The most dangerous human trait

[cali]

I'm convinced that the most dangerous human trait- and it seems to be universal- is the tendency to demonize the other, to strip them completely of any humanity that would cause us to recognize that they are human like us.

[Le Taz Hot]

1. Oh, how I love irony!

:rofl:

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. How true.

:rofl:

[bigtree]

5. stop

:rofl:

[PDJane]

2. Personally,

I think the most dangerous trait is the one that permits us to live in our own little world, completely oblivious to what's happening around us.

[tekisui]

3. That is a difference of degree.

What you describe is the precursor for what cali mentions. Not recognizing the fact that we are one people, one world, is the cause for much of the pain in this world.

[PDJane]

Yes, that was my point.

It doesn't have to get to the us against them stage to be toxic. In fact, our destruction of the planet we live on is due to the more minor inability in most cases.

[PDJane]

20. dupe. Self-delete

[cbc5g]

6. You mean like demonizing Rick Warren?

[BeFree]

9. Actually

Demon-strating how Warren is against Human Rights while he tries his best to look like he loves all humans, is quite reasonable.

But making demons out of people who just disagree with you on a few relatively minor points, is a terrible human trait.

[SoCalDem]

25. The "other"

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Jun-24-05 1:03 PM
Original message

United States : Melted Pot


Historians have alternately labeled America as a 'melting pot' or 'salad bowl'. The melting pot myth evaporated when newer waves of immigrants quit being eager to jettison their heritage, languages, and customs. Salad Bowl Nation emerged as the 'new and improved' symbolic image for America. The idea was that melting pot just turned everyone into a boring mooshy concoction , that had no character...Salad bowl meant that everyone could hang onto their own distinct 'self', and yet mix together in an appealing,blended-but-not-congealed mixture, complementing each other without any one entity overpowering the others..

Fear and loathing of "the other" has always run just under our surface, like an underground stream. Revisionist history tells us that we are just one big happy family, eager to lend a hand to all who need it.

In reality, 'groups' have always defined us. We have never been all that friendly to 'the other'. Westerners CAME to this country, looking for freedom, and it did not take long for them to start depriving the people who were already here, of THEIR freedom.

Immigrants were welcomed, as long as they were needed for the dirty work. If they were white, unobtrusive, and strong-bodied, they eventually were allowed to assimilate.

Groups that did not fit the western mold, were only needed for their labor. They were always expected to 'know their place', and have never really been welcomed or accepted. They have been accepted grudgingly, but only temporarily. Every time they have asked for/ demanded/sued for/ marched for rights, they have been shunned in one way or another.

Slavery was 'ended', but as soon as the freed slaves started to become real citizens, and started to serve in the legislature, new 'laws' appeared, to once again, put them back 'in their place'. It's no accident that almost a hundred years elapsed before those rights were once again in place..but WERE they? Voting rights, unemployment rates, housing, poverty, education...can we really say that the descendants of slaves, and others who came later, but who looked like them have truly 'made it'? Some have, but in a heartbeat, a black lawyer/doctor/professor/businessperson can be spread-eagled on a car hood, if a cop thinks he 'fits a suspect's profile' or looks 'out-of-place' in a neighborhood..

Chinese were welcome enough to build railroads, but the early arrivals were not 'allowed' to bring wives and family. Their labor was all that was wanted, and the ones who did survive, clustered into their own communities for safety, as much as comfort. They were expected to 'go back to China' once their work was done.

We USE people here, but rarely really accept them.

Late Twentieth century immigration that so many bigots rail against is largely due to wars that we either started, or participated in, and failed foreign policies. The influx of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Haitian, Nicaraguan, Honduran, and so many others are comprised of people who looked at America as their last best chance to live. Most of these people would have happily stayed in their own countries, had our government not barged in and helped destroy their way of life.

The US has always romanticized our melting-pot image, but all it takes is a walk through any city/town to see that it's not the case in reality. People lead lives separated from people 'not like them'.

The difference now is that vitriol is accepted in more and more circles.

The deliberate nurturing of hatred and fear of the other, is a terrible thing, and it's more prevalent now, than it's been for decades.

When the Japanese were interred, it was out of an extreme fear of people who were never really assimilated into America. They owned businesses, sent their kids to school, owned homes, and were part of the community, but probably most people outside their own groups never really saw them as "Americans". THEY did, but the ones who controlled government did NOT. That's why it was so easy to demonize them and send them away. The Japanese people believed the melting pot myth, and were horrified to learn that they could NEVER be 'real' Americans as long as they looked the only way they could look.

