This morning, there was a woman talking on CNN about the Paris attacks. She said the killings took place at a concert because ISIS disapproves of music, at a bar because they disapprove of alcohol, at a stadium because they disapprove of sports. This interpretation of the events is one of the most inflammatory of all; the view that these attacks were carried out against a way of life, a culture as well as a people. Through the real-time communication of the internet, we can quickly assemble the shape, form and substance of the various narratives and interpretations being expressed, and what arises are many politicized opinions. Beyond that,there is talk about the biased news reporting and social media preference given to France over Beirut or Kenya. This is a crucial point of contention and concern, causing indignation and accusations of cultural bias. Based on what I saw on the news, I’d say that the media can be rightly accused of spreading their usual trouble-making rhetoric, but I must say that this tactic works because people create “otherness.”
In both groups and individuals, people create “others” through the formation of hierarchical groups and exclusive associations. This is a well known fact to anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists, but the aspect of it that I’m considering is the fact and meaning of the dehumanization of the “other.” A critically important feature of creating “others”- those who are foreign or outside a given group- is the lessening of their importance. Their value isn’t as great as those within the group, but this doesn’t necessarily indicate intentional cruelty or apathy. Defining the self as separate from others is a natural part of brain function, as neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor so eloquently explains. With our sense of self-contained existence firmly in place, we then seek others of like mind or similar world view. This obviously has survival value to human beings. This phenomenon or trait, if you will, can also be understood as an important component of our scientific method. After all, we define things that are separate from ourselves as separate to other objects and create classes. Furthermore, we separate objects, forces and phenomena into individuated parts in order to analyze them. Whew.
I’m appealing to everyone to understand this: separation of people into groups is something that arises naturally from human behavior (Peter Gabriel understands). It is reinforced through every aspect and institution in our lives, and that the dehumanizing or devaluing of others is a part of it.That aspect, which seems so cruel, can be minimized when we activate our empathy and our rational thought processes.
Let’s not get angry about it (although when our emotions are manipulated by the media we are being fed propaganda, which is irritating). Let’s avoid labeling people as “selective” and “biased.” Instead, let’s keep in mind that creation of “others” is a part of our basic pattern of functioning, our left-brain based set of perceptions, and use our minds and hearts to overcome its limitations, calling upon that right-brain perception of humanity as one inseparable whole. We can’t stop ourselves from creating cliques and groups, but we can think beyond such natural inclinations and expand our sense of inclusion. Our worlds are divided into us, them and we. That’s just the way it is, but each of us can choose our point of focus.