"Us vs Them": A Simple Recipe to Prevent Strong Society from Forming
http://www.alternet.org/print/belief/us-vs-them-simple-recipe-prevent-strong-society-forming
My Uncle Richard did not need to die prematurely. He was a victim of the most relentless killer the world has ever known: Us and Them. This assassin can slay victims in countless ways. In my uncle’s case, it looked like either a stroke or medical malpractice. But it really was Us and Them.
Richard had left our Appalachian family farm at the tag end of the Great Depression. He moved to a big city in New York, got a job with a rising company, and soon he became management. He made a bundle, joined a country club, had a good life, but got burned out. When I was about ten years old, he decided to take early retirement and move back home to the farm. He wanted out of the city, out of the rat race, and back to nature. Soon after he returned, he went to our local small town doctor for a physical exam. He felt fine. But the doctor told him that he needed immediately to stop taking a medication that his family physician in New York had prescribed. Uncle Richard derisively ignored the advice. His New York doctor was an old friend—a member of the country club in fact—while the small town doctor was a refugee from the Soviet Union. This was during the Cold War, when most Americans imagined that nothing in the Soviet Union could possibly be up to American standards, and certainly not medical training. The last time I ever saw my Uncle, he was fuming about the “damned Russkie.” “Can you imagine the nerve of that damned Russkie, thinking he knows more than my doctor?”
Two weeks later Uncle Richard was dead. The coroner’s report made it clear: he should have listened to the Russkie.
My uncle was not particularly stubborn or foolish. He was just being human. We humans are by nature social creatures, even the most introverted of us, and we tend to trust and follow the thinking of the groups with which we identify. Some of these groups are small and select, like the country club or the gals we meet at the bar every Wednesday night. Others groups are bigger but still rather specific, like Orlando Magic fans or the members of the ACLU. Still others are larger yet, “imagined communities” like America or Great Britain. Others are transnational, like Christianity or Islam (also imagined communities). Our groups define “us” and exert powerful influence on how we think, even how we feel, and how we behave in society.
Please continue reading at http://www.alternet.org/print/belief/us-vs-them-simple-recipe-prevent-strong-society-forming .
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"O Great Spirit, Help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that may be found in silence"
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- Alexandre Orion
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It is very similar to a conversation that I was having with a friend, an Iranian violinist, the other day ...
... Us/Them is such an insidious thing about our cultural conditioning, so deeply installed in our basic 'common senses' that it is hard to recognise. The choices that it makes 'evident' seem to even be very 'logical' and 'objective' ones. We can't really wish it away or resist it -- only be aware of it and choose differently when we are able ...
Logic, however, is not at all universal (Sapir-Wharf, 1949 ; Kaplan, 1966). This isn't a matter of roughly biased discrimination - it is twisted into our thought patterns so tightly that it would be very hard to un-do.
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Alexandre Orion wrote: Logic, however, is not at all universal (Sapir-Wharf, 1949 ; Kaplan, 1966). This isn't a matter of roughly biased discrimination - it is twisted into our thought patterns so tightly that it would be very hard to un-do.
Exactly why there needs to be at least a few people on this planet who can set themselves apart and not get caught up in the things that divide these imagined communities so that peace can be maintained before things get too polarized.
Also, as a linguist, I appreciate the citation of linguistic studies and theories
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I never look at the world as an "us vs. them"....for me (depending upon my mood) it's either me vs. the world or more often me vs. no one...sometimes bad things happen, dwelling on them won't undo them, it won't change them, it won't make you feel better just worse...that's when being able to let go really comes in handy...
Through passion I gain strength and knowledge
Through strength and knowledge I gain victory
Through victory I gain peace and harmony
Through peace and harmony my chains are broken
There is no death, there is the force and it shall free me
Quotes:
Out of darkness, he brings light. Out of hatred, love. Out of dishonor, honor-james allen-
He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure-james allen-
The sword is the key to heaven and hell-Mahomet-
The best won victory is that obtained without shedding blood-Count Katsu-
All men's souls are immortal, only the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine -Socrates-
I'm the best at what I do, what I do ain't pretty-wolverine
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Oneiros wrote: We're seeing this phenomenon become more and more mainstream and we're seeing these imagined communities spring up faster and faster around different issues because of how quickly we can all communicate. This is one of the main reasons I think the next great conflict of this world will not be between countries but between ideologies. This is also why I feel that a more serious form of the Jedi Order is long overdue. A group of people who can devote their lives to bridging gaps and ensuring peace in more than just a philosphical sense is much needed.
This is already happening in numerous places....ukraine, isis, korea, etc....
Through passion I gain strength and knowledge
Through strength and knowledge I gain victory
Through victory I gain peace and harmony
Through peace and harmony my chains are broken
There is no death, there is the force and it shall free me
Quotes:
Out of darkness, he brings light. Out of hatred, love. Out of dishonor, honor-james allen-
He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure-james allen-
The sword is the key to heaven and hell-Mahomet-
The best won victory is that obtained without shedding blood-Count Katsu-
All men's souls are immortal, only the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine -Socrates-
I'm the best at what I do, what I do ain't pretty-wolverine
J.L.Lawson,Master Knight, M.div, Eastern Studies S.I.G. Advisor (Formerly Known as the Buddhist Rite)
Former Masters: GM Kana Seiko Haruki , Br.John
Current Apprentices: Baru
Former Apprentices:Adhara(knight), Zenchi (knight)
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