OUR FEAR OF THE OTHER—- WHAT THIS BLOG IS ABOUT
The Jews are not alone. Over the millennia, countless groups have been branded as “The Other” –to be feared, scorned, cast out, exterminated, and cleansed from the face of the Earth.
Many thinkers have speculated that fear of “The Other” is part of our psyche, built into our DNA. Without it, we would never have survived as a species. But that hypothesis presents a frightening irony: though that instinct may have enabled us to triumph as a species, it may ultimately bring about our destruction.
And yet, we know so little about it.
That’s why I am launching a regular column dedicated to exploring that fear. As an author and former investigative producer with “60 Minutes”, I can’t think of a more important subject to explore. It may be the most lethal weapon of mass destruction on the planet.
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Optimists argue that, even though we are born with the instinct, it can be overcome. It can be “socialized” by family, tamed by schooling and experience, and regulated by laws. But history demonstrates that even though temporarily subdued, the impulse remains part of our primitive core.
It persists as an emotional button ready to be activated when pressed, a klaxon prepared to sound at any real or invented threat. It has been–and will continue to be-- used by tyrants and ruthless demagogues to destroy their opponents and bolster their power.
Once unleashed, the hatred generated by that fear can be terrifying. The Holocaust was the most horrific example. But there have been many others.
In 1915, the Young Turk government gave the order to systematically annihilate the Armenian population across Turkey.
Families were driven into the Syrian desert and left to die agonizing deaths from exposure and starvation. The accounts are chilling - one missionary described finding naked women and children huddled together in caves, their bodies withered to skeletons. Between 600,000 to 1.2 million are estimated to have died.
In 1966, riots and mass killings of Ibos broke out across northern Nigeria. One Catholic priest described the blood-curdling scene he encountered in a church compound - 'There were bodies of men, women, and children, about 80 altogether. Some had whole limbs chopped off; others had their eyes gouged out. I saw a woman holding the dismembered head of her baby.’ The number of dead was estimated from 500,000 to two million.
The list of horrors goes on and on, from the massacres in Rwanda in 1994 to the mass killings by Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995; to the Genocide in Bangladesh in 1971, where the Pakistani army massacred up to three million civilians; to the Rape of Nanking by the Japanese in 1938, to the deaths of thousands of Cherokees in 1838 on the ‘Trail of Tears’, to the gory conquests of Genghis Khan, who often ordered his army to kill every man woman and child in the cities they captured.
That’s the same command the First Testament God gave to the Jews when they conquered the Land of Canaan. Deuteronomy 20:16-18: "Do not leave a living soul. Destroy them all—so that they will not teach you to do all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods…”
When not slaughtering “The Other,” we remain obsessed with the threat. We spend obscene amounts on ‘defense’. We live in terror of being ‘replaced’ or overrun or conquered by real or imagined threats.
And the definition of who is “The Other” is incredibly malleable. Overnight, allies, friends, and neighbors can be transformed into loathsome, deadly enemies. We witnessed it when nationalist demagogues ignited ancient ethnic fears in 1991 to blow the former Yugoslavia apart after Tito’s death. More than 150,000 people were slaughtered in an orgy of fear-driven killing.
To legitimize the hate--the feared “Other” is often dehumanized. The onus of mass cold-blooded murder is removed. You are doing the world a service by exterminating a noxious menace. American publications during World War Two frequently portrayed the Japanese as subhuman “vermin.”
Thus, it was not men, women, and children who were incinerated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki but filthy pests—rats, cockroaches, scum.
Recently, preparing for the invasion of Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Gallant referred to Palestinians as “human animals.” Donald Trump labeled American Leftists as “vermin,” calling them a greater threat to the U.S. than any foreign power.
I invite you to follow me as I learn more about the many different aspects of our fear of “The Other.” I want, for instance, to understand its role in the evolution of our species and how it enabled countless other species, down to the simplest bacteria, to survive.
I want to examine how today, the algorithms of TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook turbocharge our innate fear with terrifying results.
Can we find a way to bring that impulse under control, or will we forever be prey to callous dictators and demagogues who use it for their evil ends?
Will our DNA one day bring about our destruction?
I hope you will join me in my exploration.
Thanks Colleen..good to hear from you..!
Hi Barry. A timely and relevant subject from you as always. Keep on keeping on! I look forward to following this.