In what ways do others define our identity?
Other define our identity based on our religions and our appearance. It doesn't matter if we are good people or not, there are certain people who only see our heritage and our religious beliefs or our skin color and our appearance. Even the place we were born is apart of our identities. Other define us not on who we are as people but of where we were born, appearance, and heritage.
How do people make distinctions between "us" and "them"? Why do we make these distinctions?
They make the distinction between "us" and "them" by classifying them as different. For example, the whites were able to tell the difference between themselves and "them" by the color of their skin. Hitler was able to do the same with Star of David. In everyday life, we classify people as different, mainly, based on appearance. If someone doesn't look like a model, then they are ugly. If someone can't fit into a size 6 they're fat. We have so many labels for things when in all actuality we are discrimination against each other and making distinctions between the "us" and "them." There are always two or more sides. Never just one whole team.
How are genocides and other acts of mass violence humanly possible?
Frankly I cannot answer that, for I do not know. The best answer I can provide is that there is a lot of hatred involved. It starts with prejudiced attitudes, then acts of prejudice, then discrimination, followed by violence, and the it moves to genocide. I don't know a person could hate a group of people that much that they would to wipe out every last one of them in inhumane ways. It's just disgusting to think about how someone was able to sleep at night knowing they have killed thousands of people.
What choices do people make that allow collective violence to happen?
We allow one another to get away with their prejudice and nasty attitudes. I think if we stopped focusing on hate, and focused on getting along then things wouldn't be so hostile. We choose to be blind to the problems that happen around the world and we wait until it has erupted into something too massive for us to stop. Take Bosnia, the United States were reporting about it, yet under two presidents, we did nothing to help them. And during the Holocaust, we waited until it had been going on for so long before we thought about getting involved. I guess ignorance is bliss, but can that be true when people are dying at a rates of thousands a day?
Other define our identity based on our religions and our appearance. It doesn't matter if we are good people or not, there are certain people who only see our heritage and our religious beliefs or our skin color and our appearance. Even the place we were born is apart of our identities. Other define us not on who we are as people but of where we were born, appearance, and heritage.
How do people make distinctions between "us" and "them"? Why do we make these distinctions?
They make the distinction between "us" and "them" by classifying them as different. For example, the whites were able to tell the difference between themselves and "them" by the color of their skin. Hitler was able to do the same with Star of David. In everyday life, we classify people as different, mainly, based on appearance. If someone doesn't look like a model, then they are ugly. If someone can't fit into a size 6 they're fat. We have so many labels for things when in all actuality we are discrimination against each other and making distinctions between the "us" and "them." There are always two or more sides. Never just one whole team.
How are genocides and other acts of mass violence humanly possible?
Frankly I cannot answer that, for I do not know. The best answer I can provide is that there is a lot of hatred involved. It starts with prejudiced attitudes, then acts of prejudice, then discrimination, followed by violence, and the it moves to genocide. I don't know a person could hate a group of people that much that they would to wipe out every last one of them in inhumane ways. It's just disgusting to think about how someone was able to sleep at night knowing they have killed thousands of people.
What choices do people make that allow collective violence to happen?
We allow one another to get away with their prejudice and nasty attitudes. I think if we stopped focusing on hate, and focused on getting along then things wouldn't be so hostile. We choose to be blind to the problems that happen around the world and we wait until it has erupted into something too massive for us to stop. Take Bosnia, the United States were reporting about it, yet under two presidents, we did nothing to help them. And during the Holocaust, we waited until it had been going on for so long before we thought about getting involved. I guess ignorance is bliss, but can that be true when people are dying at a rates of thousands a day?