Robert Sapolsky Quotes

Then it's very easy to point fingers at other people and use this kind of rhetoric, infestation and comparing people to rodents, insects, showing them as very undesirable people - not people who feel the same, who care about their families too, no, but as people who are different and less human, to dehumanize them.

War always begins with the dehumanizing of the enemy through rhetoric

If there are infidels here, then beat them up. Do not tolerate them…. They are like crawling worms, snakes, and maggots.

Violence against the other, and the way we otherize people out of fear, has to be examined across the board.

Demonization of people on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, or other criteria leads to dehumanization. The notion that some are 'other' is a dangerous and slippery slope.

There will always be people for whom hate is easier when it’s not backed up by anything but fear.

It was obvious that bigotry was never a one-way operation, that hatred bred hatred!

Prejudice is more violent the blinder it is.

Men often prove the violence of their own prejudices, even by the violence with which they attack the prejudices of other people.

How often are the perpetrators of hate-crimes discovered to be self-loathing? Valued individuals do not strike out against strangers.

No one said anything to my face, but I constantly heard comments denigrating Jews.

The Jews deserved to die. I have no regrets. If I had the chance I would do it again.

Folks never understand the folks they hate.

A child from the age of 2 or 3 absorbs what is in the environment and what generates hatred for anyone perceived to be different.

It's a really subtle kind of thing. It makes me feel like Randy Harrison is not a human being to them.

The most violent element in society is ignorance.

Aversion toward the blind exists for the same reason that most prejudices exist: lack of knowledge. Ignorance is a powerful generator of fear. And fear slides easily into aggression and contempt.

The Jew always lives from the blood of other peoples, he needs such murders and such sacrifices.

Any deviation is looked upon as a perversion, is feared, and is usually a target of hatred and prejudice.

Birds of a lawless, bigoted feather bully together.

I think there are universal principles that we should want to understand, but that are not necessarily good for us. We could recognise universal propensities which current cultures can't fully eradicate, which we would want to eradicate if we could. Let's say, a tendency for tribal violence. Or racism.

Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.

Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don't see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.

The roots of homophobia are fear. Fear and more fear.

I think in our society we too often choose the people we associate with based on our own hasty judgments.