Aryan’ race and the inferiority of Jews and other undesirables such as gypsies and homosexuals. In addition, children’s brains are able to absorb information like a sponge. Without being taught, children are able to pick up people’s behavior around them instinctively, learning prejudice. This leads to the next generation of ignorant adults. Babies are not equipped with the concept of a race being superior to another. It is when children, in their most influential years of life, learn and are taught prejudice that makes …show more content…
That is called stereotyping. Stereotyping originates from false opinions of other groups, which are not inborn. ‘Black people are lazy’, ‘Asians are poor’, ‘All Muslims are terrorists’, are some of the common stereotypes. But where do such stereotypes originate? Ignorance! I remember in Mathematic class, my teacher was adamant against certain stereotypes against Malays. I questioned how true his statements were but was shut down before I could get an educated answer. This further supports that prejudice is a learned behavior as those who encourage or suffer from these stereotypes believe that this is ‘just the way it is.’ Moreover, it is easier to spread and accept such ignorant stereotypes because it is cognitively efficient than to change one’s behavior. Eventually, people would come to accept these stereotypes without further investigating it, thus perpetuating negative racial profiling and reinforcing prejudice. By accepting such easy accusations of races, some people may feel racially superior, thus learning that prejudice is okay. This suggests that prejudice has become so widespread that it is deemed ‘normal. An example of prejudice and stereotyping being learned is the 9/11 terrorist attack. The opinions of Muslims have changed after that event. It has also created the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. From the FBI hate crime statistic in 2000, there were 28 hate crimes
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 that it’s opposite.’ Children are born innocent, and pure without knowing right from wrong unless taught. Without any predetermined hate for others, it can be concluded that children are taught prejudice. Similarly, children can mimic their parent’s behavior. With parents as role models, prejudice can be learned at a very young age. An example of prejudice being taught is Hitler Youth. Its initial goal was to enable the youth as future soldiers as preparation for World War 2. It also included the indoctrination of the youth to be prejudiced against the Jews. The Nazis found ways to ensure that the youth were surrounded by propaganda. The media was full of messages expressing the superiority of the ‘Aryan’ race and the inferiority of Jews and other undesirables such as gypsies and homosexuals. In addition, children’s brains are able to absorb information like a sponge. Without being taught, children are able to pick up people’s behavior around them instinctively, learning prejudice. This leads to the next generation of ignorant adults. Babies are not equipped with the concept of a race being superior to another. It is when children, in their most influential years of life, learn and are taught prejudice that makes …show more content…
That is called stereotyping. Stereotyping originates from false opinions of other groups, which are not inborn. ‘Black people are lazy’, ‘Asians are poor’, ‘All Muslims are terrorists’, are some of the common stereotypes. But where do such stereotypes originate? Ignorance! I remember in Mathematic class, my teacher was adamant against certain stereotypes against Malays. I questioned how true his statements were but was shut down before I could get an educated answer. This further supports that prejudice is a learned behavior as those who encourage or suffer from these stereotypes believe that this is ‘just the way it is.’ Moreover, it is easier to spread and accept such ignorant stereotypes because it is cognitively efficient than to change one’s behavior. Eventually, people would come to accept these stereotypes without further investigating it, thus perpetuating negative racial profiling and reinforcing prejudice. By accepting such easy accusations of races, some people may feel racially superior, thus learning that prejudice is okay. This suggests that prejudice has become so widespread that it is deemed ‘normal. An example of prejudice and stereotyping being learned is the 9/11 terrorist attack. The opinions of Muslims have changed after that event. It has also created the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists. From the FBI hate crime statistic in 2000, there were 28 hate crimes