There is no single, simple answer to your question. To begin with, it seems to be a human trait to dislike and distrust anyone we perceive as being "different." It also seems to be a human trait to judge groups of people by the actions and attitudes of a few. And it also seems to be a human trait to think that what we believe, how we live, and what we are is the only "right" way to believe, live, and be. On an individual level, I think many people learn discrimination when they are children. They see the way the adults around them respond to those who are of a different race, religion, or sexual orientation, and they grow up never questioning those judgements. Even if they do come to question those ingrained beliefs, it is very hard to overcome the world view we learn as children. Sometimes people start discriminating against a group of people after bad experiences with a few. For instance, discrimination against Muslims rose drastically after the events of 9/11, even though the majority of American Muslims are most definately not terrorists and were as mortified as the rest of us by those events. If we could abandon our discriminatory judgements and learn to appraise others by what they are as individuals, I believe the world would be a much better place.

Humans naturally and necessarily evaluate people and situations based on their beliefs and life experiences. It is much more comfortable to deal with people who share my language, national origin, culture, etc. because I know with some confidence what are their values and how they will respond. The more you are like me, the more I know what to expect from you. Learning what to expect from others takes work and risk on my part. It is unsafe to assume how someone whose culture I do not know will respond to a gesture, a joke, etc. What is welcome in one culture may be offensive in another, so it is reasonable and necessary for me to very cautious around people who are unlike me until I know and understand them. I must not treat all people the same. I hug my kids, punch my male cousin in the shoulder, shake hands with coworkers... For many, the unknowns are too big or too uncomfortable so they stay in their own tight-knit circle and shun those too unlike themselves. Most of us, to one degree or another, try to learn how to relate to people with different values or cultures. Some are hurt by some of these attempts and so develop a fear or dislike of whatever group has caused the hurt. Some, of course, are taught from an early age that all whites, Gypsies, Jews, etc. are evil and untrustworthy, and what your culture teaches you growing up is very hard to un-learn. The word "discriminate" gets a bad wrap in some ways. We all make distinctions between people, that is "discriminate." When we choose a babysitter is he too young? too crude? apparently trustworthy? I will loan my car to a friend, but not a stranger - that is discrimination. The honest question is: which kinds of discrimination are unacceptable. Books could be written... but I have written enough.

There is no true answer to that question. One can look at the society one grew up that caused the discrimination or basis in his heart. Probably the main people why people discriminate is pure IGNORANCE. People hate what they don't understand and fear what they can't conquer.

The fundamental reason people discriminate against others because of race, religion, etc. relates to their level of self esteem. People with low self esteem routinely disparage people in other groups in order to distance themselves and gain standing simply by not being part of the disparaged group. Whether it is a small group, like a gang or a country club, or a large group, like all males or all Americans, these people tell themselves that everyone outside of their group is in some way inferior, thus giving them a measure of artificial self-esteem. It makes them feel special or unique just by belonging to the “good” group or by not being part of the “bad” group. For the same reason, people who constantly criticize others are trying to artificially boost their standing by comparison so they can feel better in some way or another. By constantly pointing out the faults of others and ignoring their own, they rise by default in their own minds. People with high self-esteem who are secure in their values and their own self worth, feel no need to disparage others in order to validate themselves. Although they may be judgmental when it comes to moral or religious values, they tend to judge people on their behavior or their character, not by the color of their skin or what country they are from.

One who discriminates is simply confused, afraid, or both. At some point in one's life one developes a ego. All that is different than one's ego, all that threatens to suffocate one's ego, stifle one's ego, is discriminated against in order to preserve one's ego. One who discriminates thinks one is different from another. One is wrong to think that. Only on the periphery are we different from one another. We share one existence. One who discriminates values the cheap periphery, the shallow surface, over the inside, over the things humans have in common like life and freedom.

Another part of the answer that many miss is that it is brought on by actions of a certain group; so, it is learned but for a reason, that is, in some instances.

People are creatures of what they see. As people are raised, they themselves become aware with age and maturity of stereotypes. They can handle this by one of two ways. 1 - They can look at them as being truly evil and the enemy or society or, unfortunately 2 - They can look at them as having justifyable truths. They realize that stereotypes may actually contain fragments of truth and fail to see another truth, that stereoypes rely on fragments of truth, not entire steadfast concepts. People then begin to see those who match the stereotypes as evil, or those who are inferior to them. After this, they find it easy to discriminate against such people. Because of this, Discrimination actually becomes a part of their lives. Because of this, we have extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Hitler support Organizations. Shortly - Stereotypes are the gateway to discrimination.

