You aren’t born with something. You were simply taught it, whether or not you were aware. Children are like blank canvases, easily shaped and colored to be what you want it to be. They can pick up the smallest habits or rarely used phrases, just as a speck of paint can forever stain the canvas. If you’ve had a strong dislike for something since you’ve been a kid, chances are it was because of the influence of someone else. Children often have a pure view or perspective of the world, until words are said.

In the graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, racism significantly increased after Execute Order 9066 was issued. As the Takei family traveled by train across the country, they were hidden from the view of others because of the rising paranoia. Although racism existed before, the bombing caused these feelings to increase. The children seen in the novel have yet to be touched by the disturbance of racism for the most part. There are two boys that tricked George, Chevy and Ford, they fooled him into saying a swear word to the guards at their camp. Clearly Chevy and Ford couldn’t have learned that themselves, most likely from the environment created by being incarcerated. This is also seen when the Japanese were allowed to leave the camps, but knew they were going to face discrimination outside of the fence. This talk led George to believe he would be safer inside, where his people were oppressed.

‘Monkey see, monkey do’ is a phrase that refers to learning about something just after seeing it, not really fully processing it or anything. In other words, it is an act of imitation. An act that children are often participating in. As I previously have stated, children are like canvases. Their brains haven’t fully developed allowing them to be squishy and extremely malleable. Even though adults have fully developed brains, some have brains just as malleable as children. One little sentence from a famous person or an article on Facebook is enough to completely change their opinion on something. The adults in the graphic novel have just been going along with what they’ve heard without knowing all of the facts.

Another example related to the ‘monkey see, monkey do’ phrase is the sheep herd mentality. This comes from the idea of how sheep react to their flock. Under immense pressure, they behave the same way and do not act independently. Some examples of this include what people do during a fire, or buying something just because everyone is doing it. In the article by Psych Central Professor Krause states, “…our participants ended up making a consensus decision despite the fact they weren’t allowed to talk or gesture to one another. In most cases the participants didn’t realize they were being led by others.” This leads to the idea that sheep herd mentality is more of an unconscious decision than anything. This mentality cannot be used as an excuse for racism. As easy it is to follow a crowd, it is also easy to break away from it.

For sheep, the purpose of this mentality is to protect themselves from predators in their surrounding environment. This is more-or-less the same for humans, except for the need to fit in is added. An example of this is within the song “GRRRLS” by AViVA, “I am the latest colors, I sing the newest songs. I read all the lyrics so I can sing along.” This line is about following all of the latest trends in order to fit in better. In the outro of the song, she later says “I can’t fake it, I’ll just make it on my own. I’ll never sing along. I can’t blame them.” This also perfectly describes breaking out of the mentality. Sheep herd mentality is the paint brush that hasn’t been washed thoroughly enough. The more canvases or paper you use it on, the more residue is left and transferred onto another paper.

People copy what others do to make themselves feel more secure about their current situations. This mentality leaves an everlasting print on more impressionable people. It becomes an endless cycle. Ideas and negativity come from people and experiences that you’ve become dependent on. This is more effective on those without a fully developed brain, but anyone can still fall victim to it. Stains on paper and canvases are often hard to get rid of, but could easily be prevented.