The we/they idea divides people into we, the good guys, and they, the bad guys.

Some we/they ideas are missionary religion, nationalism, racism and Marxism. These are potent ideas which have resulted in great misery and great joy. Evangelical Christianity and radical Islam want to make them like us. When they want to stay as they are EC & RI may feel justified in murdering the infidel. The Holocaust was partially a consequence of hundreds of years of Christian resentment at Jews wanting to continue to be Jews. Nationalism accepts that under certain circumstances it is a noble deed to kill those who belong to another nation. Racism has resulted in the domination or extermination of the inferior race. Marxism has a slightly different approach. The working class are the good guys. Eventually there will be no classes at all. On the road to that great goal the corpses of millions of class enemies have piled up.

All of the above are nasty ideas, but those nasty ideas instil within those who apply those ideas a great sense of self-righteousness and even holiness. Missionary religion often makes one feel holy while hating. The we/they ideas are not separate. Evangelical Christians and radical Islamists can feel holy and righteous while oppressing and even murdering homosexuals. The we/they ideas often claim a noble goal but usually promote hate of the other. Unfortunately people may defend against a we/they idea by creating another we/they idea. A common response for those characterised as bad guys is to claim they really are good guys and their denigrators are really the bad guys.

I would like to get rid of all the above nasty ideas, and get rid of all other we/they ideas that divide humanity. I know that I can’t. I do not want to deny differences, eliminate them or not recognise them. I just would like differences accepted.

Can we recognise the problems that we all have as humans, recognise our common humanity and work together to solve those problems?

Some interesting ideas there.

As an English teacher, when I define a term, there are five steps:
1) Definition
2) Characteristics
3) Examples
4) Exemplar
5) Non-examples

I think we do the same when we define our place as humans. For example, we identify ourselves as Australians. We have a built-in definition of what it is to be Australian (definition). We can run off a list of characteristics that, in combination, make us Australian (characteristics). We can list examples of prominent Australians (examples) and, depending on the flavour of the month, can probably identify the most archetypal Australian (Paul Hogan, Steve Irwin, etc). It's the last one that's divisive. We identify groups within or outside of our nation who don't qualify as being 'Australian' (non-examples). Over time, they've been the Chinese, the Lebanese, the Indians and so on. The same can apply to any group (Catholics, city/country folk, workers, etc).

At the end of the day, I'm reminded of the recurring theme in my nationalism class at uni: a nation is defined as much by who IS NOT a member as it is defined by who IS a member. That, coupled with Benedict Anderson's notion that a nation is an 'imagined community' (and the same could really apply to a whole range of distinct 'groups'), leads me to wonder if we could be a whole lot happier if we stopped imagining ourselves to be part of a community. I don't know.

Unfortunately

Humans identify themselves

Against "the Other"

Historically

And show few signs of moving

Beyond tribalism

Two fascinating and thought-provoking posts above. I very much doubt we will ever get away from the we/they notion that pervades the human psyche.

Surely this sort of reasoning is ingrained in the human brain as a sort of survival behaviour? If we identify ourselves as a group of some sort, then there is safety in numbers if we perceive that there is a threat.

Groups or not, it is surely human nature to band together with like-minded people... whether that be people of the same country of birth, same language, same religion, same 'class', same neighbourhood, or whatever?

What I am wondering is, as the people in our world become more and more mobile and emigrate to all the corners of the earth, so that there are 'mixtures' of cultures in all countries of the world, will we all lose our unique sense of belonging to these groups?

What groups will we then belong to?

Will it simply be the 'we' of the country we reside in at present, and the 'they' of all the others living in other countries?

Will the groups of religions, other cultures, other skin colours, etc not be a problem any more eventually, because the people of the world are all 'mixed together' so to speak?

Gee, this is all too deep for me now. :)

Us/them ? Holocaust? Why not do some original research?

http://www.h-net.org/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/hitler1.html

What, we might ask, could cause Hitler to move from the following:

//I still saw only the religion of the Jews and for reasons of human tolerance held aloof from attacks on this religion, as any other. Consequently, the tone struck by the antisemitic press of Vienna appeared to me as unworthy of the cultural heritage of a great nation.//

To this: "Gradually 'I' came to hate them"

FACTORS which shaped Hitlers growing hatred for all Jews were

a) Marxism
b) Jewish leadership of Social Democrats
c) Social Democrat/Union thuggery against him personally on building sites..causing him to equate "Jew" with "Social Democrat/Marxist" in his mind
d) The behavior of the largely Jewish controlled 'mainstream' media.
e) The involvment of Jews in the 'adult' industry.
f) The anti nationalist attitude of the Social Democrats, particularly toward Germans. (remember? "Universal world socialism"

For today.. to see exactly what this might be like.. I recommend the following original sources.

"How Jewish is hollywood" written by Joel Stein.. a proud Jew
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein19-2008dec19,0,4676183.column

"Triple Exthnics" By Dr Nathan Abrams, professor of Media at a Welsh University.
http://www.jewishquarterly.org/issuearchive/articled325.html?articleid=38

//Jewish involvement in the X-rated industry can be seen as a proverbial two fingers to the entire WASP establishment in America. Some porn stars viewed themselves as frontline fighters in the spiritual battle between Christian America and secular humanism. According to Ford, Jewish X-rated actors often brag about their ‘joy in being anarchic, sexual gadflies to the puritanical beast’. Jewish involvement in porn, by this argument, is the result of an atavistic hatred of Christian authority: they are trying to weaken the dominant culture in America by moral subversion.//

"Abolish the white Race" Noel Ignatiev.. yep.. a strong US/THEM theme there.

Now..when someone makes a public stand and openly admits they are trying to DESTROY my society...

Then.. they have IMMEDIATELY created a 'they' toward our 'US'.

But amazingly.. some of 'them' just don't see it.

Just one tiny but important bit more.

//When they want to stay as they are EC & RI may feel justified in murdering the infidel.// David F.

David.. suggesting 'Evangelical Christians' are likely to feel justified in MURDERING those who refuse to believe in Christ is... to put it mildly.. incitement to hatred. The RRT2001 calls this SERIOUS....

Secondly, it is not founded on any text which is of the nature "Kill those who do not believe" as you well know Islam DOES have:

Quran 9.29 "Fight those who do NOT believe" etc.

If you wish to apologise to Evangelical Christians, publicly, here..... I will accept it.