The Us Versus Them Mentality and Why We Should Stand Together

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Last year we had followed quite a few elections. One was for Suriname's government for the coming five years, the other Guyana's elections and the other were the elections for the president and vice president of the U.S.A. At the start of this year were the elections of another institute. All four elections had gone differently, but the one thing they all had in common in my perception was seeing the "us versus them" propaganda.


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I'm not completely opposed to the us vs. them mentality as it's a bonding experience and gives people a sense of belonging. In sports this gives the people rooting for a certain team a sense of pride after a win and after a loss there's a comfort in knowing that there are others who are also feeling the sadness. It might become a problem when the us vs. them mentality becomes a feeding ground for animosity, hostility and seclusion.

That's why I don't agree in using this divisiveness as a way to do propaganda. One might say "but its how it's always been done", but not because it's the norm makes it right. The fourth election that I had mentioned, was for a student representative in the board of directors at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname (AdeKUS). Students from all faculties who met the requirements were permitted to enter the election. It was during the propaganda period that I had received a message from a candidate from "my" faculty, that we needed to vote for him/her, because he/she knew the problems that the students from said faculty were dealing with and would especially pick up those issues. I immediately replied that for me that was an invalid argument, as the student representative should be there for ALL students and not just said faculty.


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I knew where the candidate was coming from, but to me that was a weak argument and I know students from other faculties and such a message was not inclusive to those students. I asked the "messenger" if there would be a debating round or if the candidates would have a caucus speech. I had even asked if they had a plan for the coming years, to see which issues they wanted to tackle or if they had innovative ideas for the direction of the university regarding students. I got to see none of that and that's when I opted out from voting, as I didn't know the contenders and I didn't know what they stood for or what to expect from them.

With this story I only wanted to shed light on how embedded this us vs. them mentality is in our society and it saddens me that we as a people haven't evolved to a "we" mentality. For decades the countries elections have been divided by ethnic political parties and it's still ongoing. Nowadays the parties have been somewhat mixed, but the power players are still of a certain ethnicity. And if it's not about cultural differences, it's an us vs. them between the left and right ideology.


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I do hope that we as a human race could move past those differences; acknowledge the dissimilarities and yet respect each other for those. With a shift to a "we" mentality, the focus will not be on what is dividing us, but on mutual problems and on what we as a unit could do to solve those issues.


Chasse into the backstage! 💃



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14 comments
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I definitely agree that a "We" attitude is beneficial in getting issues resolved and problems solved.

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Indeed. While politicians are making a show and mockery with their us vs. them propaganda, a lot are putting the country's money into their own pockets. The propaganda is only used as a diversion to the public, to shift the focus away from them stealing.

!ENGAGE 10

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Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

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Divide & Conquer...the oldest principle to control people 😉
Yes,we should overcome this...
1 Blood,1 Heart, 1 Humanity

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Yes, I've also mentioned that divide and conquer a couple of times.
Let's break free from those chains and unite! 💪

!ENGAGE 15

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And that is why I hate to talk about politics, brings out the worst in people and it as if you have to be on a side.

I think how that faculty member went about soliciting boys is how a lot of politics work, especially in the emerging economies.

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True, I used to be very vocal about certain issues and I guess I still am, but I know when to pick my "battles", because sometimes it's of no use debating with close minded people.

Regarding the faculty member, I was so stunned because I guess I expected too much from my "peers". I had hoped that my generation and the ones coming after me, would approach things differently, but I guess I expect too much 😅

Anyway, enjoy the weekend! 😊

!ENGAGE 15

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In your case the yellow horse should've been a slightly smaller horse.

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(Edited)

😒 hahaha you couldn't help yourself huh?

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ʙɪɢ ᴜᴘ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴏsᴛ ɪs ғᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ

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Election years are just absolute nuts! The past past 2 here in the US have been so unbelievably horrible. And it’s bad cause we have a lot of work that needs to be done but we can’t make progress on anything productive because we need to fight and argue with each other for some reason... smh

I’m all for disagreeing but let’s find solutions. The solutions are up to the people, these politicians have to do what we tell the to do but we’ve gotta get organized and communicate with each other without being Aholes to each other.

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(Edited)

Yes, I've also followed the run to the elections. My word... And also what had happened at the start of this year. I totally agree regarding finding solutions together. But like you said "the people have the power" and that's why it's also so important to vote, also for those "smaller" seats or how you call it. I don't really know the names of electoral offices in USA yet.

Anyway, let's hope that our fellow statemen get to their senses and focus on what's really important 😊

!ENGAGE 20

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