It is sad to me that we have known for so long how the psychology of these events create the cycle - Jane Elliot's Eye color exercise and the studies that followed from that in the late 60's, the Milgram Shock Experiments in the early 60's and the Standford Prison Experiment in the early 70's showing the total corruption that being placed in power and given the tools to do horrible things leads people (arguably general, good people) to do terrible things and assigning ANY reason for why it is okay to be terrible to someone results in a self-fulfilling prophecy that communities need to fight for generations to correct. With what we are learning about the impact in neurogenetics on health and behavior, I wonder what impact we will eventually discover of the prolonged emotional stress or emotional escalation from indoctrinated hate for the descendants of the oppressed and oppressors to see the real impacts of nature vs. nurture and how many generations we really do need to actively fight against racism/hate before it could be abolished.
Reflection 1.3
I think our history completely shapes our present. Our experience shape our behavior and beliefs, we teach these behaviors and beliefs to our descendants. There is increasing information that the very coding of our cells and the cells of our descendants across multiple generations is effected by our experiences. As such, the history of our ancestors and our country has created who we are, how we think, and what we do. If we want to change challenge our beliefs and create cultural change, we need to intentionally seek out different experiences.