Reasons for the Spread of Racism

Searching for self-esteem

Many groups rely on harmful and biased behavior to enhance their position in themselves. When a person feels that his value derived from the society to which he belongs or the nationalism to which he belongs has begun to destabilize and collapse, he takes proactive measures to restore his confidence and appreciation for the group to which he belongs to.

 (Example: Turkish society before the collapse of the Turkish lira was less severe than it is after its collapse, with the feeling of economic instability, the features of racism appeared, and it developed very rapidly, and through it they were trying to find a reason to suspend this instability, and automatically the Syrian presence was the The easiest hanger for that) and despite the futility of this behavior, it is widely followed…

Illusory Distinction

Man by nature is a social being, especially if he is in his original country, and he likes to imagine or feel that the group to which he belongs is important and influential, and this depends on the nature of the society if it is theocratic, tribal or national (for example in Turkey the society He tends to nationalism more than other identities, and that is why the word “we the Turks” is used in most racist attacks. We Turks do not flee from war. We Turks sacrifice. We Turks fought in Canakkale….) The problem here is that the individual proves the distinction of his race over The basis of contempt for other ethnic groups, the growing national, religious or tribal feeling naturally enhances negative behavior towards groups that do not belong to the same “political” identity. Governments, parties and even currents have a major role in spreading and consolidating this thought, by strengthening conflicts between individuals and groups in various ways. Possible means and ways that these parties can gain as a result a lot of popularity and votes in the elections (everyone has seen and heard the head of the Turkish Zefar Party, Umit Ozdag, who declares in the media and publishes his tweets on social media Y, which is against the Syrian refugees in Turkey, and also these parties use the media and highlight some mistakes and exaggerate them to fuel the idea of hatred against Syrians)

Racism and self-isolation

Discriminatory and negative thought is closely related to the extent of knowledge of the other and openness to their culture. When the environment in which a person lives is closed to itself, this environment will give false perceptions and stereotypes about the other coming from a different environment or differing in identity or religion, and also generated a feeling of fear and suspicion of the existence of The other, and this necessitates building a wall around the social perimeter, with the aim of protection, which later turns into a form of non-acceptance of the other and placing all the blame on him, as he is the main cause of all problems….

But the great paradox that we face when we discuss the idea of racism, is that accusing any religious, class or ethnic group of racism, is in itself a type of racism and discrimination…. There is no racist society as a whole, but there are individuals within each society, but their proportions vary, and accordingly the evaluation is done…

Article written by:
Nabil Adham Al-Mohammed