Like many of you I wish we lived in a perfect world and perfect society. In the meantime while we begin a new phase of building this strong society around our core historical values we have to sort of deal with those who are unaware of their role in promoting a healthy community with a sense of shared togetherness (I avoid the word nationalism because the term society is more inclusive and people in history have used the good of nationalism in the wrong ways to harm others. Healthy democracies avoid that.). We can learn about such hate, corruption and extremism through examples on the ways to overcome those challenges so our children and grandchildren have the best possible lives and opportunities. That takes understanding and wiser members of society to lead the dicussions.
The Hypothetical Example:
This is a hypothetical example for learning purposes. Members of a social group (i.e. "The Clan") were socialized together and shared strict social heirarchies on who is "in" and who is "out". Members are afraid they may be rejected by others and often act blindly without thinking. Rumors, ostracization, and public mocking are tools group socialites use to keep clan members in line. People from outside their group (fishbowl perspective) are often not let into their homogeneous ranks in fear that one could upset the applecart of social order (i.e. a type of social order that feeds on social comparisons.). The rumors are a reflection (i.e. mirror theory) of collective group fears and easily believed and acted on (We have seen this in a grand scale in some societies and on a lesser level here in our recent histories. i.e. Tulsa Massacre). In this example they hated someone who was born and bread with them but dared to venture among new peoples and religions making them a social outcast (Very tribal in orientation but the same mechanics have played out in historical-mythological stories. A type of Odyesseus Return as a Collective Unconscious Theme. <<<<sorry I thought it was sort of interesting so I went with it as a possible explanation how hate like love, redemption, heroes, cowards, etc. is part of our human experience so we write them into stories. True? No idea...but still interesting. 🤷)
Discussion:
This example is interesting because it helps highlight how such groups form and without critical examination continue to force compliance on group members even though that is not in the best interest of their personal development nor the development of their community. Thus, stading up to bigotries and hate are issues of persistence and pressence that force underdeveloped group members to come to grips with their own inadequacies due to lack of exposure and adaptation to the wider world around them. Through engagement with others outside their world view they will slowly learn that different doesn't mean lower than, weaker than, so on and so forth. (If we think about those differences we might find strength in hedging those variances for somethign greater).
We can of course add to this hypothetical example. Let us say the group is connected to a number of corrupted officials who are further connected to extremist groups. Rumors spread quickly and draw the interest of more violent members of society. Threats, intimidation, misuse of official positions/political positions for active suppression become common in locations where poor behaviors have been rewarded. Good officials can quickly collapse under the lack of checks and balances and highlights the need to strengthen those internal safeguards and enhance the empowerment of good officials (...versus in-group corrupted extremist officials) is important for the health of the whole institution.
A Few Ideas:
A few ideas on what can be learned from a thought experiment on hate, bullies, corruption and extremism:
-Make differentiations between people who are not particularly well developed, corruption, and extremism. They are different and should be treated differently. People who are good in their heart may still be confused by the dark-triad rumors so exposure and politeness is the cure. Corruption should be investigated and bad apples removes so the bunch can stay healthy. Extremism, depending on its form, is a much larger issue and we have to work with our leaders to minimize encouragement of hate, intimidatoin and violence (Some may create context for hate and violation of our oaths.)
-Be positive, polite and engaged. Groups often seek to provoke a fearful reaction because it makes them feel empowered and they can use it as an excuse to further gaslight their groups to dehumanize and act. The more you engage the more they have to act and react to you and that can desensitive the group while exposing the most aggressive of members. They almost always resort to chest beating behaviors and that is further rooted in our biology as a species.
-Remove the incentives of hate. This is very difficult to do without ensuring institutional integrity. Often in clan based systems we find a willingness to fall in line with social expectations in a way in which checks and balances are bulldozed over and default to systemic bigotries. Thus, strengthening our institutions to see all people as having value is important in order to reduce the incentives of hate and the need to have an objective evidence based mindset. Removing the gains and rewards from hate seems to make the most sense so as to not incentivize such behaviors.
-Track and Solve Strategies for Extremism: Extremism is a dangerous development in recent times and as a whole nation we should all be standing against violations of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, racial violence and the suppression of alternative political expressions (Violence Goes Down and Hate Crimes Go Up). The beauty of a universal system is that the race, religion or political party doesn't matter in that metric. Thus reporting hate crimes and corruption often leads to greater exposure of extremist networks. We have to make sure agencies report and code properly.
-Encourage the Best and Brightest: One of the reasons why we are having these problems is not only because the world and environment has changed but we are often more concerned about getting ahead without consideration of the greater needs of society. We sometimes promote less qualified people because they fit a certain political or social profile based on their backgrounds (often connected and wealthy). Thus bringing forward the best and brightest from a variety of backgrounds improves long term decision making and fosters environments that look unfavorably on short-sightedness. We are all in this boat together and I think the best of us (vs. most demanding or toxic) should step forward.
-Open to Rectification: As hate and bigotries seek to damage our society it is up to us to think about how to bring us together. Good people try and do what is best for everyone based on our generation to generation values of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, Constitution, and civil/human rights. Just like we know that blind followership and the selfishness of those who hate is destructive and corrosive we should know that the solution is to not do the same but instead to build up and strengthen society. That requires active listening to deeper needs and finding connectivity of purpose. i.e. Universal Democracy. We have to get everyone rowing together and that may mean finding win-win situations (There is a moral battle going on between those who want win-win and those who want win-lose).
*This article is a thought experiment and is a hyothetical example for learning. Take with a grain of salt. A type of discussin on freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the Constitution, and human/civil rights.
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