“If you can convince the lowest white man that he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll even empty his pockets for you.” LBJ
Republicans are constantly vilifying someone or some group of people. They attack people for simply the God they believe in! However, understanding what causes them to be so bigoted may be the way to help them join the right side of history.
What Causes Republicans To Vilify Others In Need?
Grouping together was a key factor to our survival as a species which created an innate desire to “belong” and have a stronger allegiance to people you find similar to yourself. However, our grouping together also brought to life a more sinister concept, “othering.”
Othering is:
“the process of casting a group, an individual or an object into the role of the ‘other’ and establishing one’s own identity through opposition to and, frequently, vilification of this Other.“
Republicans’ use of othering to attack an enemy is sadly quite frequent. Obama has been attacked for countless things, most of which are not true.
The Republican attacks on President Obama accompanied with their assault on Muslims and countless other groups show what happens when othering occurs in modern times. The most ignorantly inconceivable ideas seem to take hold very deeply in the heart of Conservatives. I mean they even go as far as to question whether or not the PRESIDENT was born in America. That is absolutely ridiculous!
Modern Republicans have even taken it about 100 steps further through their vilification of anyone who disagrees with what they say. It has become blatantly apparent that Republicans no longer care about reality, they believe in their agenda and their agenda alone. This all too often leads to using othering to make a lot of money.
Rush Limbaugh has so strongly vilified scientists that he was able to convince his audience that water on Mars was a conspiracy to convince America that climate change existed. That is absolutely insane! But of course Limbaugh will greatly profit from such buffoonery. He can say whatever he wants, and because Republicans no longer care about facts he can get away with it. He is abusing his own audience who are just sponges soaking up his slimy lies while paying to do so.
How Do We Get Republicans To Stop Vilifying People?
It’s actually a quite simple concept, teach them to be empathetic!
Empathy is a very powerful emotion that has the power to change the world, but teaching Republicans how to be empathetic may prove to be quite a bit more difficult than one would hope. Nonetheless, it can still be done!
The Ubuntu legend details young African boys joining together so that they can all eat, instead of one taking all the fruit. This so perfectly contrasts Conservative desire to eat the whole basket and not let anyone have a piece unless they fight for it. We must do everything possible to teach a Conservative the value of sharing. As I’m sure you’ve heard before, sharing is caring!
The sad reality is that changing the minds of Republicans is not going to happen quickly nor easily. But using our public education system, we can expose students to various cultures, which will make them be more empathetic. Conservative adults should be exposed to more cultures and ways of life through media and the workforce, which in turn should lower their fears of the unknown.
If you would like more of insight into the mind of a Republican, check out this piece on why poor people vote republican.
Featured Image via Pixabay available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.