innate compassion?

“Is it not common sense that it is unjust to treat people this way and that we as thinking human beings should instinctively know better?”

I feel like this comment is an example of individual perspective. You say that it should be “instinctive” and that it is common sense to treat people with respect, but at the same time, you only know better, because you were taught better. In many places around the world, for that matter many places around the US, there are “second class citizens”. People who do not have the same rights, because we, as a collective whole decided they do not deserve them because they are different. Apparently, it is not instinctive. Or, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe it is instinctive, maybe it is not something we are taught, but something we are condition out-of.

There is a famous experiment that was done by a third grade teacher in the 80’s called “A Class Divided” you can find it on Youtube if you would like. This teacher decided that she would teach her class about prejudice in a hands-on way. She told her students that they were going to help her with an experiment, then divided her (all-white) class into two groups: brown eyes and blue eyes. She told the brown eyed children that they would have to wear collars all day so they could be easily recognizable at a distance. She then proceeded to tell her students that it has been proven that blue eyed children are smarter and better behaved than brown-eyed children and because of this, they would receive extra privileges. Blue eyed children would get longer recess, they would be served more food at lunch and they would get longer to complete assignments. Brown eyed children would always have to stand in the back of the line, could no longer use the water fountain, and were not allowed to play with the children with blue eyes. At the end of the day the teacher said she watched in amazement as wonderful, sensitive and intelligent children turned in to monsters right in front of her eyes. They teased each other, insulting one another’s intelligence and manners. They would not share, they very made hurtful remarks. She said by the end of the day it was as if some of the students had forgotten it was, in fact, an experiment and honestly had begun to believe they were better.

I know I went off on a tangent, but I think that the point I was trying to make is that it does not really matter if compassion for others is innate or not, if that compassion is not nurtured.