Episode 247 - Side By Side With A Friend

This episode, unlike many of my episodes, is a feely-goody episode. I’m going to talk about friendship. But not just friendship in general, but rather how magical it can be. And I don’t use that term lightly – the things that friendship is able to transcend and overcome is truly remarkable. You and I could be from different parts of the world, have different skin colors, be different heights, and even speak different languages, and still become friends.

Episode Transcript

Humanity’s Proclivity to Racism

There has, of course, always been some level of racism in human existence. This is bigotry – make no mistake – but there’s actually an evolutionary reason for this. For most of human history, we’ve lived in tribes of about 150 people. Because resources were scarce, tribes often fought each other. One of the ways in which we distinguish friends from foes is if they look similar to us. That could take the form of what we wear, how we talk, and skin colour.

Just to be clear – I am in no way making a moral judgement here. That is, just because something has existed in our past and we still have psychological mechanisms for certain behaviors does not mean that it’s morally right.

As an example – hate and resentment could be deemed “natural” in a certain view. But that doesn’t mean that these feelings are ethical. Likewise, a proclivity to be hesitant towards people that appear different than us could be viewed as natural, but that doesn’t mean that those feelings are ethical.