by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright October 2015
One of the most pervasive forms of Instinctive Thinking that affects history is the Us versus Them instinct. This shows up in many ways, some very obvious, some subtle "sneak in's".
Exploring these various forms is the topic of this section.
Us versus Them thinking has great benefits in the Neolithic Village lifestyle. It encourages cooperation among those a person is familiar with, which gives the steady benefits that are the hallmark of cooperation. It also allows for defecting when that can bring big benefits. The key here is that the defecting should be done with strangers, not friends. (Defection here is in the Prisoners Dilemma context, another word with similar meaning is betraying.)
The thousands of Stone Age generations humans lived through were all pure Neolithic environment. So the brain became hardwired -- instinctive thinking -- to support cooperating with those who are close -- who are family or family-like -- and defecting with strangers when there was benefit in doing so.
The hard challenge happened when mankind began to first discover, and then invent, the benefits of the agricultural lifestyle. One of the techniques that showed benefit early in the process and became consistently more important over time was wider cooperation. As wider cooperation was needed, how to overcome the family-oriented Us versus Them instinct became a constant challenge.
The invention that mankind came up with to support this change in social environment was hierarchical thinking -- the concept of rulers and ruled. This invention has been around just barely long enough that it is also becoming instinctive thinking -- monarchical governing is a now comfortable form for a lot of people.
Another social invention was the Chosen People concept. We, a big group, are Us, and all those outsiders are Them. This was a fairly easy extension of the family-oriented instinct, and it has proved a useful concept in many, many circumstances.
These are some examples of obvious extensions of Us versus Them thinking. Now lets talk about some more subtle extensions.
Many of the subtle incarnations of Us versus Them concern who to betray and how to do it. Examples of subtle versions include corruption in its various forms, and using government regulations to raise barriers to entry into an occupation.
Beyond betrayal, guilds, neoguilds and unions are Chosen People manifestations.
Another subtle manifestation is something I call Blame Them. This is the fast and comfortable choice for a leader when something has gone wrong. It is comfortable and easy to say some stranger is the root of the problem. This is also a comfortable choice for followers. "It's not our problem. Therefore, don't ask us to go through the discomfort of trying to figure out how fix it. And don't ask us to go through the discomfort caused by disrupting how we live to adapt to the solution required to fix the failure."
This Blame Them tactic often has a lot of conspiracy story mixed in with it. Fearing treachery is a powerful part of the Us versus Them instinct.
Us versus Them thinking is pervasive in human thinking. It is pervasive on both the personal and the community level.
One of the important elements it controls is who to cooperate with and who to betray. This is where it is most important as a fabric of history.
Another place it becomes important is when blame is being placed. When the choice taken is the easy and comfortable one, Blame Them, the problem won't be fixed quickly or well, and history will soon be talking about some other Big Vision winner.
--The End--