I have the good fortune of having friends in Oaxaca, Mexico who have offered me their perspectives on what is happening in the United States. These people are very engaged in local politics and activism, particularly for indigenous rights. Last week I asked, "What do you think of what you have been seeing/hearing in the US?" His response: that the "left" was stereotyping many of the vocal protesters, making them "other". This is dehumanizing. This gave me a lot to think about combined with my other thoughts, isn't there anything that unites all of us?
First, the comment on "other". I constantly read blogs/articles calling individuals "tea baggers", for example. When we start to do this, we begin to take away personal identity and create a short hand the imbues all of the people with certain qualities - we don't even have to list them. It's like calling someone "red neck" or some ethnic shorthand that reinforces stereotypes. Just as certain groups use "leftist" or "liberal" to be demeaning, "tea-baggers" is also used by certain groups to be demeaning. This strips us of our identity, our person.
My work over the years has advocacy and education related to disability issues. One of the most important concepts from this field is the idea of "person first" language. Not to say a "disabled person" which creates a primary all encompassing identity as disabled, but to speak of the person first. We don't say "disable Stephen Hawkins", usually it's "genius Stephen Hawkins" who has disabilities ( or even "differently-abled") This is not just "pc" language, but carries important significance of how we see others.
I think an effort needs to be made to see through the labels and start seeing individuals with different points of view driven by a myriad of stuff that makes up who we are. If we begin to do that, I believe we can find common ground.Why does this matter?
Right now, the corporations have us right where they want us - fighting between each other - "tea-baggers" vs "lefties", "dems vs repubs", etc... As long as we keep fighting each other, the corporations can continue to have their way with us. We barely pay attention to what they are doing. Our economic system is dominated by the needs of the corporation. The workers wages - all of us - have remained essentially stagnant since the 70's while the corporate profits continue to rise - we all know about that gap. Isn't that what unites us? I recommend a short video "When Capitalism hits the Fan" Watch the video for and understanding of what has happened to our economic system (you may not agree with the speakers solution). The "financial crisis" is a symptom of our sick system. And so far, all our energies are focused on treating the symptom, not the sick system.
Which brings me back to, is there something that unites us? Yes - that we all are affected by this system that is dominated by the wealth and interests of the corporations and the 1% with the wealth. We need to stop fighting with each other which distracts from the real problem, the control of the corporations.