Day 22: Us and Them
By: Sara Barnes
What is US and THEM and what does it have to do with Conflict?
In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object. It is part of dehumanization -- the act of disavowing the humanity of others. Bias, the us & them thought process, othering and blame & shame culture connect to the concept of objectification.
Making the distinction: one person sees themselves as in one group and identifies others as in another group. No problem. One person sees those who are in another group as things, not humans. That's objectification. Meaning the group of people have been transformed, mentally, into objects. That’s a problem.
After all:
An object can't have feelings
People don't usually empathize with objects
Objects are less valued than humans
Groups of objects aren't thought of as distinct individuals
Do I objectify any groups?
As you search your experience, are there people or groups of people you might have dehumanized or objectified?
Here's what disintegrates objectification: knowledge and personal connection. Work against objectifying by spending time having real experiences with people from that group.
A few other ways to undo objectifying groups:
Pick a role model from that group. My role model is....
Read about, see a documentary about, and/or study the group.
Say to yourself: I am a ...(fill in the blank of the objectified group) and the one thing I never want someone to say about me is....
Consider whether you yourself have ever been objectified by another and reflect on how it felt.
Listen to how people use the 'we' and 'they' terms and consider how the terms feed objectification.
There's a lot more to objectification -- we've just scratched the surface.
Click here to read more on the topic.
One thing is for sure, people are hard to hate close up.