“[Culture] denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms, by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.” - Clifford Geertz
One of the first things I absorbed in my Anthropology 101 course with the inspiring Sally Weaver (who left us too early, and I keep her spirit alive in me), was the notion that culture is both a beautiful woman and also an ugly hag. It both frees and enslaves. A double-edged sword. How so?
Culture allows us to form a wider community, to pass on knowledge, to build tradition, to enrich our souls through common understanding BUT it also is done at the exclusion of others. “These people” I call it.
Claude Levi-Strauss the structural anthropologist called it “the base archetype” of clean / unclean. WE are clean, these people, dirty, incorrigible, beyond redemption.
In my travels, I’ve learned a lot. Especially with the tools of my anthropological training. I’m a participant-observer. A Dr. Sacks’ anthropologist from Mars. I am included but in exile, an outsider able to observe.
One thing I’ve always observed in every culture is language. Language betrays so much, shows you so much of the soul therewithin. One feature of language which I’ve noticed in all tribes, countries, groups, creeds, associations, clubs and crowds is the use of “these people”.
Listen up and you’ll start to hear it a lot. On the TV, in street conversations, in churches, and in bars. These people …
These people with their long hair and dirty nails.
These people with their guns and bibles.
These people, who don’t care about a thing.
These people knocking on my door, all hours of the night.
These people who haven’t worked a day in their life.
These people coming and taking our jobs.
These people always bringing up the past - like we don’t live now. |
These people …
Need I go on?
It’s a weathervane for those prone to tribalism, patriotism, scoundrelism, to dehumanizing, a deep, deep exclusion of the humanity in us all. Note the term, “these people” - its use is a sign that things aren’t right, something is deeply amiss. No matter who is right or wrong about the issue at hand.
What I’m getting at is that we puff up ourselves with these remarks. We reconfirm our identity which is our superiority, which is our uniform and totem. We exclude. We fail to truly see the whole world and ground of life as one.
We are evil. You, me, we are the cause of our ailments - not “these people”. Until we stop pointing at these people and start embracing these people - we will forever be lost. Culture will have won. And lost.