Usually I post my thoughts about sports, but with all the craziness going on in our country over the past few days, it sparked a desire to get into some general thoughts I have about racism, extremism, where it comes from and how do you stop it?
I'm not a political guy, and I tend to keep my thoughts on most social issues to myself. However, one of my biggest passions in life is true crime. My dad was a detective, I've had multiple cops in my family, so maybe it's just instilled in me. I've been studying true crime obsessively for over the last 15 years of my life, and while doing that my interests started to bleed into human psychology. I started off studying criminal psychology, so I could understand what made criminals, killers, and sexual predators tick. I wanted to understand why they do what they do. Before I got involved in true crime, I used to think "Those people are just crazy, what is there to understand?" Turns out, that was an incredibly ignorant and naive way of thinking. Over the years I've learned a ton about criminals, their tendencies, and what molds them into becoming what they are.
Eventually, I asked myself "Why stop there? Why not branch out and study more about other areas of the human psyche?" Not long after, I found myself reading a lot about terror groups and hate groups, and what causes an individual that is born perfectly innocent to become a rabid racist or a vicious extremist?
At their core, racism and religious extremism are very similar. Religious extremists, like racists both have hatred for specific groups of people. Both groups can be prone to "graduating" into violence. To that end, the way both groups of people are bred are actually very much alike. So, why does one become a racist or an extremist? Like answering most questions, history can always be a great guide. Since Nazism was a major topic of discussion over the past few days, let's look back at history on Nazi Germany. How did an entire nation of people rally behind a hateful, racist lunatic? Were all of those people born of evil and hate? Were all of their parents racists and extremists and they passed it down to their kids? Of course not.
To best understand, a quick history lesson is required. This is a major cliff notes version to say the least, skipping over a thousand things, so bear with me. Before Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi party was unable to succeed in becoming Germany's majority political party. It actually started off as bit a joke, and many people considered Hitler a rambling lunatic. Not many took the Nazis all that seriously at first. Now, skipping over a thousand different events here, something very significant happened that was a major factor in the Nazi Party eventually gaining power. The stock market crash of 1929. It had economic effects outside of the United States and hit Europe and other regions hard as well. A German economy that was already hit extremely hard because of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, was hit hard yet again. A German economy that was finally rebounding was once again in the toilet. There was widespread poverty, civil unrest. German citizens had to line up blocks away just to get bread for their families. German people grew tired of the current regime and finally were open to an alternative way of thinking. They wanted something different. Anything to get them out of the doldrums. And as fate would have it, there was Adolf Hitler. His greasy hair, weird mustache, and radical beliefs. Suddenly, a goofy looking nutjob was taken much more seriously. The desperation and poverty of Germany was the perfect rallying cry to point blame at innocent people(namely the Jews) and rally a beaten down population around a single cause and reason for hope. Even if that reason was completely phony, and driven by hatred. 4 years after the start of The Great Depression, Hitler and the Nazi Party seized power in 1933 and most of you know the rest of the story.
History shows us poverty and desperation can influence a population greatly. Desperate people are more prone to extremism or racist ideals. It's a vicious cycle. Poverty can lead to desperation, desperation can lead to anger, and anger can lead to what was once a normal person to become radicalized. What is the first thing people typically do when they're angry? Look for someone to blame. Find a scapegoat that can be the cause of all their and the world's problems. The examples are all around us in many forms. Poverty-ridden neighborhoods are typically highest in crime. Poverty-stricken countries are generally hotbeds for religious extremism. Terrorist groups and gangs use this very premise to recruit and grow. They prey on the confused, angry, and vulnerable. When you are desperate, what is the one thing you want? Something that is innately instilled in every human. Acceptance and understanding. We want someone who will help us, especially when we are at our lowest point. We want and need a sense of belonging. In desperate times, the hand of evil can sometimes be the one that reaches out farthest to pick you up. They give you a means to focus your anger, and give you a purpose. Desperate people are far more susceptible to hate-filled propaganda and rhetoric.