This is a complex question, with a very complex answer. This answer applies to your question, just the same as it applies to domestic violence. the key word is....GREED. its one human afraid that another human will gain a greater achievement over another. "its all about me"! it is more prevelant as each day goes by. If two people are happy, sexual preference should not be a problem. some humans are not happy within themselves, so their expectations are that everyone else should be just as unhappy. Where people were born was not their choice. wanting to better yourself is a born human trait and right. people are people, no matter their nationality. the majority are decent humans. its becoming one big world of one people. some humans resent this forthcoming. Greed will eventually take over the human population. only the strongest will survive. your race, your nationalality, your sexual preference, will have no bearing against GREED.

One reason people negatively discriminate but the not the only reason, is because they dont want some type of person to exist, either because that person mentally brings them back to a negative situation with that type of person or either because the person reminds them of how they really see there own selves,(kind of like when a man with a scar in his face he forgot about,then sees another man with a scar and then hates that man for reminding him of his scar).This kind of mentality shows how low the confidence of a person who discriminates is. A discriminator doesent want a person he hates to have anything he feels are of value, like money, happiness and love.He hates becuase he hates himself in some form or another or simply is he or she is just legally mentally ill.So why pay them much attention, steer away from them or if you have to deal with them take the most appropiate action.

FEAR, fear of the unknown. It's as simple as that..

First of all, it is the natural human tendency and personal infrastructure of the deepest parts of character and interaction to discriminate, on any basis they are supported by and founded upon. In other words, people develop their attitudes and interest around what is known as a "social organism" in society or a "collective perceptive" by some others. People develop individual interest based on their interactions in society, as well as they use stereotypes and connotations to discriminate against those who they either: 1. Feel threatened by, or who they feel threaten a way of life. 2. Feel repressed by, such as a group that is domineering. 3. Is portrayed as a part of the "axis of evil" in their region. 4. Is percieved asassociated with the conduct of crime and reproach of justice. (Such as racism, as biggots may associate crime with blacks, assuming that they are all superflous of insufficient of deserving respectability) 5. Portrays a visual discrepancy in social response and preceding judgement, such as "four-eyes", "freckle-face", and "fat-brain" 6. Associates with an opposing, misunderstood, or what is percieved as a complicated or complicational force of social interaction. Example, in exaggeration, a child who sits at his elementary-school lunch table and asks "may I please delineate the fundamental theorum of calculus, the novelization of the matrix, and the theorum of vocational transcendence using a well-asserted compilation". Often, kid geniuses and the extremely intelligent, rocket-science type, introverts are protrayed as this, and since such levels of tolerance and intelligence are not readily understood, discrimination is preclusionally inevitable. 7. Association with personally pre-offending path of interest or existence. In other words, since this person is associated as part of a group or stereotype which is cited as being particularly offensive to a person over and above most others, hatred and demonization of this person and their associates is as evident as the hate of Machavellies(sp?)The Prince. 8. Finally, an interest in associating with those of a particular view is eminent to defining group discrimination, and the collective feelings of a group are often gathered from a collection of discriminating attributes of a group, which form together to create an allied, intolerant substantiation, often such as those which in turn, promote individual interest, such as the Skinheads protection behind prison walls, and the gangs protections on the streets. CONCLUSION: Human nature, disinterest, and intolerance lead to many types of discrimination, often common to different regions. However, people collectively are born with the natural nature of sin to discriminate, and will do so at their leisure, as they see it fit as a part of their social, participle, principled, religious, or socio-economic polarizations, and discriminatin, no matter how incompetent, unjust, and unwarranted will always be a part of our development and tolerance of change, and as long as people such as Americans are selfishly spoiled with a lack of enforcement to defeat the contentions of such beliefs, the paramount assertion of the nature of the human revelation will be to discriminate, and as so people will always discriminate, as discrimination itself is a form of interaction, living, and associating in a selfish, intolerant world we call earth. On a more personal note, my own mass understanding and measurable intelligence in a wide path of intellectual variations has led to my own discrimination, to which I contribute the knowledge to write this answer. I feel that discrimination of any person or types is grave and wrong, and that development at home is just as important at work and school, and that the very system of judgement in society is primarily to blame for this, since judgement itself is almost never contributed to anything but stereotypes - the cause of all unnecessary debate.

Simple, because people fear what they don't understand. Opposing sexual preference, different cultural beliefs, different ways of life. The correct term is Ethnocentrism, veiwing the world strictly from the perspective of your culture. Not opening up to new, different from your own, ways of thinking because for whatever reason they make you feel uneasy or you just think they're weird.

