Hate and Connection Commonality Syndrome

How can a father who loves his children kill a father who loves his children?  One would think that the depth of the commonality of fatherhood - which both fathers had a hand in creating - ought to outweigh whatever meaning they derive from their differences in race, religion, nationality, ethnicity -differences which they had no part in creating.

Comments

[Joe Brodnicki]

Identity is a complex phenomenon, isn't it?
We create our own subjective realities
And can only hope
For some insight into those of others.
Holding the middle ground
Between anarchy and totalitarianism
Is a trip to the Twilight Zone at times,
Requiring a trip into another dimension:
The Inscrutible System.
;-)

[Masud Sheikh]

I've pondered the issue of identity frequently, most of all since 9/11, and the subsequent invasion of Iraq (& Afghanistan).

When the pre-dominant identity of a person is "sub-human", by which I mean that a sub-set of humanity is the dominant identity, we can end up with tragic repercussions.

So, for instance, when either nationality, religion, ethnicity, race etc. is dominant in a person's "group identity", that person can easily either be "trained", or delude imself to become a killer of other humans. Soldiers are trained to see themsleves as part of a "sub-human" group.

If, on the other hand, a person (either by temperament, or through learning) sees himself and others most fundamentally as human, he relates to other humans with far greater compassion.

For instance, the compassion demonstrated by indivduals towards Jews during the Holocaust was only possible when people saw the "other" as a human rather than seeing the "other" (in this case Jews) through the lens of group identity of nationalism or religion.