This Saturday 14th May 8-9 PM on It’s A Question Of Balance we are featuring Out And About – thought-provoking conversations on the street. We consider ‘Does it Have To Be Them and Us?’
There’s lots of ways we can find ourselves thinking in terms of ‘them and us’ – young and old, rich and poor, healthy versus not taking care of oneself, right-wing versus liberal, gay and straight, black and white, first-world and third world. Do you ever find yourself feeling very different from a certain group of people? How does that make you feel? When you feel passionate about an issue how do you feel about those who disagree with you – do you see it as two sides, a wrong and a right? Or simply as a variety of views or beliefs?
In an article by Robert W Peck of the Constitution Party he comments “In a world with an “us versus them” mentality, it’s always “them” that are the problem… right? We’re never the cause of our own troubles, that would be unthinkable. It’s always the other guy who fouls everything up….The same phenomenon exists in the political arena where the “us versus them” mentality finds that it is always the other political party that is the problem. You name the trouble, the other party caused it. If only the country were turned over to our side, to our favored “ism” or political party, we would make it a utopian paradise.” In the political arena are you finding yourself feeling a sense of them and us?
Joseph Joubert said that “The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress”. I’m wondering if this is part of what gets lost when we get into a ‘them and us’ mindset – it seems we become more focused on converting others to our belief system than concentrating our energy on how actual progress could be affected. Is this something you see at all? Does it have to be them and us?
What do you think? Ruth Copland gets the views of people on the street for our Out and About feature. Join us on Saturday 8-9 PM! For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
