Tolerance is only skin deep. Those who are different in fundamental ways are used as whipping boys to build group unity.
Its a deep part of many psyches. I think its built in to much of the gene pool.
Even in intellectually based cultures, such as medicine, the researcher or practitioner who finds a new and better way is frequently denigrated if not ostracized. Its a combination of individual rigidity, group reinforcement, and ostracism.
The
treatment treatment of Ignaz Semmelwies is an excellent example.
I see the same kind of lockstep thinking in many of the clients I work for - the adherence to an idea when demonstrably better methods are available.
Another example is the Stanford Prison
Experiment .
Gifties need to understand human individual and group dynamics in order to protect themselves. Just like one would not want to walk around at dark in certain areas, there are certain cultures one does not walk around in with your brain hanging out, either.
