An Overview of Racism
An Overview of Racism
It is na?ve of us to think that racism has only to do with an individual's present color, culture and religion. In truth, the issue goes a long way back in historical, unnecessary springs of violence some millennia ago (or, in the case of racism induced by negative personal experiences, some time in the past).
Against the inevitable
First, as living creatures, we must look at the origin of racial classification at a biological angle.
A species without variety is vapid, uninteresting, and weak. Variety is a biological adaptation - a concept racists tend to overlook. Each race was brought about by the physical needs and the geographic conditions of their place of origin. There is no individual or collective that can be blamed for this diversity. If we are to point fingers, we would be accusing the unbreakable laws of physics and chemistry - the very foundation of the universe itself. By doing this, you are fighting a battle where it is inevitable that you lose. Also, the rest of the non-racist world will take pity on your ignorance. The laws of genetics are not something which will be easily eliminated by an ideology - something that is physically intangible. It is one of those pills that are hard for some to swallow, and your ability to do that defines your humanity.
The path history took
Second, as thinking, rational beings, let us put history into perspective.
In the centuries of European colonial expansion, when the conquistadors first stepped foot on foreign continents (the Americas, Asia and Africa), they treated the foreign lands as if they belonged to nobody because they dismissed the natives as 'nothing'. In those days, the Europeans divided the world amongst themselves, showing the first signs of europocentricity - which eventually led to racism.
For them, it was an issue of conquest and the natives' lack of 'civilization'. This 'civilization' was limited and equated to technology and dogma ("For God, gold and glory"). To them, the lack of technology meant a lack of science, and the absence of Christianity meant ignorance and savageness. This was obviously ludicrous, for both the east and the west were equipped with the same amount of science and the same amount of intellect - their materials were similar, but their methods were different. What the colonialists failed to realize was that their western mentality was powered by industrialization, and the eastern mentality was powered by agriculture - this being directly seen in the philosophies of that age. For the west believed in "nature for man", and for the east it was "man for nature". One school of thought was not better than the other. What was considered 'savage' in the west was the norm for the east and vice-versa.
Hence, the presence of races present a form of natural and universal equilibrium. One race cannot possibly survive without the existence of the other. Without this balance, man would be either fully abusive of nature or fully depriving himself of its potential.
The Europeans thought that they were more learned than their 'savage' eastern counterparts, but this was only because they could not understand the ways of the east, and in the same way, the east could not understand them.
The cure
In the modern world, where it is inevitable that people of different ethnicity will meet, it is perfectly normal to feel initial apprehensions and hesitations. That is something that will never be removed. As humans, it is normal to be nervous of (and even fearful of or intimidated by) something that is culturally unfamiliar or new to us. However, the danger lies in the instances where we allow sociological and racial differences affect our decisions and philosophy.
Like any social plague, the solution to racism is education. A truly educated individual would understand why races exist and why they should. Awareness and prevention are the keys to the cure for racism, and it is important to start young - for children are very clever in learning devilry from adults.
There is no philosophy, situation or collective thought to be blamed for the existence of racism in our supposedly free and modern world. I blame no one but every individual whose judgement of man is primitive and materialistic, for these individuals do not believe in the existence of a mind and soul - if they did, they would accept the inevitable truth that all men are, in a level deeper than skin, created equal.
Celine Roque is the owner and headwriter of Web Content Wow (http://www.webcontentwow.com/). She has been a freelance writer for the past 7 years. She specializes in website content keyword optimization and article research and writing. Knowledgeable in many fields she is used to doing extensive research. Her style is flexible and she can write about almost any subject.
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