is fear in any way related to racism?or causes of racism?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

Good question. A lot of people say the two are related as if fear is the major, direct cause, but I really don't think it's that simple. I think there are multiple psychological related reasons. I think over intolerance for others paried with over-distinguishing of people who are different are as much of a "cause" than fear. A lot of people have a tendencey to recognize people's difference more than necessary, and I think for some people, it can add up to seeing and weighing certain irritations or hatefulness on those differences. And that's what I mean by over-distinguishing. I also think racism has changed since it's become more criticially recognized, and that aspect has changed a lot with it, I think. Stereotypes have an effect, too, especially when they grow and people's perspectives become effected by them.

Fear does probably play an aspect, but it's probably more of a territorial aspect that comes out especially from the negative over-distinguishing of people. Those people who over-distinguish others can grow a negative feeling about them, and perhaps they'd grow a sense of apprehension for certain things that happen to them. And I say them because that how "racists" see them; as a group.

Welcome to the pool. And of course, racism and fear are related. Hatred and/or discrimination of one group of people on the basis of race is illogical and unscientific. People are, first of all, individuals - only secondarily members of an ethnic or racial category. If it is necessary for an individual to counter his feelings of inferiority by pointing to others as being lower on the scale of individual worth, he often resorts to stereotypes and generalizations in which all members of a different race are: (insert any disparaging characteristic here) - Lazy, dirty, ignorant, dishonest, etc. etc. I believe that the underlying reason for this type of behavior is fear, - Fear of being unfavorably compared to others, insecurity, lack of self-esteem, etc. IMO

To me, racism is caused by fear and fear is caused by lack of exposure to another race, creed, nationality, or whatever. We tend to be afraid of the unknown and then we start believing things about this "unknown" group and this is where the racism begins to grow; focusing on our perceived differents rather than embracing all of the things that we have in common.

Wow, Amna, welcome to Answerpool; are you really from Cairo as in Egypt! Cool!

Surely there are expections to those two. There are people who are familiar with a race, yet stereotypes persist. And there are people who don't think they're inferior at all, yet still over-distinguish themselves from others. I would think negatively looking at our differences could come about without having a fear of others. Simply adding a negative element to the perceptions of our differences seems to be a more underlying source of racism. It comes about simply from seeing each other in a certain way. I think that's all there is to it. Perceptions of differences.

Is fear really necessarily an outgrowth of being unexposed to others? It seems more like the unknown would cause people to stereotype more and to simply put too much emphasis on how people are different (since differences are easier to see than similarities) than fear would.

Racism, at times generates enormous amount of anger.And anger is mainly caused by fear so anger and racism are also related.IS it true that everyone who cant really control their anger most of the time are included in the catagory of racists?

Fear is one cause but certainly not the only cause for racism.

I believe that racism is also a cultural problem. People are raised within a racist environment and while they may not fear the other races, they may promote stereotyping and looking down on others.

It is also an issue of economics. When economic lines follow racial lines there can be a lot of racist ideologies that come out of this division that aren't true.

Racism can also be promoted by politicians to gain more solid support for their group. The racism is there but these politicians stir it up and make it part of the political realm rather than just letting it sit idle within our society. See David Duke, Hitler, Louis Farakkan.

Racism is also deeply rooted in our history. Getting rid of the lasting legacy of racism in the past is certainly more challenging than simply overcoming fear or xenophobia.

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Originally posted by Amna:
IS it true that everyone who cant really control their anger most of the time are included in the catagory of racists?

I imagine someone that can't control their anger very well would be angry at a lot of stuff, and other races could be one of them. But I don't know much about those kinds of people so I'm not that sure. If one of these types of people were racist, would fear play any part, or would it just be brought about by anger?