Where do American public attitudes towards differences come from - Essay Example

26 September Where do American public attitudes towards differences come from? Godmade man superior to all creatures by blessing him with the highest intelligence and the sense to distinguish between things. On top of that, God guided man through the Prophets and the Holy Books at different points in time so that people know what they may do, what they have to do, and what they have to abstain from. Religion lays the basis of civilization as it embodies the complete code of ethics to guide human behavior.

Although the teachings of different religions differ from each other, and so do the views and perceptions of the nations following them, yet almost all religions have similar stances over ethics and moral values. Over the centuries, these ethical standards and moral values have grounded in the cultures and have become the most important criteria upon which human behavior is evaluated. Over the passage of time, societies have become increasingly multicultural, that has in effect, promoted learning and adaptation to different cultures.

As a result of this, people all over the world have developed particular views and notions about differences on the basis of religion, gender, and sexual orientation etc. Although attitudes about differences are believed to be inborn, these attitudes really are learned. Diversity of cultures is one factor that drives the society’s attitudes about differences. Let’s take societal perceptions about homosexuality as an example. In unicultural societies e.g. Iran and Pakistan, people at large hold negative perceptions about homosexuality whereas in multicultural societies e.g. Canada and South Africa, there is so much acceptability for the homosexuality that gay marriages are legal in them.

This is largely the influence of different cultures on each other, and that these attitudes are learned rather than in-born. An example of this is the illegalized gay marriage in the USA. Gay marriage is still illegal in the USA because despite its claims of being so, the USA is not really multicultural. The same point has been argued by Brooks in these words, “We don't really care about diversity all that much in America, even though we talk about it a great deal” (Brooks). In this quotation, Brooks conveys that people belonging to different races and ethnicities like Blacks and Caucasian Americans dwell in different localities maintaining their distinct cultures and values.

I have observed a noticeable increase in the eligibility of the African American candidates for recruitment in good jobs since Mr. Barack Obama became the president of the USA. The presidency of Mr. Barack Obama generated a message to the entire nation that the African Americans should not be underestimated in terms of capability and talent. The consequential increase in the employment of African Americans means that attitudes about differences are really learned rather than in-born. Attitudes toward differences are inculcated in children right from the first day of their learning, and they only become stronger with time.

Just as a child becomes mature enough to communicate with the elders, the child displays these attitudes of differences. Seeing a child at such a tender age of 1.5 or 2 years display these attitudes makes people think that attitudes toward differences are in-born but there are really not. What is in-born is just the child’s sense to distinguish between things. This sense helps the child judge things and tell one thing from another even without external help. However, differentiating between people on the basis of their religion, or sexual orientation and holding positive, mixed, or negative perceptions about them is largely an outcome of parental supervision and monitoring of the children’s behavior.

Birgitte Vittrup conducted a research to assess the possibility of beneficial effects of typical videos containing multicultural storylines meant for children upon their racial attitudes. Vittrup required the research participants to talk openly about race in front of their children, but many parents showed reluctance to it. Vittrup narrated one of the main findings of his study in these words, “A lot of parents came to me afterwards and admitted they just didn't know what to say to their kids, and they didn't want the wrong thing coming out of the mouth of their kids” (Vittrup, cited in “See Baby Discriminate” 1).

This reluctance of the parents fundamentally originated in their acknowledgement of the fact that racial attitudes are taught to the children by parents who behave in a certain way. Despite all of the aforementioned examples, I also believe that attitudes towards differences are also in-born, at least partly. As human beings, we make sense of the world using the senses God gave us. Two people with different colors belonging to different races just obviously seem to be different and we don’t need external reassurance to realize the difference.

It is just how we differentiate between Red and Green, Black and White that we are able to identify people with different races on the basis of their skin color. Concluding, attitudes towards differences of race, color, and such other criteria are learned for the most part, and only partly are in-born. We mostly learn these attitudes from religious teachings, culture, and social stereotypes. However, using our basic senses, we are able to differentiate between things which means that attitudes towards differences are also in-born to some extent, but the cultural, religious, and social influences mainly shape our perceptions.

Works Cited: Brooks, David. “People Like Us.” The Atlantic Monthly. Sep. 2003. Web. 28 Sep. 2012. . “See Baby Discriminate.” The Daily Beast. 4 Sep. 2009. Web. 26 Sep. 2012. .