# Bigotry Born of Pain -- Hating a Group becacuse an Individual hurt you



## The Green Shield (Jan 29, 2016)

We all know of the classic bigotry, the kind where the person believes they are superior and thus can treat the group they hate like scum. I'm just curious if the other kind is possible, bigotry born of pain.

Basically, you were hurt by a particular group (in any way, shape, or form) and in an act of vengeance, you label _everyone_ from that group with the same brush and fear them. You assume everyone are like the specific people who hurt you and treat them accordingly (either by avoiding them, outright hostility, whatever.)

Is it possible to be bigoted against a group because of pain rather than a sense of smug superiority? In addition, could the bigotry go both ways? How long could this bigotry last? 

 Because I'm plotting out a character, an American, who was cyberbullied online by someone from another nation who kept giving her grief because she was American. In turn, not sure how to act or respond, she begins to hate _everyone_ from that nation, not wanting anything to do with that nation, its culture. She reasons, "If they hate me, I'll hate them!" and fears that anyone she meets from that nation is just like the ones who picked on her in the forum.

Would that be wholly realistic of her?

Would it also be realistic for her to carry this personal vendetta well into college (this happened when she was in high school)? 

Thirdly, and this kind of ties into the overall story/setting. This story is a YA mystery/adventure set in the US, and the protagonist is part-Canadian, part-American because half of his family is from Canada. They're fellow college students, best friends, but she doesn't know he's part-Canadian. Until she finds out a little later when she learns he's going to Ottawa to visit his grandmother. I'm not really sure how she'd act. Either she flips all the metaphorical tables or rationalizes it with the usual "Well...he's just the exception!" rationality and goes about her day while harboring a secret fear that he's going to erupt into an anti-American rant any second -- basically treating him like a time bomb.

I guess the overall question is: how does the psychological aspect of this kind of bigotry work? A bigotry where you hate a group _not_ because you think you're superior over them in some way, but you were hurt by them. How does it work? Does what I just listed out about this character feel kind of realistic for someone with this sort of bigotry? How would they change their outlook, if they wanted to? 


Thoughts? Advice? I want to get into the meat of this sort of psychology rather than the usual brush we see in media.


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## patskywriter (Jan 29, 2016)

Just about any response would make sense, because there are so many different personality types.

I know plenty of black folks, myself included, who have been told by white people, “Oh, I don’t really see you as a black person.” That’s a compliment in their eyes but an insult in ours. In order to accept me (and other black people), these folks have found it necessary to see us as exceptions, or they have decided that they like us _despite_ the fact that we’re black. Your character could take this attitude … or she could react like an Indian guy my mom observed at a dinner party. The topic of caste came up, and this well-educated, haughty Indian man went into a long explanation why the lower caste (then called “untouchables”) would never measure up to other Indians and would never find any success. The other Indian man at the table, also well-dressed and educated, asked him, “What do you think of me?” (The other guy should have seen what was coming.) The first guy answered, “I think you’re very intelligent and I’m enjoying our conversation.” (You know where this is going, right?) The second man said, “Well, I’m one of those untouchables.” The first man literally overturned the table—he was that shocked when he jumped up and backed away. My mom said that even she had never seen such a ridiculous display, and she’s from the American South.

Anything along that spectrum will do. Choose whatever reaction suits your story line.


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## Kevin (Jan 29, 2016)

Having attended LA Unified, I'd say certain biases and stereotypes might easily be adopted due to one's experience. The evolution to bigotry... well, I guess that requires a definition. Yes, it happens.


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## Winston (Jan 29, 2016)

My mom was a young girl in Honolulu on 12/07/1941.  In addition to seeing thousands of men murdered in The Harbor below, later she witnessed many of her schoolmates uprooted and thrown into camps.

She hated the Japanese for the bombing, AND for her Japanese friends abandoning her.  

She had no time to heal.  During the war, the media and most individuals had no kind words for "The Japs".  She carried that hatred, to some degree, to the day she died.


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## Riis Marshall (Jan 29, 2016)

Hello Green

It might be helpful for you to read Mark Twain's _Pudd'nhead Wilson_ for bigotry and hatred of the first order based wholly on people's perceptions of other people.

Then there was my grandfather, bless his heart. He hated John Steinbeck with a passion and the thought _The Grapes of Wrath_ was the filthiest book ever written, not because it contained a little bit of sex but because the author said farmers' hitting their lettuce pickers over the head with clubs wasn't a very nice thing to do.

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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