On The Need To Belong: Part II

Assumptions:
Many people are eager to label themselves and their beliefs.
Our goal as a species is to survive.

Let us now return to the question of why, rather than how, we as humans are so compelled to organize ourselves in groups. Sometimes the protection given by the group is neither obvious nor direct. However, what we may not realize is that we are constantly allying ourselves with others, whether they are present or not. Each time a person dons a label, such as Republican, Democrat, Christian, Jew, American, Swede, Intellectual, Passive-aggressive, or anything of the type, that person associates him or herself immediately with others who bear the same title. Therefore, it is truly unfortunate that we are so often pushed in society to "take a stand," "have strong opinions," "pick a side," "fight for what you believe in," etc. We thus ill-fatedly result in assuming labels that only partly encompass our actual beliefs (whether they are concrete or not). By branding ourselves with the insignia of groups, we inherently associate each of our own beliefs with the "package" of beliefs dictated by the group. Why must every presidential candidate with a reasonable chance of success represent a political party? Anyone who calls him or herself a moderate is scorned by others as indecisive, or as not having strong enough opinions, even if that person has strived to take only the good from each "side." Surely not everyone who bears the title "Republican" is a fanatic religious zealot, and surely not everyone who bears the title "Democrat" likens him or herself to a "communist pig-dog."

Yet, as we age and mature with bias implanted in our neurons, we separate ourselves from others, and group ourselves accordingly. We nearly always slip down into the categories of "us" and "them." Every moment that we associate ourselves with a group of people or a "type" of person, each of our "I"'s becomes an "us." Unfortunately, and here is the key point of the whole argument, every time an "us" comes into existence, a "them" is implicit. By unifying ourselves based on ideas, interests, and beliefs, we immediately separate ourselves from those who do not share those ideas, interests, and beliefs. As cliché as this may sound, this is how wars start, albeit indirectly. The old saying "united we stand, divided we fall" carries much reason. When a school unites, or when a country unites, it is able to stand strongly and firmly for what it "believes in." However, as soon as one group of people (so long as it is not all people on Earth), label themselves as "united," they build a wall between themselves and all the others. If anything, if we are to survive as a species, then our species must unite, not separate ourselves into countries, religious groups, cultures, or even peewee soccer teams.