We are not born BIGOTS. We are TAUGHT to be ONE!

Children are born as “blank slates” – John Locke

Bigot is a term used for those who do not accept people who are of a different cultural heritage or have a different believe system than theirs. He/she feels that one’s views and opinions are superior to anyone else’s. 

We often come across people who acknowledge one’s culture and identity, but fail to appreciate the cultural identity of someone else. It is absolutely great to love ones cultural heritage but to depreciate someone else’s without any basis is nothing but bigotry. 

Have you ever wondered how they become intolerant? 

When a child is born everything is new to him. He learns everything step by step by following the people that surrounds him. From eating to walking, all the basic stuffs are learned from the family and the neighborhood. The family and the neighborhood form the base of the thinking process of a person. As the child grows older he is surrounded by more people hence, getting to learn more from interacting with them. He starts experiencing and understanding more complicated things about the world and the society but his perspective would work according to what has influenced him the most. Hence, his thoughts and opinions would match to those whom he has interacted with the most. 

The same way a bigot is a product of the many bigots he has been with throughout his life. When parents make derogatory comments on people belonging to different religion or region it can lead to their children to have the same opinion. There is more possibility of a boy to become a misogynist if he hangs out more with friends who are of that opinion. A child getting praised all the time for being fair skinned or being compared with other dark-skinned children would most definitely get him to have the false notion that fair skin is more superior and beautiful compared to darker skin. 

From this we can say that superiority and inferiority complex all depend on what one has experienced. But human beings keep learning till their very last stage of life. Opinions can change. One can unlearn and relearn if they come across a person or persons who can greatly influence them. Education and awareness is the key to solve almost every problem in this world and so it is for bigotry. Hence, one either has to be open minded from the very beginning or has to be taught to unlearn all the false notions and become open minded by a good influencer.