This isn't universal of course. There can be white supremacists or terrorists that come from any background. Sometimes people just gravitate toward a cause or stumble into it with no real explanation. However, most of the time you can trace it back and find a cause. Many people blame it solely on parenting. "You are taught racism from your parents!" they say. This isn't always the case. Isolationism can play a big role. Many white supremacists come from privileged homes with kind parents. However, a mistake many of them make is not in teaching their kids hatred and to be bigoted, but sheltering them from the outside world. A lonely sheltered soul who feels isolated, doesn't have friends and due to lack of social interaction with diverse groups of other people will have a skewed view of how things truly are. Education is extremely important. I'm not talking about academics per se. Sitting down at school and solving math problems is not going to help you understand your fellow man. Education comes in many forms, and social education is extremely important and very undervalued in this country. Why do you think homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted with each passing year? Did a flip just finally switch in human brains? It was because as a people we became educated both through reading, learning, and social interactions. You are far more likely to become accepting of another person if you get to know them and understand that they are no different than you. They may be attracted to a different sex, but they like sports like you, like movies like you, enjoy the same food, the same activities, etc. The same applies to race. Once you take the time to learn, read, talk to others, and sit down and interact socially with a person of a different color, you will understand those very same things. They may look different, but we are one and the same.
When you are a loner your whole life or brought up in neighborhoods that have zero diversity, how are you ever going to become educated and learn? If you grow up in an area that has poor education, how are you ever going to understand these principles? Sure, your parents can try to instill this in you at a young age, but sometimes that isn't enough. Many people are polar opposites from their parents. My parents are Catholic, and I am an atheist. I know people who have a parent who is a police officer, yet grew up to become a criminal. Parenting alone isn't enough, the outside influence of the world is too strong. Your parents can't stay with you 24 hours a day trying to block out all of the awful rhetoric being shared in this country.
Racism can never truly be stopped. Hate will always exist in this world because we, as humans, are flawed. And as long as we are flawed, there is always someone who will fall victim to dangerous ideologies. Fortunately, just like any problem in life that needs to be solved, if you can understand the cause, you can take measures to try to prevent it from happening. If you want to cut down on racism and extremism in this country, then we need to tackle those core issues that breed hatred. Poverty, education, and diversity. Easier said than done of course. I'm not an expert on the economy. I wish I had all of the answers to fix those problems, but that's not my job. I'm just offering my thoughts on what needs to be fixed. Hopefully there's someone out there much smarter than I am who has the ideas to fix these issues, because I think in time we'd see a ripple effect and less hatred in our society.
Now, what to do about the older racists and bigots? Believe it or not, some people can change. Keyword: some. Just like brutal criminals, some people are too far gone and beyond repair, but many are not. We need to be careful how we deal with these people, because they are walking on fragile ground. Think of it this way... how would you treat a close friend or a child who adopted extremist beliefs? Would you shun them, beat them up, or push them away? You are only going to incite more anger in them and push them farther into the depths of extremism. You need to at least attempt to educate and help these people. Try to get them to see the good in others. People of all backgrounds can be rehabilitated, and we need to work together to try and help these people instead of just shouting back at them and attacking them in the streets. Of course, there are extreme situations where violence cannot be avoided, but that should always be a last resort. Maybe the soundest way in preventing older racists, extremists, and bigots is to ensure they are never molded in the first place. Give our youth less opportunities to become desperate and angry, pushing
them into the hands of supremacists and extremists. Keep our kids
educated on social issues so they understand more about their very own
neighbors. Encourage diversity so our people can interact with others of
different backgrounds, cultures, and religions on a regular basis. It's
much harder to hate someone when you get to know them. One cliche that
has always been true is that we hate what we do not know or understand.
Then maybe, one day, our children or children's children can be living in a world where incidents like the last few days are a rarity.
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