[Maru]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

Assuming it was an islamic terrorist can both a fair bet and "prejudiced", I guess.

It cuts both ways really. When we assume mental illness, we are also reinforcing and playing up the stigma against mentally ill people... that illness automatically means they are more prone to violence, are instable, can't be trusted, should be incarcerated, are broken, etc... i.e. something to avoid

We are human beings and our brains are programmed to seek contrasts, i.e. things not like us, and this is how we weigh threats and potential "obstacles". Our brain is highly focused on these contrasts... so it's a survival instinct to some degree that can't be completely unwired I think. It may not necessarily have any malicious intent...

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Maru

We are human beings and our brains are programmed to seek contrasts, i.e. things not like us, and this is how we weigh threats and potential "obstacles". Our brain is highly focused on these contrasts... so it's a survival instinct to some degree that can't be completely unwired I think. It may not necessarily have any malicious intent...

Chinese culture is fairly different to ours, and despite that contrast they're not well known for vehicular murder.

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

Chinese culture is fairly different to ours, and despite that contrast they're not well known for vehicular murder.

Oh, well maybe what I meant when I say 'contrasts' is when thinking in terms of "new and unusual", experience-based, less different entities... though it would need to also be different in order to be "extraordinary" enough to stick out.. I'm talking about like if we go into a restaurant and see a food that is an unusual texture or color... something we would never associate with a food, our brain would focus on that... we may know the staff is good and that the place itself is fine, and that may be the only way we would try it... but I think if thrown in a situation where we had to determine ourselves with no other information, we wouldn't trust it. (and with good reason I think)

With Chinese or known cultures, I think we've integrated enough of the culture into our own understanding of what it is and how it functions, that we have some understanding there it's not a true contrast in that sense, since we've found a common ground between each society...

(Edit) Anyway my point is, we need some prejudice in order to function and to establish risk...