"Devaluing
of the outsider is part and parcel of everyday life. Depending on
which group we designate as the outsider, our scorn may be directed
at “liberals,” “Republicans,” “blacks,” “Jews,”
“yuppies,” or “welfare bums”: however the outsider is
designated. Such disidentification can authorize unethical, mean, and
destructive behavior against the outsider, behavior that otherwise
would cause guilt for violating ethical norms. Devaluation of the
outsider is tribal behavior and so universal as to suggest a “basic
law of groups”: Be one of us and we will love you; leave us and we
will kill you.
Devaluing
the outsider reassures the insider that he or she is good, special,
and deserving, unlike the outsider. Such a belief is a distortion of
reality; if one considers the different circumstances of each
person’s development and life context, one is hard put to judge
another person to be intrinsically inferior to oneself. Certainly,
actions can be judged, but human beings are one species, at eye level
with each other."
Cheers
The Fellas
(Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
Our usual
thanks to our AA contributor
