Renowned psychiatrist Carl Jung, credited with founding analytical psychology, developed the idea of "the other". A critical line from this definition is "Others may be not-us, and so we can see how we are different from others. Otherness thus creates alienation and fear." Indeed, the other is often the embodiment of what we reject, what we seek to repress. Often we may other certain qualities of ourselves, creating a shadow reminding of us what and who we really are. But societies can other(verb) people different from the mainstream or modern society. In America we might reject this, considering ourselves the melting pot and lauding ourselves on our diversity. Yet subconsciously racism and prejudices persist, resulting in the othering of people. This has taken its most recent turn regarding Muslims in America.
Muslims are othered. After our twin towers fell, the word "terrorist" took on a different meaning, one associated with Muslims. A harsh stigma against Arabs and more specifically Muslims was created not intentionally but just as notion of society. Many of us have had no need to face this stigma and thus it is easy to forget that it exists. But these men and women are still othered, even today. Islamophobia is a term now in use. This othering includes actions too, not just opinions. There are many stories of men and women unjustly searched or detained at airports under false presumptions. This article from BBC details hearings that are given to Muslims under the threat of terrorism, though most people are just average Americans who are practicing Islam and have no such affiliation. Yet in the land of the free, there are still many people who are being othered.
Why do we other? I don't think we can avoid it as per the society we live in. For one, we are a very nationalistic nation and when our leaders declared enemies, us citizens followed suit. This is similar to the situations Japanese men and women living in America were facing during WWII, though not as extreme. But in both situations, we were attacked by one group of people, only to stigmatize and "other" all those even related. Our society also has standards of right and normalcy, and expressions too different from these standards also face the cold shoulder immediately. It is by our nature to support some and oppose those against. But we cannot continue to preach tolerance and not act upon it. As a society we have to learn that it is wrong to give unjustified prejudices to people of which only a very select few deserve. A tall order some may say, but we are the melting pot. And if we are to stay true to our name, then we must make the moves to do so.
Muslims are othered. After our twin towers fell, the word "terrorist" took on a different meaning, one associated with Muslims. A harsh stigma against Arabs and more specifically Muslims was created not intentionally but just as notion of society. Many of us have had no need to face this stigma and thus it is easy to forget that it exists. But these men and women are still othered, even today. Islamophobia is a term now in use. This othering includes actions too, not just opinions. There are many stories of men and women unjustly searched or detained at airports under false presumptions. This article from BBC details hearings that are given to Muslims under the threat of terrorism, though most people are just average Americans who are practicing Islam and have no such affiliation. Yet in the land of the free, there are still many people who are being othered.
Why do we other? I don't think we can avoid it as per the society we live in. For one, we are a very nationalistic nation and when our leaders declared enemies, us citizens followed suit. This is similar to the situations Japanese men and women living in America were facing during WWII, though not as extreme. But in both situations, we were attacked by one group of people, only to stigmatize and "other" all those even related. Our society also has standards of right and normalcy, and expressions too different from these standards also face the cold shoulder immediately. It is by our nature to support some and oppose those against. But we cannot continue to preach tolerance and not act upon it. As a society we have to learn that it is wrong to give unjustified prejudices to people of which only a very select few deserve. A tall order some may say, but we are the melting pot. And if we are to stay true to our name, then we must make the moves to do so.
I agree Shawn, as you said a lot of us have subconscious prejudices that sprout from this "othering" in society. An interesting phenomena, which we discussed somewhat in class, is when we start to clump "others" together in the back of our mind. Muslims are others; terrorists are others; poor are others. Thus, many stereotypical Americans see Muslims as terrorists, criminals, poor, greedy, etc. In many cases these outliers blur together. When someone is different from us in a negative way, we don't like to think that they do some things that are similar to us, because we don't want to be associated with the "other" in any way, shape, or form. And there lies the real dilemma in our thinking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Rohan and you Shawn. It's definitely hypocritical, but maybe that's just innate. For example, take the campaigns for St.Jude's hospital. Even in scenarios where othering doesn't seem to exist, it exists. Because while we portray kids typically in poor conditions as helpless and stuck, we give off the image in those campaigns as sick but still smiling and participating. So, I think you're absolutely right in that othering is innate and deeply rooted, to a point that it can't be differentiated at times. I think at the same time, we otherize because it makes us feel superior in a sense, whether it's true or not. It's kind of like the feeling you get when people come to you for advice. I almost feel that more interaction with these people we call our "other" will help us overcome this innate characteristic. But, it's definitely not an easy problem to solve...
DeleteRohan, you make a good point in that we often blur our others together, giving one group of people a whole set of negative aspects that may not be true. An ideal in our society is to be better or superior, and there are aspects of lower society that we try to avoid. And when our others coincide with that lower society that we are seeking to avoid, "we don't want to be associated with the "other" in any way, shape, or form" as you said. This leans into what Elizabeth was describing, that we other people to make ourselves feel superior. So my question becomes, first who deems the aspects of lower society that we try to avoid? Second, is a problem of our society or ourselves that we must other people in order to feel superior?
DeleteI think that otherization and stereotyping cannot only be attributed to selfish motivations. We categorize and make assumptions in order to simplify the external world into packages of information that our brain can process. Our minds are trained to recognize patterns and similarities. If in every new situation, our brain needed to piece everything together from scratch, any sort of intellectual progress would be impossible. If we weren't able to make assumptions like "things with four legs, a seat, and a back are usually chairs", we'd have to go through the same steps it took for us to learn what a chair was in the first place. Taking the leap of faith and believing that that thing that looks like a chair is actually a chair allows us to start focusing on more complex ideas. If the most exposure we have gotten to Muslim culture is via news reports on terrorism, then of course our brains are going to make assumptions and connections.
DeleteI agree with what all three of you have said, but to look at it from a different perspective I think we have to realize that "othering" someone is different from stereotyping and discriminating. Othering is more of an umbrella term that as Shawn's definition said, "Others may be not-us". An adult could be an other to me, or a woman, or an African American. I disagree with Elizabeth when she says we otherize to feel superior. I think we otherize the same reason we categorize anything. We stereotype to make ourselves feel superior. The problem becomes when is the other too far different? Why do kids and adults not discriminate against each other, but Christians and Muslims may? Both have different sets of ideals. There has become a stereotypical collective understanding of what is other and okay and what is other and "bad". We ignore the others deemed okay and target the “bad” other and as Rohan said, we clump the “bad” others to make one bad mess. People need to stop narrowing in on the other and broaden it so far that we can say animals are other, because we are humans and we are okay.
ReplyDeleteTo address the first part of your comment, I think you are right in saying that othering is different from stereotyping and discriminating, a distinction I had not made. But I dont think an adult, woman, or African American can all simply be an other to you because the definition of an other is more than those different from us but also those that have aspects that we do not identify with, that are not a part of us. For the second part regarding the distinction between othering that is deemed good or bad, that is a very tough job. For there are many little distinctions that would have to be made. But a greater question is who gets to decide whither others are good and bad?
DeleteThis "other" mentality manifests itself in all aspects of American life today. Americans inherently create a competition, an "us vs them" mentality. America is losing its sense of community with the world. We live in a day and age where the most popular sport in America is designed so that 300 pound men can tackle each other. The NFL and the rest of American sport culture is another example of how America polarizes people. We create teams, not a community. There is bitterness and rivalry, not cooperation. "Othering" is part of American society top to bottom, and it is something people need to recognize. It stretches well beyond Muslims, while they do represent some of the victims of "othering".
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