Othering Heights

Recently I’ve been thinking of a term I first heard many moons ago while studying social sciences at Queen’s.

The term is ‘Othering’ which is a phenomenon that occurs in all human societies. It involves a dominant group adapting an ‘us and them’ attitude towards those they believe do not belong or who are different. To ‘other’ a person or a group is to see them in negative terms, as a threat. They must be kept at a distance and distrusted.

No doubt, at the dawn of civilisation, when people banded together in close-knit groups for their very survival, such behaviour was perfectly understandable, especially in environments where resources were scarce.

But these primitive tendencies do not go away. In 1954 at an American summer camp, social psychologists conducted what became known as the ‘Robbers Cave’ experiment. A large group of 12-year-old white middle class boys were spilt into two groups and pitted against each other in a number of competitive tasks.

Soon one group began to demonise the other, seeing themselves in positives terms and the other in only negative terms.

Such results would not surprise any follower of GAA or indeed soccer. Casual othering is rampant as revealed in such comments as, “Ach, those Liverpool supporters would do your head in” or “He’s from Armagh, what do you expect?!”

Film and literature also give us plenty of examples of othering. In Romeo and Juliet the Montagues and Capulets are two families that hate each other in a feud that often causes suffering for the rest of society.

In Westside story, a film based on Romeo and Juliet, the two groups were divided along racial lines, the Puerto Rican Sharks and the Caucasian Jets. The tragedy is that love across the divide cannot survive in such a setting.

Race and religion are two major factors when it comes to othering. In America during the Civil Rights protests of the 1960s, many Africa American men demonstrated carrying signs that read, “I AM A MAN”. Of course, a bemused outsider might say, “What else could you be?” But that is precisely what they were denied in the deep South, their manhood. African American men of all ages were referred to as ‘boy’.

In Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974) the African-American sheriff Bart is called ‘boy’ by a white racist. His response is priceless, “Less of that boy sh*t, Redneck”. Not only were male black adults not regarded as men, they were seen by white supremacists as sub-human.

Of course, there has never been any shortage of ‘othering’ closer to home, and sometimes it can rear its head in a most shocking way, like the now notorious incident posted on social media of a group of people in an Orange hall singing a song celebrating the murder of a young Catholic woman.

Of course, everyone condemned it. How could they not? Yet many of those condemning it are the very ones responsible for maintaining a social and political status quo that make such incidents possible and permissible in the first place. As Joe Brolly put it, “This behaviour is acceptable – unless you’re caught”.

It seems the default setting of too many so-called commentators and politicians in this society is all about demeaning the other. Look at the incident regarding Coalisland Fianna’s children’s football summer camp in memory of a much loved and respected deceased club aficionado Francie Hughes. DUP councillor Clement Cuthbertson immediately (and mistakenly) jumped to the conclusion that it was named after the IRA striker of the same name who died in 1981, despite him coming from Bellaghy and passing away years earlier.

On social media he maligned the late Mr Hughes, grievously insulted his family and sought to blacken the Coalisland club, Ulster GAA, parents of the children and local business sponsors of the event for “idolising convicted terrorists”. It was an appalling commentary and what’s worse, although it was over a month ago, he has still not found the humility or decency to apologise. Sadly such outbursts, mistaken or not, tend to attract votes in some quarters.

Wise and challenging leadership is rare. We saw an example of it in the movie Invictus (2009). Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) is going to take up office and as he walks through government buildings he sees white Afrikaners packing up their belongings, since they assume they will not be welcome under the new regime.

President Mandela calls them together and says, “All I ask is that you do your work to the best of your ability and with good heart. I promise to do the same”.

He also challenged his own people by embracing the Springboks rugby team, seen as the bastion of apartheid South Africa. At the 1995 World Cup he united the nation when he wore the Springbok shirt and formed a lasting bond with captain Francois Pienaar.

However most aren’t as courageous as Nelson Mandela. It is not easy. Reaching out has cost UUP leader Doug Beattie dearly. He showed tolerance towards the gay community and more recently condemned the burning of effigies, flags and symbols of the other on 11th night bonfires. His perceived move towards the middle led to him barely scraping in at the Assembly election.

People tend to cling to what is familiar and can live quite comfortably with old inherited prejudices. The challenge is to grow up and leave base bigotry behind.