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talking to myself

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In and out groups


markdohle

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 In and out groups

The internet is full of sites that bring together assorted groups of people and give them a place where they can express themselves without being attacked.  They can be sites for Christians, or Muslims, Pagans and Atheist….or for people of different political persuasions. While at the sites, those who participate at least for a while, become part of an ‘In’ group.  Within these groups just about anything can be said about those in ‘Out” groups that can go unchallenged and even applauded no matter how outlandish the statements. 

I have met no one who likes to be maligned, lumped together and reduced to a negative stereotype.  To do so is irrational and counterproductive.  It is also understandable when it is said in retaliation over treatment received from people who believe and think differently.  In other words, no one likes to be members of an ‘Out’ group that is attacked, hated and feared.

There is always a double standard.  It is easy to see in an opposing group, harder to see in our own.  I have been going to a blog that is run by a mother who is not a believer.  When she went public about her atheism she lost friends over this.  She was de-friended on face book etc….. and no doubt her children have suffered as well.  She comes across as a kind woman who does not deserve that kind of treatment.  Atheist is a label; human is what she is and should be treated with the respect accorded to all humans. 

Yet when you go to her site you will find all kinds of things being said about ‘theist’ that are harsh, unfair as well as applauded in the comment section.  So the circle is complete.  There seems no way to stop this nonsense, from both sides, and I have given up trying, since there are times when I am also part of the problem. 

Contempt no matter who it comes from is the first step towards violence.  People do feel assaulted when insulted for their beliefs or lack thereof.  Yet the lesson is not taken in.  For retaliation, is to insult and malign back. 

We can fail to see just another human being in front of us no matter what group they identify with, and in that failure, reduce them to the level of a label, an unsavory one.   

One altercation will overrule ten even tempered communications. 

When Dawkins for instances, called believers “faith-heads”, he did a lot of harm to the New Atheist movement in general and too many individual atheist in particular.  Who would want to have anything to with a group that has only contempt for those outside of their grouping?  If people take Dawkins for a spokesperson for atheist, is it any wonder that they are often held is so little esteem?  Who would want to vote for someone who only has contempt for them?  Yet is this true about the majority of atheist?  Probably not, for they are just people trying to get through the day and life trying to keep their heads above the water.

How can

The so called cultural-war continues to polarize our society at ever deeper levels; I wonder where it will end?  Am I being too dark?  Perhaps I am.  However we like to trout our intelligence and our ability to think logically and rationally, yet it can be swallowed up into our deeper more primitive and fearful selves. 

Anger and frustration between different segments of society can grow.  If each discounts the other then the pressure will build from both sides.  What is happening all over the world could happen here.  Our civilized behavior could be lost very quickly if some incident ever happened that brought collective anger and frustration to the surface. 
ISIS kill children?  They are first made less than human.  You give them a label, a hateful one, and then the rest is actually easy.  It happens to often all over the world to be denied, at least from my perspective.  Are we immune?

Probably not. 

 

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