The Dilemma of “Us” and “Them”

In all cultures, the "us and them" dilemma plays negative roles, but these roles vary.  I tend to believe this dilemma reaches its highest level (i.e., its worst manifestation) in societies with a pastoral history, while it is less acute in agricultural and industrial societies.

During the last half century, a theocratic/religious culture has spread in Arabic-speaking societies.  Because this culture was born in a pastoral environment(s), the mentalities of many in Arabic-speaking societies have become characterized by a culture of hostility towards the "other", even in non-pastoral societies.

If it were up to me, I would make the educational material in our society serve the value of accepting the other and understand the issue of "us and them" in a positive way.  In a society like Egypt, this is not a difficult task.  Egyptian society is not comparable to societies in the same region, with some twenty sects.

The question of the culture of "us and them" and the value of accepting the other is not a secondary issue, but an extremely important and serious one.

A large percentage of the citizens of Arabic-speaking societies today have a non-positive and sometimes even hostile view of the “other” in all its forms including the religious other, the ethnic other, and the other in terms of identity and nationality.

What has happened during the last decade in societies such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and before all of them Lebanon, in terms of fragmentation, rivalry, and divisions that sometimes have reached the point of fighting, was one of the repercussions of the "dilemma of us and them.”

The author of this article has written a lot about the “values of progress.” As such, there is no doubt that all of these values (i.e., the values of progress) are based upon what some call “altruism” and others call “acceptance of the other,” which is the basis of a positive mentality regarding "us and them".  Acceptance of the other is the cornerstone of another very important value: "coexistence".

 

 Written on December 27, 2022.