The Holocaust – Being an Outsider
In many cases on the podcasts we look at the idea of “us’ and ‘them’ as in are you one of us or one of them. Often in society we are saying do you belong are you one of us. In this episode we turn it around and look at what happens when we are one of ‘them’ and not one of ‘us’? When you are an outsider standing outside of the group.
To be an outsider usually means that you are different or that you are seen as different. This may be negative in the form of prejudice. Perhaps you are disabled, disfigured, have a speech Impediment, perhaps a relative has just been in prisoned for sexual impropriety or violent assault, something has happened that makes you become excluded from the home group. There are also the issues of race, gender, religion and so on.
It could also be positive exclusion, if such a thing exists. Perhaps you have just won the lotto, been made the manager of the team you worked in for many years, or been the only one in your university cohort to gain a first class honours degree.
To be an outsider you are or have done something different to the group. Now the group no longer identifies with you. You are now the outsider.
Currently the news is full of Palestine people that have been expelled from Gaza. Whatever the politics and what ever the propaganda the message at some level to the people of Gaza is “we do not want you go away. You are not one of ‘us’ you are one of ‘them’. You are outsiders.
The popularised fuel of the whole Brexit debate, that has risen again, was around can we allow these outsiders, these refugees, to become one of us? Will we accept them and allow them in? This then raised the quest, do we want to stay with the group of Europe.
The expressed desire to no longer be one of ‘us’, as part of the European Community and become ‘them’ and find our own route outside of the larger community. We have voted to become outsiders, to be one of ‘them’ and no longer one of ‘us’.
Have you ever felt like an outsider?
As I have travelled I have, on many occasions, been the only white person in the room, or the only Brit or in Wales the only English person. My difference was sometimes seen as a handicap as in ‘you bloody limeys’. The were some time when I was called ‘honky’ or ‘ghost’. On the other side people wanted to speak English with me and practise their use of the language. I also had very blond and very curly hair that people, mainly women, especially in Asia, wanted to touch and feel. I was even asked for a lock a couple of times. I know a man who was the tallest man in the UK for a while. He found that when he visited China, which he had to do as part of his job, it became impossible because the locals want to be photographed standing beside him. When it came to the point where he couldn’t leave his hotel because of the crowds of people were waiting for him to get photographed he decided to call it a day and stopped going there.
Are we all Earthlings
In many ways this weeks topic follows on from previous episodes when we discussed Veganism with Jodie. To be a vegan means to stand outside the normal culture of the country and the economy. At the same time to eat and animal requires that at some levels we see that animal as different or less than our fellow humans. If we see humans as a part or our group then to eat them is unthinkable. If we see animal as a part of our group then to eat them is unthinkable.
I mentioned in that podcast, and put them up as my resources, the films Schindler’s List and The Boy In Striped Pyjamas. Both these films describe what happens when we separate a group and make them outsiders. For the Nazis to treat the Jewish people the way that they did required for them to dehumanise the Jews, to exclude them from the group of humanity and make them outsiders who had no human rights and were treated as they treated their animals. The same thing happened in Africa when untold millions were sold into slavery by Europe and America.
The Trump effect
To create a group there has to be normalised ideas, beliefs and behaviours. This is true of a football crowd, a bunch of girls who regularly go out on the jolly, the Mafia gang, a stamp collecting club, the list becomes endless. Once someone stands up and proposes something, they raise their standard, others will begin to gather around that standard and the new group is formed. Once that group is formed their is an inside and an outside and everyone now has to make a decision, are you in or out. Their will be consequences whichever way you decide to go, that is the nature of life.
The trick is propaganda. How do we get people to join our cause and take on our beliefs? We use the media. Could be fake news could be real news, could be newspapers and television or radio news. It could be social media or even gossip and the rumour mill.
Once someone like Trump plants his flag others with the same views begin to gather around him and the propaganda machine sets off. The more people that gather the greater the power of the group. The greater the power of the group the greater the effect that they can have on the outsiders, us and them.
The groups that you identify with and belong to will either be positive with outsiders and may, in many ways be looking to a greater understanding between groups. Or, the group that you are associated with are increasing the sense of difference between groups of people and at not looking to empathise or understand. You have a choice and your choices are consequential.
Perhaps inviting someone that you see as an outsider in for tea might help humanise humanity.
Take care and be happy
Sean x