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Learned

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First, I must point out that technically both responses could be correct. However, I chose to go with racism being a learned behavior as I see subtle differences. By being taught something, you learn it. But, you do not necessarily have to subscribe to the thing being taught. As an example how many people were taught evolution in school, but chose to disregard it in favor of a creation theory? Just because something is taught to us does not mean that we have to implement and "learn" it.

Racism is certainly not something that a child is born with. You will never see a baby shun someone because they are black, white, Asian, gay, Jewish, or what have you. All a child wants is love, attention, affection and to have their basic needs provided for. Children wouldn't care if that was provided by a dog to be quite honest. One is not born into the world with negativity or a pessimistic view of the world. Racism is the worst form of negativity that can be run across in our society. It is a very sad fact that as much as we'd like to sit on our high horses and claim to be accepting of everyone, regardless of race or credo, that is not always the case behind closed doors.

Children naturally idolize their parents. They watch them and try to emulate their every action and judgement. This does not mean that the parents are actively trying to teach their child any particular thing. As an example, if a child watches their parent curse on a regular basis, then comes out one day with a four-letter word; does that mean that the parent was actively trying to teach their child bad language? No, it was learned just by observing. In my opinion racism works in the same way. If a child grows up, constantly seeing racist behavior and attitudes in their home it becomes normal and natural. And in trying to emulate their parents, the child will learn to behave the same way.

Some people also pick up racist views and attitudes later in life. This is not a taught behavior, as they are perfectly capable of choosing their own opinion no matter what anyone tells them. If they grew up in an accepting home and was taught that way, then chose later to adopt a racist lifestyle that is learned behavior. Somewhere along the line they observed this behavior and adopted it for themselves. Anyone can learn anything they wish to, being taught something is out of your control. Dozens of influences every day will try and teach you something to influence the way you behave. As an adult you either toss that teaching aside or change your view and learn from it. That is the difference between being taught to be a racist, and learning to be a racist.

You cannot choose what you learn when it is what you see and experience every day. In this way it is not the person't fault they learned this racist behavior, they were not shown anything different. If you have no other options presented to learn from, what other choice is there?

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