This is my first blog post on this site, and I’m a little intimidated by the number of things I’d like to say. But before I get into it, I’ve got to put this out there first: all I want to do is unify us. I certainly may express comments with a lot of conviction behind them, and yes, I’ve got opinions just like everyone else. But at the core, I think there are far more of us who want to cooperate, collaborate, and who want to support each other than the media (social or mainstream) would like for us to believe.
Or maybe I should say – be aware of. If they can keep us thinking that our world is built around “us vs them”, they can control us. Our attention, our money, our time is all at stake. And trust me they want the biggest piece of it they can get. And we need to be mindful of how much of it we’re willing to give them.
The Effect Locally
Depending on how old you are, you may or may not remember the Berlin Wall. It was a giant massive concrete wall constructed between East and West Germany. The purpose was to divide the country into two segments – one communist, the other not. It was a tangible visualization of government control. “You cannot go over *there*”.
I would argue that in the United States we have constructed invisible walls similar to the Berlin Wall. Possibly it’s the same in other western countries. Sure, less tangible, unseen, but just as real as if they were. Politics, religion, race, education level, financial status, even geography, all topics which foster the us vs them narrative.
Who Built These Walls?
But before we look at those constructs, I think it’s worth asking, “Who built these walls?”. You see, on a macro level, “we” collectively are allowing them to exist. But did we put them up ourselves? Let me ask you this, if your neighbor is/was of a different race, political party, religion, or any viewpoint different than yours, and they posted online about it, or put a sign in their yard, you may be inclined to think “they’re the *them*” in the us vs them equation.
However, if that same neighbor invited you dinner, or asked to borrow a cup of sugar. Or their kid fell out of a tree and broke their arm, would you help them? I think you would. Regardless of who they voted for, who they prayed to, who they kissed romantically, or whether they earned more or less money than you do. I think you’d help, because that’s what we do. Humans are tribal by nature. We knew for centuries that we needed each other to survive. Online, it dukes up and gloves off, but when we’re together, we’re not all punching each other in the face constantly. And I don’t believe anyone actually wants that.
The Effect Globally
So now let’s give the globe a spin, shall we? Looking at the world on a country by country basis, the narrative is often focused on fearing each other, fearing the “other” country’s motives, fearing that “they” whomever “they” are, want to take our stuff and enslave or conquer us. They think we’re the threat, and we think they’re the threat.
But consider this, as we all stay divided behind our invisible walls in our respective country, if an outside force invaded or attacked our country, how quickly would we no longer even give a moment’s thought to those divisions? If China or Russia attacked the US, it wouldn’t take a fraction of a second for all US citizens to completely forget about their angst with the person or people on the opposite side of those invisible walls, and unite to defend themselves together, as one collective group of people. So, if that’s true, and I believe it is, then how strong are those perceived divisions after all? Let’s think even bigger.
The Effect Universally
So now let’s say that the “us vs them” is one country against another here on planet Earth as mentioned above. Tomorrow, without warning, an alien species with massive firepower (like the one in the Independence Day movies) shows up and starts laying multiple countries to waste. How long would it take for the world as a whole to unite to fend off this aggressor? Would we even care about those “other” countries that we were concerned were our enemy just moments before?
From one minute to the next we went from “I fear you, so you must be my enemy” here on Earth, to “we have bigger problems which can only be overcome if we work together”. As far-fetched as that analogy may seem, I really believe this is what would happen. We could settle all of our differences globally, if an alien species would just attack us! I say, why wait?! Let’s just resolve them now, because we are all humans being.
Stop Giving Attention To Sources That Perpetuate Division
I was telling a friend of mine about this blog post earlier today. He mentioned that he saw Scott Galloway on an interview say something to this effect, “We used to think sex sells, but we found something much more effective and that’s rage”. (It was Anderson Cooper, btw, and I’ll put the link to the video here if you want to see it: https://www.facebook.com/AC360/videos/we-used-to-think-sex-sells-what-we-found-is-something-better-and-that-is-rage-sc/2249839045474953/)
Don Henley, of The Eagles, wrote a song called “Dirty Laundry” many years ago. It’s satire, I think, about the media machine and the idea that “if it bleeds, it leads”. We all know that if you want to get someone’s attention quickly, yell, make a loud noise, or scare them. We’re biologically wired to react to these things in the interest of self-preservation.
Except the modern media has learned how to exploit this characteristic in our nature. They want to keep you gripped to their station or platform, so that they can sell you stuff or sell advertisers your attention. And they know that the best way to do this is by punching that instinctual fear response over and over. They want you enraged, and afraid. They want your attention. And we’re all giving it to them, in excess, hanging on their every word (even the guy who lives three states away and was drunk, naked, and howling at the moon in his back yard last night). Oh wait, that was some *influencer* or television anchor person. Whatever, you get the idea.
It’s All Manufactured
Ultimately, I think it’s all manufactured, by design, to control your attention, and thus, your thoughts. But once we get past the noise, I think we’re not as divided – as a community, as a nation, as countries around the world, as those who need our attention for control, for money, for self-interest, want us to believe. We’re smarter than that. And I wonder how long it will take us to realize, or what cataclysmic event will bring us all together.
What do you think? Comment below.