Oscar Hammerstein, Jr.

You’ve Got To Be Taught

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of People whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late.
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate.
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

—–from South Pacific

==

Mamacita says:  South Pacific was a landmark show for many reasons, the main one of which (in my opinion) is the attitude it took regarding race.  Imagine the looks on the prunes-and-prisms bigots when Lt. Joe Cable fell in love with the beautiful Tonkinese girl, Liat, whose mother turns out to be Bloody Mary.  Just think of the shock when prejudiced America discovered that the two little half-breed children were the offspring of the Frenchman, Emile De Becque and his native islander wife, who is deceased.  Nellie Forbush, the naive little nurse from Little Rock, can’t deal with it; it’s too far removed from what she knows.

Characters we are supposed to love turn out to harbor horrendous racial prejudices that threaten their futures.  I suppose there are still people who think this way; it’s hard for me to comprehend.

The point, I think, is that nobody is born with these, or any other kind, of prejudices.  Prejudices are taught to us from an early age by prejudiced people.

Let me repeat:  NOBODY IS BORN WITH PREJUDICES.  Ever.  Carved in stone.  Fact.

We fear and hate what we are taught by others to fear and hate, and people who feel it is their duty to teach children to fear and hate are among the worst of humankind.  I hope there is a specially horrible circle of hell for parents who deliberately teach their children to hate, fear, and suspect people who are in any way different from themselves.

I had a conversation once, several years ago, with an older lady I loved very much, but any respect I might have had for her convictions was absolutely and 100% negated when she told me that it was possible to be prejudiced AND Christian, for she was both.

I could not, and still can not, sanction that combination.  No. I would love this lady always, but nothing she said to me about her religion meant anything after that revelation.

These lyrics are, of course, song lyrics, but my students MIGHT be able to remind you that all songs are also poems, and that anyone who likes even one song likes one poem, too.  Each song you like equals another poem you like.  I’d wager money, if I had any, that a lot of people who swear they hate poetry would also state that they loved music.

Hypocrites.  🙂  You can’t have one without the other.

I love South Pacific.  I love most Broadway musicals, in fact.   But these particular lyrics have always hit me in a sensitive spot, and helped me to understand that no, nobody is born prejudiced, and all of those who ARE prejudiced were taught to be so and have actively chosen to remain so.

In other words:  no viable excuse, whatsoever.