Human Prejudices Part 1
Created | Updated Mar 7, 2002
Throughout human history countless conflicts have arose out of peoples resolve to pass judgment without considering the individual or simply the predication of one person based on ones ethnicity, religion, and/or his/her beliefs.
Many scholars now believe that personal prejudiced ideologies are a mix of biological human tendencies and ideas absorbed through their close contact with one or a number of guardians and/or peers who directly or otherwise displayed those prejudices hitherto modeled after by the child. If this holds true, socially and biologically, then to fully understand this behavior we must look back in time and find the reason for its development in the first place and explore the many examples we have so we might change. It would also mean we cannot hate those who hate, because this is all they've ever known, for them to change so must thier environment.
Forthcoming and simply put prejudgement is a behavior evolved as a defense mechanism and nurtured by societies whom in the past or present gained advantages over societies "next door" with it.
This is Part 1 of which I'll be exploring the many complexities of what I feel is the single most deciding Human Behavior in the course of our rich tapestry of histories. Keep in mind though that this is simply a quick overview and should be read as though.Part 1: 4,000,000 B.C.E.: AUSTRALOPITHICINES
At one time people weren't people at all, well not in the self-glorifying egotistically introspective manner that we all know and love today. No, at one time we were all flea infested bipedal chimpanzees rolling around in our own feces.
There is a gap in the African fossil record between nine million and five million years ago. At the end of this time period four new pongoid genera appear. DNA suggest that these four genera diverge from a common ancestor; and steadily mutating Mitochondrial DNA suggest they did so during this missing period in the fossil record. One possible explanation for our query may reside within this time period.
There are ongoing debates as to what had happened during this period. Suffice it to say that our ancestors were one of the four major genera that came out of this period. In the midst of our ancestral species in Africa known as australopithecines ("southern ape" since the first specimen found was recovered in South Africa) evolved the genera that would later produce what are known now as Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans.
This genus of australopithecines was further split into two groups that we know of, australopithecine robustus (larger group, ridged skulls for large chewing muscles) and australopithecine agile (more diminutive, classic Homo style head shape). On average both types stood below four foot.
Most anthropologists like to infer that our ancestors were the agile group and more specifically the species Australopithecine Aferanis (literally "African Southern Ape"...DUH) and still others liken themselves to Lucy and her merry group of Africani. Regardless to the schools of thought, most can agree that the different species did come into contact with eachother at one time or another over the course of the couple million years life spans of the species. If not every once in a while, all the time and if the behavior patterns of modern humans are any indication we might safely assume that not all of these contacts were friendly ones.
Competition in the African plains that we know today can be very fierce, it is only logical to assume that this environment a couple million years ago with the same basic ecosystem would be just as fiercely competitive. The behavioral patterns of a tribe of these "pygmies" living in such an environment could quite understandably be hostile toward another group who did not look like family. These may be the first "Human" wars.
Till next time.
Many scholars now believe that personal prejudiced ideologies are a mix of biological human tendencies and ideas absorbed through their close contact with one or a number of guardians and/or peers who directly or otherwise displayed those prejudices hitherto modeled after by the child. If this holds true, socially and biologically, then to fully understand this behavior we must look back in time and find the reason for its development in the first place and explore the many examples we have so we might change. It would also mean we cannot hate those who hate, because this is all they've ever known, for them to change so must thier environment.
Forthcoming and simply put prejudgement is a behavior evolved as a defense mechanism and nurtured by societies whom in the past or present gained advantages over societies "next door" with it.
This is Part 1 of which I'll be exploring the many complexities of what I feel is the single most deciding Human Behavior in the course of our rich tapestry of histories. Keep in mind though that this is simply a quick overview and should be read as though.Part 1: 4,000,000 B.C.E.: AUSTRALOPITHICINES
At one time people weren't people at all, well not in the self-glorifying egotistically introspective manner that we all know and love today. No, at one time we were all flea infested bipedal chimpanzees rolling around in our own feces.
There is a gap in the African fossil record between nine million and five million years ago. At the end of this time period four new pongoid genera appear. DNA suggest that these four genera diverge from a common ancestor; and steadily mutating Mitochondrial DNA suggest they did so during this missing period in the fossil record. One possible explanation for our query may reside within this time period.
There are ongoing debates as to what had happened during this period. Suffice it to say that our ancestors were one of the four major genera that came out of this period. In the midst of our ancestral species in Africa known as australopithecines ("southern ape" since the first specimen found was recovered in South Africa) evolved the genera that would later produce what are known now as Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans.
This genus of australopithecines was further split into two groups that we know of, australopithecine robustus (larger group, ridged skulls for large chewing muscles) and australopithecine agile (more diminutive, classic Homo style head shape). On average both types stood below four foot.
Most anthropologists like to infer that our ancestors were the agile group and more specifically the species Australopithecine Aferanis (literally "African Southern Ape"...DUH) and still others liken themselves to Lucy and her merry group of Africani. Regardless to the schools of thought, most can agree that the different species did come into contact with eachother at one time or another over the course of the couple million years life spans of the species. If not every once in a while, all the time and if the behavior patterns of modern humans are any indication we might safely assume that not all of these contacts were friendly ones.
Competition in the African plains that we know today can be very fierce, it is only logical to assume that this environment a couple million years ago with the same basic ecosystem would be just as fiercely competitive. The behavioral patterns of a tribe of these "pygmies" living in such an environment could quite understandably be hostile toward another group who did not look like family. These may be the first "Human" wars.
Till next time.
