Growing up in very religious environments - like all of the Middle East?
Growing up with a homophobic government and homophobic environment like Russia where it is the norm?
Growing up in countries where there is a very hated "other" tribe like in Israel?
Outside of the "developed" world a lot of non-liberal stances are very alive and practised. But should we condemn a vast fraction of these people who hold racist or homophobic views in environments where they are accepted or even encouraged?
Plenty of people have left those places and adopted more liberal stances. But this times time and acclimatisation. And education. So much education.
But when you write people off or morally judge them, you usually encourage them to dig in their heels because no one likes to be told their life and upbringing is wrong and a lie.
I have seen relatives' views on homophobia soften over the years but I know from experience flat out telling them they are wrong got nowhere. But they came from a time when everyone was supposed to have only one boyfriend/girlfriend into spouse for their whole life, and living was about making sure food was on your table that night. They had society force feed some ideal on them and never given the space to contemplate otherwise.
What’s interesting to me is how selectively this kind of understanding is applied. Why is it that we default to this reasoning to explain hate but not, say, crime. Where’s this level of nuance where we discuss riots? Why does it apply in one case but not the other? Why do we get blame upbringing and society in one scenario and then default to hard nosed personal responsibility in another?
I find your argument convincing. I just don’t understand why looking at the context of an individual’s upbringing is acceptable when explaining why aunt Becky is racist but isn’t when explaining why Mohammed is angry.
But I would also argue that it's also ok to choose not to associate with people who find you abhorrent. Would you genuinely expose your gay friend to your homophobic relatives and expect the gay friend to be happy and fine with being a target of bigotry/hate?
Growing up with a homophobic government and homophobic environment like Russia where it is the norm?
Growing up in countries where there is a very hated "other" tribe like in Israel?
Outside of the "developed" world a lot of non-liberal stances are very alive and practised. But should we condemn a vast fraction of these people who hold racist or homophobic views in environments where they are accepted or even encouraged?
Plenty of people have left those places and adopted more liberal stances. But this times time and acclimatisation. And education. So much education.
But when you write people off or morally judge them, you usually encourage them to dig in their heels because no one likes to be told their life and upbringing is wrong and a lie.
I have seen relatives' views on homophobia soften over the years but I know from experience flat out telling them they are wrong got nowhere. But they came from a time when everyone was supposed to have only one boyfriend/girlfriend into spouse for their whole life, and living was about making sure food was on your table that night. They had society force feed some ideal on them and never given the space to contemplate otherwise.