Ignorance and fear. If people don't understand something and they don't make the steps to learn - they fear. Fear begets violence etc. That is why it is important to learn about others and make it a personal commitment.

In my opinion the reason people are discriminate against certain people is because stereotyping. Some people, unfortunatelly, have bad experiences qith certain groups of people, they right awaya assume that everybody in that category or group is like that.Everybody is raised different, that also affects the way somebody thinks about other people. movies, music, news, experiences, stories, and rumors; also make somebody stereotype and think of someone as different. on this days, there is only a few human beings that see everybody as equal. You should search the difference between racism and discrimination.

Hi everyone, i am doing an assignment on discrimination and was interested in everyones intellectual and thoughtfull comments. I agree with what everyone has written, but my understanding of why people discriminate is: Human beings learn all their skills, morals, values etc through socialisation or the interaction with other humans, therefore discrimination is a learned behaviour from the culturural environment that has influenced them hence the reason why people discriminate. Also, there are different levels of discrimination which society deems as acceptable and inappropiate this is also a learnt behaviour therefore everybody discriminates but most people dont realise they do as it is deeply imbedded into our makeup or they dont understand what it means to discriminate.

It is human nature my friend!

Often it can come from fear of poeple that are different in some way. Other times it is a power / domination thing or sometimes just plain unkindness and disrespect for someone with differing beliefs.

Sexual discrimination justifies impotence and rape. 'Racial' discrimination justifies the non-existent scientific basis of 'race' and reinforces held beliefs, and gender discrimination is pretty much the same thing as sexual discrimination.

Because you are often afraid from things which you do not understand, and then you cannot cope with them. These things could be religious beliefs, the woman way of seing things (for a man), behavioral patterns caused by a different origin or a different education etc. Moreover, this discriminative behavior could be present on both sides, so it could get worse and worse. This kind of behavior can also be observed by animals. Cats and dogs who know each other can eventually accept each other.

I think it is basically because they don't love God and they don't love their neighbor. If you truly love other people, you will not be prejudice or bigoted toward them in any manner. You don't have to embrace things that you don't agree with such as religion or sexual orientation, but you certainly don't have to bash, shun or in other ways avoid them.

I think often ignorance about other people feeds hate. I truly believe that education is the best tool we have to battle discrimination. Unfortunately like breeds like and therefore each generation of bigoted people can lead to another generation of the same. WE HAVE TO BREAK THE CYCLE!

Hi, From my experiance of life as a sub human I think that people discriminate due to a phobia which they create from a lack of comprehension of someone who appears to be "different", and the only vaccine is knowledge.

Prejudice is just that: "pre" and "judge". That, right there, shows that prejudice is lack of personal examination. It is taking what you were taught, by whomever taught it, and not examining it to assess, for yourself, if it is correct. It is easier that way. If you do not examine your teachings, you are not going to find that they were wrong. Also, you do not have to put forth the effort to think for yourself. Furthermore, in many cases of prejudice, the person being targeted by prejudice is targeted by many people. Hence, going along with the crowd brings the "bennies" of fitting in. It is simply herd mentality. Prejudice and stereotypes are easy, you see. It, without any dissection and analysis, puts a huge definition on a person. Unfortunately, most stereotypes are wholly inaccurate. To me, bigotry is one of the worst traits a human can have. I also believe that the truly mean and cruel amongst us tend to be bigots. It is an easy excuse for them to perpetrate their hate and even crimes against another. Now, there is personal experience that shapes our beliefs about certain groups of people. I lived in Gangland Central for a bit and I have had to fight more than once, I have been shot at, etc. I, for example, would not walk up to a group of gang toughs, or people that I assessed as gang toughs, and say "Hi there!" I know from life experience that this is not a good idea. However, if I came across someone who I identified as a gang tough and they were nice to me, I would reevaluate my belief about that person. I also am not going to treat someone I identify as a gang tough poorly unless they have shown me reason. When I lived in Gangland Central, I evaluated each person and wound up with careful friendships with some of them. Yes, I was careful because that is how to stay alive. There is the difference between a bigot and someone who is not. I do not look at anyone and mutter a string of curses ending in "f*cking [enter label here]". If someone proves, by behaviour either good or not bad, I see that. I do not care what a bigot is bigoted against. I consider bigotry to be a personal flaw. If, however, a bigot shows that s/he is able to make up his or her own mind by evaluating their beliefs and seeing through their prejudice, I am just fine with them.

I don't see animals being any better, do you? Watch them in the wild: "you get too close to me I'll EAT you".

so ture

to do bad thinsg is easier then to love