My favorite shirt had a very simple, and profoundly true, statement written for all to see: “No one is born a racist!”. Like racism, the fear of the other and the prosecution and persecution of those who follow a different “way” is learned and can therefore, be unlearned.

While “no one is born a racist”, per se, being a tribal species, we are all born with the group instinct: our group versus the 'other' group. Many social species have this kind of innate push apart::pull together dynamic that helps them as a social species not all amass together as one humongous 'happy family'. There needs to be a push away 'the other' drive to keep groups spread apart enough so as to utilize resources effectively. Just imagine how unworkable it would be if a social species had only the pull together instinct. All individuals would crowd together in one spot.

So in fact, we are all really born 'racists'. Only the particulars are learned, i.e., the particular object of 'racist' instinct. Of course, this instinct need not play out in racial ways. There is politics, religion, gender, age, occupation, education, clothes, etc., with which to judge and push away others.

My favorite shirt had a very simple, and profoundly true, statement written for all to see: “No one is born a racist!”. Like racism, the fear of the other and the prosecution and persecution of those who follow a different “way” is learned and can therefore, be unlearned.

While “no one is born a racist”, per se, being a tribal species, we are all born with the group instinct: our group versus the ‘other’ group. Many social species have this kind of innate push apart::pull together dynamic that helps them as a social species not all amass together as one humongous ‘happy family’. There needs to be a push away ‘the other’ drive to keep groups spread apart enough so as to utilize resources effectively. Just imagine how unworkable it would be if a social species had only the pull together instinct. All individuals would crowd together in one spot.

So in fact, we are all really born ‘racists’. Only the particulars are learned, i.e., the particular object of ‘racist’ instinct. Of course, this instinct need not play out in racial ways. There is politics, religion, gender, age, occupation, education, clothes, etc., with which to judge and push away others.

It is extremely important to understand that these concepts and beliefs are not innate. They are learned responses taught to anyone who has the misfortune of being in a group or tribe that foists these ideologies on the unsuspecting, the young, the weak, and the vulnerable.

I had a math teacher in college who wore shirts with sayings silk screened onto the back. This was his clever way of making sure that we all got the message when he turned his back to us at the blackboard. My favorite shirt had a very simple, and profoundly true, statement written for all to see: “No one is born a racist!”. Like racism, the fear of the other and the prosecution and persecution of those who follow a different “way” is learned and can therefore, be unlearned.

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle wrote that the path to correct action lies on the golden mean between the excessive and the deficient (I paraphrase here) – in what could be seen as an ancient Greek manifestation of yin and yang. Perhaps if we spent more time contemplating the correctness of our own path and less time discrediting the paths of others, we would not only find our way an easier journey, but would be ready to embrace “the other” and their journey when we all finally get to Rome.