In one of my ever-more-common nocturnal sleepless intervals, I had this thought: Why are some folks so set in their beliefs that they refuse to even consider alternatives?
Take slavery, for instance. Some view that sad time in American history with blinders on. “White Americans went to Africa, hunted down black people, brought them over here and enslaved them”. This one event has colored their entire perception of reality and the way they see and interact with each other and with other races.
It doesn’t matter that it didn’t happen that way. That slavery existed long before America was founded. That blacks enslaved other blacks, that black Muslims enslaved blacks and whites, that British, Dutch and slavers from other countries acquired the slaves that ultimately ended up in the Americas. Or that black tribes in Africa raided other black tribes, captured their people, and sold them to slavers. Or that the conquerors and the strong, world-wide and throughout history, enslaved the people they conquered. Even Native Americans raided other tribes and enslaved their enemies. All this never enters into those aforementioned folks’ worldviews.
And while they’re crying “foul!, white people enslaved black people and are responsible for all their woes, and now blacks need entitlements and payola as recompense”, do they even realize that slavery is still ongoing to this day, in Africa and other countries? Are they doing anything about it? Do they even care?
Now before you click the back button and delete me from your friend list or your Twitter feed, or burn me in effigy, or destroy the Dorian Grey portrait of the young me hanging in my hallway and cause me to age and deteriorate and crumble into foul-smelling dust, bear with me. There’s a point to all of this.
And in case you think I’m picking on blacks, let’s turn the spotlight on white people. In this case, white, religiously righteous, people.
I define the religiously righteous as those folks having worldviews concerning religion that are wrapped in chains and set in concrete. Nothing anyone can say to them can penetrate their shield of righteousness, can convince them that there might, just might, be alternative ways of looking at things that don’t necessarily void their beliefs. They, too, wear blinders.
Consider this sentence: Man is descended from apes. That one statement riles the religiously righteous to no end, and they’ll bend your ear ad nauseum about how, no, they did NOT come from monkeys, no way, no how, that no monkey genes were in their makeup, that they were created by God, in his image.
From dirt.
O…kay. You’d rather come from dirt than from an ape? Whatever.
All monkeying around aside, I have no problem with that “being descended from apes” argument. And who knows if it’s a valid hypothesis? What science has shown us, however, is that the human genome contains the DNA of Neanderthals, along with another hominoid species known as the Denisovans, and possibly even other hominoid species. In other words, eons back, we had sex with a lot of different kind of folks!
Let’s look at things from another angle. All in all, intelligence aside, we’re not that different from animals. Ninety-nine percent of our genes are shared by chimps (50% of the genes of all life on Earth are shared with humans). Humans and animals alike breathe oxygen, exhale CO2. We eat food, expel wastes. We need sleep. We are all alike in that we are products of our Earth ecosystem.
I’m not saying we weren’t created by God. Take those 99% identical genes shared by humans and chimps. Although they’re the same genes, they’re expressed in different ways. The activity (expression) in identical genes is higher in humans, and lower in chimps.
What I am saying is that it’s possible God created us, and maintains us, following strict parameters that He Himself brought into existence. The same ones He used to create the universe. Gods laws. We call them physics. Chemistry. Ecology. Botany. Biology. And the other sciences. Including genetics and evolution. Who’s to say that God, going by the same blueprint He drew up to design the universe, didn’t set the expressions of those identical human and chimp genes higher in humans and lower in chimps to differentiate the species and make His children special?
So to the slavery blamers and religiously righteous out there: As Hamlet said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. Your worldview ain’t the only one out there, Bubba. And it may not even be correct.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
But enough with the examples. Now to the point. It all comes down to this: Every segment of humanity, whatever race, sex, or class, is both benefited by and a victim of how and where they were raised.
Raise a black boy or girl in a ghetto, midst poverty, crime, racial suspicion and ignorance, surrounded by and interacting with the same type people generation after generation, it’s no surprise when they grow up to think and act in certain ways, courtesy of their upbringing. They might just grow up to believe white Americans were responsible for all slavery.
At the other end of the spectrum, raise a white boy or girl in rural America, surrounded by generations of Bible thumpers, where God, guns and apple pie are the norm, where the Civil War, for God’s sake, is still contested, and don’t be shocked when they grow up with certain rock-solid, unshakable beliefs – all acquired at the foot of ancestors and peers with the same upbringing. They may, in fact, become the religiously righteous.
It’s culture, folks. Culture – how and where we’re raised – that influences our thinking, our beliefs, and our attitudes towards those who are different from us.
So what am I getting at? We need to rise above our raising. We need to get out more, and make sure our descendants do, too. It’s no wonder that some of the folks who go to college, travel while young, or head off to war come away with a better understanding of themselves, the world, and those who live in it. They’re no longer bound by their upbringing.
So stay in school. Take diverse classes. Travel extensively. Read lots of books covering a myriad of subjects. And keep learning after school. Question everything. Take nothing for granted. Above all, meet new folks from different cultures. And listen to them. Share your upbringing, but don’t judge. And above all, THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!
You might just come away with a modified worldview. That fellow that said “don’t judge me until you walk in my moccasins” had it right. The more folks from varied races and cultures we meet, befriend and interact with, the better we will understand them. And ourselves.
