Feeding My Ignorance

Maybe its not a real word - but it is perhaps a description of a 'disease' that seems to be increasingly threatening our stability all around the world. This, perhaps, is nothing new - whether it was sectarianism in Ireland or racism in the USA or apartheid in South Africa or countless other instances throughout history the disease of usandthemism has never worked out well. Perhaps it is all in our imagination, but it seems to be thriving in the current climate with plenty of people/groups happy to open themselves up to infection.

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In this blog I rarely delve into politics - I see it as a murky area where the 'normal' standards are rarely adhered to. Today, of all days, it is perhaps reasonable to write a few words on Brexit. I note that it has only appeared twice before in this series, once was just after the last election in the USA looking at similarities in the patterns between that election and the UK referendum, the other was in the context of the Illusion of Explanatory Depth. This is where we mistakenly believe that we know more about a situation than is the case.

So here is the third mention - and it is all about usandthemism. I think I have said before - I don't KNOW whether the UK is better in or out of the EU. However, many of the reasons that people give for leaving smack of not just usandthemism but also a hypocritical stance on usandthemism. We MUST stop freedom of movement - for some this is a fundamental tenet of their desire to leave the EU - but hold on, what is the major sticking point - Oh yes, we do not want to stop freedom of movement across the Irish border. So, its OK in some circumstances. If that is the case can we come up with a better reason for why the freedom of movement across the EU currently is a bad thing. Somehow I doubt it.

Of course, even within our own parliament in Westminster there is a nasty case of usandthemism - the government and the opposition - the brexiteers and the remainers - and so it goes on - the art of compromise seems to have been left at the door - it is regarded as a sign of weakness.

I am pretty sure that I have written elsewhere that its not that long ago that "the enemy" (in usandthemism terms) were the guys in the next village. Then it was discovered that they had more in common with us than the guys in the next county - and so it goes on. In all sorts of ways we align ourselves with one 'faction' and adopt the symptoms of usandthemism with regard to the other faction (or factions). Doesn't matter if it is Protestant vs Catholic or Christian vs Muslim or one football team against another or male vs female or our country against .... you get the idea. We seem to be programmed by this disease to take it out on "them" regardless of the bigger picture of "right and wrong" or more likely somewhere in between for both sides.

So currently the EU are "them" for a large number of folks in the UK - although we should also remember that for many Scots the rest of the UK is "them" and they would like to break away from the UK in the same type of way that the UK would like to split from the EU. The identity of "them" changes through history - but there always has been - and probably always will be - a "them" that will be the focus of usandthemism - then I think, actually there will almost certainly be several "thems" depending on the particular matter that is of highest importance at the time.

Discrimination is the inevitable outcome of an outbreak of usandthemism and, unfortunately, that discrimination is often both irrational and without nuance. There may be a problem with "them" - but it is probably not with "all of them" just a "few of them" - and the problem is almost certainly not down to the fact that they are "them" - there will often (if not always) be some of "us" who are equally guilty of whatever that problem is.

I think that this is enough on this subject - we ought to eradicate this disease (as much as we can) and focus instead on the real issues rather just "them". That way there will be more of "us" and fewer of "them" and that changes attitudes and behaviours in lots of ways.