Well folks, I recommend a reading of Emerson's "Self Reliance" http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm
a great American classic, though I don't know how the ladies put up with men making such a fuss. He talks to "us and them" too in the early stages--but none of it's PC.

I find it hard to see the world as it is as anything but us and them, materially. I don't see how we can rationalise the discrepency between rich and poor. There's no excuse for obscene wealth in a world of obscene poverty, and vice versa.

AGIR,
I have to say, I don't see how your set can rationalise that and keep a straight face.

AGIR:

You really don't see the irony in your last post do you?

Squeers,

Thanks for the Emerson link - I read it with pleasure.

When I was first summoning up the courage to begin homeschooling (for it is something that is easy to do, but not so easy to start in a psychological sense), I came upon a small plaque by Emerson that I found inspiring. It reads:
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Dear Poirot,

I wish you success in your home schooling and admire you for taking it on. Does your decision to do that with your son have anything to do with your daughter's experiences?

I tried to help my oldest with trigonometry and had the impression that I did a good job. Years later he corrected that impression.

Dear AGIR,

I note that you addressed me in your last post. I do not enjoy interacting with you & prefer not to do so in the future.

Once again, Boaz highlights for us all the dangers inherent in the we/they, us/them problem.

>>Dear Rache I am absolutely, unapologetically, forever + 1, an advocate of "us/them" The "us" is...those who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior, and have repented of sin....they are called "Christians" "They" are those who have yet to receive Christ as Savior.<<

What is so appalling about this - or ironic, as Lexi points out - is that he has pinpointed with amazing clarity the danger to us all of the religious zealot.

Even ignoring the fact that his subtext is Christians vs Muslims, the exact same attitude has been behind the hundreds of years of intra-faith wars in Northern Ireland. I'm Catholic, and you're a proddy dog, so I'll just shoot you in the kneecap. I'm a Protestant, and you're a filthy Mick, so I'll just shoot you in the kneecap.

We/they. Us/them. The most destructive force in the human brain.

I suspect that we/they was once part of our survival mechanism, tens of thousands of years ago. It's about time we grew out of it.

Possibly the we/they gestalt is promoted by sexual selection. Decisiveness is generally regarded as a positive quality. In general the we/they person doesn't have as many caveats in making a decision. They can put ideas in or out of their yes box easier. The more reflective and inherently wiser person may be less compelling as a mating choice. I think the more decisive and authoritarian person is more attractive as a mate if there is a free choice and more likely to spread his genes if he has power. I have heard that Genghis Khan was tremendously effective at spreading his genes in the area where he had control. A large percentage of Europeans and Asians supposedly carry on his genes.

Perhaps it is an encouraging sign that the neurotic personna of Woody Allen can be a romantic lead.