Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, October 03 2006 @ 09:16 AM CST
Problem 1: Us-vs-Them-ism. Call it tribalism, nationalism, racism, whatever. Any time you divide the world into Us and Them, you’re asking for trouble. Unfortunately, that’s how we evolved to view the world.
Problem 2: The Expert Syndrome. Any time you find someone who’s absolutely convinced you should live your life some other way than what you’re doing right now, you’ve got conflict. Religious zealotry, health-nuts, safety nazis, the list goes on and on. “I know better than you, and you should be forced to do things my way.” Both halves of that statement are also how everyone evolved to view the world. The first half (I know better than you) isn’t that harmful in and of itself, it’s the second half (you should be forced to do things my way) where things fall apart rapidly.
There. I’ve pretty much identified the basic problems with the world today. Somebody needs to go out and fix them. Actually, everybody needs to go out and fix them.
Problem #1 is rampant in the world today. See this story[*1] about a South Dakota State basketball player who’s half-white, half-“native american”:
Observing the struggle was (basketball player Casey McKenzie’s) father, Tom, who came to Pine Ridgeas a graduate student in 1970 and married Belva Hollow Horn, a memberof the Oglala Sioux Tribe. They separated in 1993, when Mackenzie was 7years old and his siblings, Meghan and Sean, were 10 and 13.
Thatleft Tom to raise three children as a single parent while he works asgeneral manager at KILI-FM, a public radio station founded by theAmerican Indian Movement.
In 1992, a group of activists campedoutside the station for seven months to protest Casey’s role as anon-Native American in charge.
“White people have no monopoly onracism,” says Casey, who has covered Pine Ridge-area athletics for morethan 20 years. “Have I felt racism because I’m a white person living inan Indian community? Of course. But I’ve lived in this community for 36years, and we’re making it work.”
Fear of the different. Everyone, regardless of skin color or culture, feels it.