Us vs. Them

(Decided to do constant input and will post an entry at least once a week.)

In the book Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, the author analyzed Google search datas to reveal the hidden (usually disturbing) truth that people won’t admit in public. One example is about President Obama’s speech after the San Bernardino attack.

Traditional medias praised Obama’s speech for attempting to eliminate Islamophobia by encouraging people to respect Muslims and emphasizing on the importance of tolerance. However, Seth’s research on Google searches showed that instead of calming Americans, the speech actually inflamed the anger (this is a very disturbing insight for me).

But the one line that triggered positive response was “Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbours, our co-workers, our sports heroes and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform, who are willing to die in defense of our country.”

This got me thinking. I feel like when people show resentment at something, it is often times that they are not familiar with or have no personal connection with it. It is always easier when it is “us” vs “them”, because we can then blame someone/something for our discontent rather than facing our own weaknesses.

I personally don’t like it when people jump to conclusion quickly. For example, I’ve heard my ex-coworkers complaining to me about how they think foreigners are stealing Americans’ jobs. They then later realized that I am also a foreigner and quickly told me that I’m not “one of them” (ugh… what?). This really puzzled me. Because I know just how difficult it is for a foreigner to get a job and be able to stay in the States. But neither of my coworkers knew, yet they can say it with such certainty.

Oh well, just thought it is really interesting to see what people’s online searches reveal about them. This particular example also reminded me of a TED talk by Mariana Atencio about what makes people special. Spoiler alert, it’s about understanding and embracing differences.