When Donald Trump was campaigning for American Presidency, me and one of my close friends were having a discussion. She said that it wasn’t Trump’s fault that he held sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc… ideologies because he grew up thinking that saying these things and acting in an offensive way was okay. I countered her argument by saying that he was the only person that could be held accountable for the things that he said because he had had 70 years to educate himself and change his way of thinking.
In hindsight, I realised that there was a lot more to this argument that what meets the eye. One thing I realised was after seeing a post on Tumblr. The post basically said that they (the person writing the post) always felt bad that the first thought that came into their head when they met someone new was normally negative one (in the example they gave they talked about slut-shaming). But once they told their mum this, she said that the first thought you think is the one that you have been conditioned to think of by society, but it is the second thought you think that really defines you as it is the thought you come up with on your own. So, to apply this to Trump: it isn’t his fault that his first thought might be sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc… as it is a result of the society he grew up in, but he had a second chance to think in a better way and to make a better judgement. However, from what I could see Trump never did correct himself or change the way he thought. He grew up a misogynist and a racist and he stayed that way, never once bothering to apologise or to educate himself. He speaks his mind and his mind is screaming that he IS racist, homophobic, sexist and xenophobic.
I wrote an article about this because I think it IS your job to educate yourself and change the way you think even if it isn’t the thought that originally enters your brain. I think you ARE personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up and I don’t think that you can blame your racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc… ideologies on the society you grew up in. YOU have a whole lifetime to change the way you and others think, so why don’t you use it?
‘You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in’ – Eliezer Yudkowsky
Sidenote: If you are in a dangerous situation in your home life and it isn’t safe for you to speak your mind or challenge other people’s views, please don’t. Stay safe!
