As an author and Holocaust researcher, I appreciate a thorough examination of morality. Disgust, despair, and darkness exist within human nature. Holocaust victims faced the most perfidious forces; deceit, brutality, cruelty, disease, starvation, and the death of loved ones were the daily companions of concentration camp prisoners. How come so many people agreed to this horrible plan? How could millions more turn their backs on the immorality of exterminating an entire religious group? Therefore, we do not learn anything about ourselves if we do not examine this part of our psyche.
It is safe to say that a large part of the European population of the early 20th century did not like Jews. Pogroms were ubiquitous and largely ignored by society, the police and the armed forces. In fact, in some pogroms against Jews, homosexuals, the mentally handicapped and Gypsies the police and the armed forces (Einsatzgruppen, Cossacks, etc.) cooperate. Jews were significantly mistrusted, hated, and ostracized. They were the butt of jokes and the subject of innuendo. The Jews posed no threat of a reasonable nature or definition to Europeans. Jews amounted to about 2% of the population in Europe; they owned a small percentage of the money, had no influence on governments, and had no armed forces or militias. They couldn’t have been a threat to any Gentile Europe potion if they wanted to. So why did so many Europeans hate the Jews? How is it possible that so many people find it easy to hate millions of whom they know nothing and have never met? Were they automatons, eagerly licking up the propaganda nonsense offered up by the Nazis? Or were they intelligent humans, with the ability to understand the nuances of their society’s actions and still conclude that the Jews were bad people who deserved to be rounded up, imprisoned, and annihilated?
We are complex beings. I believe there is much more to us than the ever-present battlefield of good versus evil. Most of us are neither one nor the other, but both. We are beautiful and ugly, calming and terrifying, brutal and affectionate; we love and despise. Unlike animals, humans are governed by moral principles and beliefs. We are not motivated by delusions of morality, we are governed by them. So what leads a person to despise a stranger? Why do some people hate and fear those who are different in color, religion, or ethnicity? Why do so many people find it easier to hate than to tolerate?
My gut tells me that some people pick up racism because they were taught to hate at a young age by their parents, siblings, relatives, friends, or any other part of their social network. At some point in their youthful existence, they learned to hate those close to them. And, many of them continue to hate without questioning the veracity of their dislike. Being recognized as a fan makes some people popular with desired social groups. Research reveals that a high percentage of racists are poorly educated. However, not all racists are ignorant or mentally slow. Some people with graduate studies delude themselves with expressions of contempt for minority groups. The dark side is full of ignorance and deceit. And while many people are taught to be intolerant as children, some pick it up later in life, despite having a tolerant social network in their youth.
Could we be a little different from the last vestiges of our primordial ancestors? Like many animals, humans originally had to fight and control others to maintain territorial superiority. Perhaps the need to be superior is an innate mental mechanism, biologically acquired. This suggests that Darwinism could be a factor, although it may be impossible to prove. Evolution teaches us that we are governed by the principle of survival of the fittest. Is human behavior dominated by an innate fear of others? Is social responsibility, tolerance, and compassion simply acquired aberrant social behavior, employed more often by liberals and religious? Are the better angels of our conscience nothing more than strange adaptations to our dark and natural survival instinct?
I think people find it easier to hate because tolerance takes effort. Haters live with haters, in a community of malevolence. The more they hate, the more they are approved of by their social group. Tolerance would mark the hater as the enemy; the enemy is everyone who is different. This is an endless vicious cycle, guaranteed to spawn intolerant progeny. Therefore, we hate being recognized as appropriate by our peers.
But we can break the bonds of intolerance one person at a time, with education, conversation, and participation in all media. We can use social media and internet websites to our advantage. We can combat the innate fear of others by generating compassion for the individual, regardless of the setting. We can promote the value of each person as a unique entity with unlimited potential, rather than a member of a social or religious class with preconceived expectations. This is the tolerance of the individual soul. Only when we make the effort to understand and value the differences between us will we end racism and bigotry. Only when we accept the value of each person, regardless of their background, will our culture grow to be meaningful and rewarding.
Fear may be at the heart of racism and bigotry. We fear what we do not understand. We fear anyone who might be perceived as better than us. Therefore, we use the tools of intolerance to make ourselves superior to others. Our fear drives us to prove that we are better than the “others”. It feels good to be superior. However, for one person to feel superior, another must be subjugated. To feel better, we must dominate someone. The easiest way to dominate is to hate those who are not a threat. And it feels good to make them live in fear. We rationalize minimizing our fear by inflicting more fear on the victim. If they are inferior, we must be better. We get on their social corpse to feel superior.
Racism, hatred, intolerance and bigotry are the artifacts of fear. Eliminate fear and there will no longer be a need to use the tools of intolerance. This is our challenge. We must convince the haters that they have no reason to fear minorities. This is the greatest and most noble challenge of our generation. The reward of success is tolerance, respect and mutual recognition. We can share our planet together as equals. This will be our legacy.
But if we fail, our children will inherit a world dominated by the dark angels of our nature. If we fail, our progeny will be doomed to a life surrounded by fear, suspicion, hate, and death. We cannot end our generation sharing the same values that our European ancestors of the early 20th century held. We can and must be better than that. We must evolve towards a tolerant society. The future of our children depends on it.
