Who is ‘Us’ and who is ‘Them’?
For most of mankind’s history that has been significant. It still is. The Navajo name for themselves, for example is Diné, which means ‘the people’ or ‘Children of the Holy People.” This is common. MOST, if not all, ‘native people’ call themselves ‘the people’, that is ‘human’ or ‘persons’. Tribal names aren’t what they called themselves but rather what others called them and it usually translated into ‘enemy’. ‘The People’, ‘humans,’ ‘Persons’ etc. means US. Everyone else is THEM that is ‘enemy’. Ethics, Morality, Laws and rules of social behavior apply to US. Anything goes with THEM.(the enemy).
The Bedouin have a saying “"I against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, and my cousin and I against the stranger."
It’s called ‘tribalism’. They still feel this way, everyone does actually. (Hatfields and McCoys and various other feuds?) They are honest enough to admit it. A brief look (shudder) at history will be sufficient to verify this claim.
It’s hardwired into the brain. Nothing can be done about it. That’s just the way it is. It must be recognized and dealt with. Denial does no good. It’s a force of nature.
Dunbar’s Number
An illustration of which is Dunbar’s Number which is “the suggested limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships” Notice the keyword ‘stable’? Beyond that cognitive limit the social relationships, like as not, become UNstable. Why? Because beyond that number they are THEM and not US. One doesn’t treat THEM the same way we treat us.
“THEM” are Abbos, Charlies, Chinks, wetbacks, beaner, Dagos, wogs, Paki, Hajji, Malaun, Bule, coonas, gringo, Haole, Hunky, Medigan, Ofay, Arkie, Okie, Boonga, Merkin, Sepo, Rebel, Redneck, Hillbilly, Hick, Bumpkin, Limey, Huns, Krauts, Jerrys, Micks, Paddys, Goombah, infidels, honkies, goyim, yankees, spics, bluegums, coons, golliwogs, jigaboos, jungle bunnies, geeks, nerds, and many, many more. The list just goes on and ON! If they are not US they are THEM and we dehumanize them.
One of the effects of the primal wiring in our brains is that the Collective IQ of a group is inversely proportional to its size. Bigger groups are stoopid. Look the recent political conventions for a blatant example. Anyone who has ever been in the Army has experience with this phenomena. “It’s good enough for government work” is an example. With an increase in size those outside the immediate office, squad, band, or group become THEM.
What can be done about it?
A wise man once said.
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence,—it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs_by_ethnicity