Harvard University discovers error in US constitution

Historians at the prestigious university in Cambridge Mass have recently discovered that due to the different attitude to spelling in 1787, there has been a massive misunderstanding about the rights of citizens in America.

 The right to bear arms as expressed in the constitution, was originally intended to support the desire of men and women of the 18th century to wear sleeveless dresses and blouses without fear or favour.

 Politicians of all parties are now seeking to address this issue, and to apologise for the more than two hundred years of misunderstanding that has resulted.       (C) Quilljar 

Evolution or devolution?

In the previous post, whilst discussing whether or not we are hard-wired for bigotry, Andrew said:  "There was a long-ish article about this in New Scientist in the not too distant past. If I remember the article correctly, the idea was that intolerance of The Other (defined however you like for the moment) conferred advantage in terms of competition for food, mates and all the other things that humans fight over, and that it was selected for over and over again as humans evolved."

Which got me thinking...   Again...

Is intolerance of The Other a pro-survival trait or an example of groupthink? 

What I'm getting at here is, did "evolution" ensure that those groups of humans who were prepared (and/or equipped) to kill the most number of people (or be the most threatening) were the ones who got to "run the show"?   Was this a good thing?

Are we hard-wired for bigotry?

Wikipedia defines bigotry thus:   "Bigotry is the state of mind of a bigot, defined by Merriam-Webster as 'a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance'. Bigotry may be based on real or perceived characteristics, including age, disability, dissension from popular opinions, economic status, ethnicity, gender identity, language, nationality, political alignment, race, region, religious or spiritual belief, sex or sexual orientation. Bigotry is sometimes developed into an ideology or world view."

What prompted this?  Andrew did, in a comment on the previous post, when he said that agreeing with something he reads improves the perception of it. In my own case, this explains why it took me twenty-odd years to break the conditioning ("education", training, propaganda) I recieved from my familial environment and the societies in which I lived during my maturation period. It especially includes my time in the Australian Army.

So, dear reader, is it possible to transcend bigotry, or do we merely trade one form of bigotry for another when we 'transcend'?

Discuss.

An interview with Noam Chomsky

Chomsky discusses Zionism, the Palestine Question, and American Empire.

It's a good read.  I recommend it.