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Obama’s Charlottesville Response Most-Liked Tweet Ever

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Re: Obama’s Charlottesville Response Most-Liked Tweet Ever

#3
Perhaps it's popular because it's not true. But it should be true, and everyone wishes it was true.

The evolutionary basis of xenophobia is well-understood. A quick search turns up, for example:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/...

Babies of about the same age as the ones shown in Obama's tweet already display instinctive xenophobia:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-babies-bigo...

Re: Obama’s Charlottesville Response Most-Liked Tweet Ever

#6

Perhaps it's popular because it's not true. But it should be true, and everyone wishes it was true. The evolutionary basis of xenophobia is well-understood. A quick search turns up, for example: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/... Babies of about the same age as the ones shown in Obama's tweet already display instinctive xenophobia: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-babies-b…

But xenophobia is most certainly a spectrum of emotion, and that which occurs in babies can be taught quite easily out of them.

Once friendships occur, specifically, it tends to fade away pretty quickly.

So I'm not sure if baby-sourced studies like the one you show "prove" that "it's not true."

Not saying that the studies are wrong; just that we all have many biological traits that we overcome easily through nurture.

Re: Obama’s Charlottesville Response Most-Liked Tweet Ever

#7

Perhaps it's popular because it's not true. But it should be true, and everyone wishes it was true. The evolutionary basis of xenophobia is well-understood. A quick search turns up, for example: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/... Babies of about the same age as the ones shown in Obama's tweet already display instinctive xenophobia: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-babies-b…

Instinctive xenophobia is different from indoctrinated bigotry.

Re: Obama’s Charlottesville Response Most-Liked Tweet Ever

#8

Perhaps it's popular because it's not true. But it should be true, and everyone wishes it was true. The evolutionary basis of xenophobia is well-understood. A quick search turns up, for example: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/... Babies of about the same age as the ones shown in Obama's tweet already display instinctive xenophobia: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-babies-b…

In-group out-group markers are flexible, but can most easily be based on physical characteristics, so it is maintained. The best chance to remove it is to counteract those markers with in-group markers pertaining to class, dress, language, and values.

EDITED for typos and clarity.

Re: Obama’s Charlottesville Response Most-Liked Tweet Ever

#9

Perhaps it's popular because it's not true. But it should be true, and everyone wishes it was true. The evolutionary basis of xenophobia is well-understood. A quick search turns up, for example: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/... Babies of about the same age as the ones shown in Obama's tweet already display instinctive xenophobia: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-babies-b…

Trash analysis from a throwaway account.

Independent.co.uk link discusses proposed evolutionary/biological origins of xenophobia, and specifically points at groupthink, not individual bias, as a possible explanation.

Smithsonian link describes a study where babies show a preference for non-racialized puppets who displayed similar food preferences. Nothing to do with race or bigotry.

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