Groupthink

We are humans. (I don't think that's a controversial statement.) We have a lot of things that are a product of us simply being humans. We are air breathers. We produce offspring in a particular way, different, say, than lizards or fish. And we are groupthinkers. What do I mean? We as a group (humor) tend to think of ourselves as groups.

Oh, we have a large variety of groups, most of us in many of them. There are "racial" groups (in scare quotes because aren't we the human race?) and gender groups and educational groups and family groups and job groups and national groups and religious groups. On and on it goes. You might identify as a middle class, white, Christian, American male or an upper class, black, Muslim, South African woman or ... well, you get the idea. And we break those down further, don't we? That first category example I listed included "Christian," sure, but what kind of Christian? Is he Catholic or Protestant, Orthodox or atheist (seriously, you will find a category of "atheist Christian," an entirely nonsensical concept)? Oh, Protestant? Okay. What kind of Protestant? Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian ... well, you see how this goes. There are, according to some estimates, 33,000 Protestant denominations. (This page lists "about 22,000 denominations," but they are way too generous in their definition of "Christian," including "Buddhist believers in Christ," "gay/Lesbian homosexual tradition," Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses.) And we are ... one ... or more ... or less of them, apparently.

So, we tend to think of ourselves as part of a group and we are generally loyal to that group. And being associated with that group serves to identify you. "Oh, you're one of those, eh? So, you must think ..." Beyond that, this kind of "groupthink" is mandated. "So, you're a Democrat, eh? Oh, no? Well, then, you must be a Republican. No?? Well, then, you're Independent or something else and your vote just doesn't count." In America today in order to be useful at voting season you must be either Republican or Democrat. Everyone knows that if you don't vote Democrat/Republican, you are voting Republican/Democrat no matter how you vote. Mandatory.

Here's the problem. It just isn't so. It's just not true. I'll just use me as an example. I am white, so I am routinely pidgeon-holed as a racist. No evidence. No incidents. Just skin color. I'm male, so I'm sexist by definition. It doesn't matter if the conclusion is accurate; it is a given. I'm a Christian, which puts me in a particular category, but, worse, I read my Bible as if it actually means what it says, so now I'm a "fundamentalist," and not in a good way. That is, if you find a "fundamentalist Muslim" who reads his book for what it says and concludes that his job is to kill infidels, I'm that kind of fundamentalist. The thing is, I'm not. These things help you to peg me in my moral, political, social, economical, etc. views, but, as it turns out, they don't. I'm far more "center" in most of this stuff than most of you might suspect. But that doesn't matter. Truth doesn't matter. Because we are "groupthinkers" and you can take a cursory look at me and know right away what kind of loser I am. You'd be wrong, but you would think so.

That's not intended to be either a defense of me or a complaint about the false stereotyping. It is simply an illustration of all of us. Yes, even me. We tend to group people. "Oh, you're a ..." Then we categorize them. "That means that you believe ..." Then we embrace or castigate them. For the group, not for who they are. "Oh, you're a Christian? So am I! We're in this together." It doesn't matter that this particular Christian is an atheist and you are a theist. "Oh, you're a Republican? I'm a Democrat, you loser!" It doesn't matter that this Republican hasn't voted Republican for decades. And so it goes.

We think of ourselves in groups. We tend to embrace our own groups and discount the others. The groups of which we're a part tend to edge our own thinking in a particular direction just by proximity. Unfortunately, that just serves as a barrier to real relationship, because we are all, in fact, individuals. No two people think alike. No groups of people are 100% in uniformity. And our embrace or assault of others for their groups is a response to a lie with only a shade of truth. I apologize for the times I've done that to you. I hope not to do it in the future. Don't worry. I don't expect you to stop doing it. You're only human, right?