There are people still alive today , who think nothing of calling any Asian person a 'jap'.

Soon after the WTC horror, it didn't take long for people to start the demonization of any darker skinned person, who 'might' be middle-eastern. Sikhs were attacked, Turkish people, Greek people...anyone who 'looked the part' was automatically assumed to be 'one of them'.. and just who is 'them'?.. Why anyone who is not one of 'us', of course.

Now the division has been ratcheted up another notch. The republicans have managed to spread their vile within 'our own ranks'. Now we are more divided than ever. People need to take a daily look at the papers and TV to find out who their 'enemy of the day' is.

There are Christians and then there are CHRISTIANS

There are people who love the war and people who hate the war

There are people who think the economy is just peachy, and people who think it's going straight into the shitter

There are people who think the government knows what's best for you and people who think THEY are the best ones to decide their own path

There are people who think that women should have control over their own bodies, and those who think that legislators know what's best for women

There are people who think that it's OK to hire illegals for cheap wages, but they should not be allowed to breathe 'our' air, or live here

There are people who think that only their votes count, and people who think that all votes should count.

Once upon a time, people minded their own business, and didn't feel the need to critique other people's lives. Most people led busy enough lives that their time was occupied with their own endeavors. These days, there seems to be a hyper-vigilance towards 'other people's business and lives'.

We never really were a melting pot...we only tolerated each other, and tolerance is an endangered commodity these days.

We are being lined up and made to choose.. Styron's heroine had to do that and it drove her insane.

[vanlassie]

7. It is a direct link to the way we raise babies. Meet their needs, they develop empathy.

Allow their basic needs to be neglected, they literally do not get the chemical brain connections related to empathy and compassion. It's about that simple.

[Deja Q]

8. Quite

[patrice]

10. dangerous because it spreads nt

[IDemo]

11. Lack of empathy is the larger problem

and is what allowed the US to launch a war that killed a million Iraqis, destroyed their country, and displaced 4 million, whether internally or externally, with barely a pip of protest from John and Jane Doe. That did not require demonizing (other than for Hussein, of course), only a total lack of regard by the US citizen.

[patrice]

14. May I propose: "...total lack of..." Responsibility nt

[The_Commonist]

12. Jealousy...

It leads to demonization.

[edhopper]

13. Against stupidity

the Gods themselves, contend in vain.

[lonestarnot]

15. While I agree that the ability to dehumanize is particularly dangerous, I think denial is worse yet,

as denial allows the dehumanization to continue.

[Gwendolyn]

16. Gluttony. The need to consume everything in one's path.

Tribalism is part and parcel of evolution and natural selection. All animal species display this tendency as they vie for sustenance and space to multiply. It doesn't help to deny it, and if it were not so, the world wouldn't be populated with so many different countries and cultures.

The "other" is only the other when it is the beleaguered minority. If that group's numbers increase it too may become the glutton, consuming everything to ensure its survival.

[flvegan]

17. Selfishness.

Every human induced wrong or evil is based somehow in selfishness.

[Marr]

18. I'd agree that tribalism is at the root of most violence.

I suppose it had evolutionary advantages, but nowadays it's an awfully dangerous thing.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. is to forget

that we are all One.

As a Sufi sage once said, the only sin is to forget; the only blessing is to remember.

[leftofthedial]

21. I reject this urge, except when it comes to repukes and their accomplices.

[TWiley]

22. That is exactly a bone I have with fundamentalist religion.

they crow about loving everyone else, but quite often officiate the demonizing process.

[pipi_k]

23. Is it the most dangerous?

I don't know.

It it pretty much universal? I would say "no".


Because if it's universal, then why do people give to charity, even when they're not going to get anything in return...not even recognition?

Why do people sometimes spend their own money to feed the hungry?

Why do people stop and hold a door open for an elderly or handicapped person if they're not seeing the human being behind the wrinkles or the human being in the wheelchair?

That doesn't sound like universal demonization to me...

granted, there are lots of things that suck in our world, but I would like to believe that most people do truly care about their fellow human beings.

[Joe the Liberal]

24. Greed..........

is in my book the most dangerous human trait.

[cayuga]

26. Revenge n/t