Philosophy Now Forum

Is it possible to break down "us vs. them" mentality? How?

I suggest:

* Ban on team sports on large/nationwide levels.

* Ban on non-professional uniforms (police officers should carry a uniform as part of their profession, but uniforms symbolizing an ideology or religion should be banned - like Ku-Klux-Klan-uniforms and niqab etc.). Also, school uniforms should be banned.

* Abolish conscription in countries where any such thing exists.

* Make it legal to desecrate private possessions of national symbols (ie. if you own a flag of your own country, you should be free to burn it).

* Other bans on nationalism.

nuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction...

-Imp

Impenitent wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:33 pm nuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction...

-Imp

That might work on global level between the most powerful nations.

I'm asking: How can we defeat "us vs. them" mentality from the root - down to the smallest level - human to human, in workplaces, in small neighboring towns/communities etc.?

philosopher wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:16 pm

Impenitent wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:33 pm nuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction...

-Imp

That might work on global level between the most powerful nations.

I'm asking: How can we defeat "us vs. them" mentality from the root - down to the smallest level - human to human, in workplaces, in small neighboring towns/communities etc.?

abolish families

tear that baby out of the mother's arms at birth, it is nothing but a worker drone for the magnanimous state

-Imp

Very simply just do not have a "us" verse "them" attitude. Truthfully there is NO "them" existing anyway.

When you begin to recognise "their" deeply human flaws in yourself the distinction disappears.

Age wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:19 am Very simply just do not have a "us" verse "them" attitude. Truthfully there is NO "them" existing anyway.

Yet people insists on "White Supremacy", "True Muslims" and the like.

I hate those claiming to be "true" muslims, as much as I hate those claiming to be "true" christians, jews, atheists, whites, europeans, americans, russians, chinese or whatever "true scotsman"-fallacy they claim to be the one and only "truth".

Nazis are evil. So are the ones the nazis hates - the jews and muslims and christians and just about everybody else.

People should stop claiming their group is the only legitimate group in the entire world.

People should start becoming individuals and stop belonging to any particular group.

It's rooted deep in human nature due to genetic memory, it can be reversed temporarily by "group think" having a strong pacifistic leader, once such leader either are dead, disliked or overwhelming hate takes over people will revert back to their primitive caveman nature.

HexHammer wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2019 3:42 am It's rooted deep in human nature due to genetic memory, it can be reversed temporarily by "group think" having a strong pacifistic leader, once such leader either are dead, disliked or overwhelming hate takes over people will revert back to their primitive caveman nature.

Except of course that primitive caveman nature was much more likely to be co-operative given the world they lived in.

Just look for what we have in common with each other. Then, at least we can band together according to real issues and not artificial constructs such as nation, race, gender, and so forth.

Plan A: Seek unity and solidarity.
Plan B: Leave them alone.
Plan C: We kill them, or they kill us.

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism. Karl Marx

The answer is to make sure by all means possible that everyone obeys the laws and dictates of your socialist leaders assuring a glorious time of peace.

Nick_A wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:00 pm The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism. Karl Marx

The answer is to make sure by all means possible that everyone obeys the laws and dictates of your socialist leaders assuring a glorious time of peace.

In a glorious time of peace there's no human need for any laws thus 'obedience' and 'opposition' lose their meaning.

Rinse. Repeat.

...mankind unites to beat back the BEM.

This, of course, is just shifting the place cards around: 'us' is mankind, 'them' is the alien invaders.

I'm thinkin' mebbe 'us' vs 'them' is a hard feature of human psychology, a feature not easily tossed into the waste bin, and -- mebbe -- we ought not try.

"primitive caveman nature was much more likely to be co-operative given the world they lived in."

Cooperative with members of his own tribe and family, yeah.

Not so much with competing tribes.

It's 'us' vs 'them' all the way back.