Who are we talking about?  You know. Those people. The ones who aren’t as (fill in the blank yourself, if you like): intelligent, open-minded, generous, kind, intellectual, deep-thinking, politically astute, as we are.

They’re the same “those people” who don’t possess the common-sense, logic, broadmindedness, compassion, sophistication, wisdom, insight, gravitas, humor, we do. We (and people like us), have all those qualities–with brilliance to spare. We know they don’t have any of those attributes.We don’t personally know any of “those people” but that doesn’t stop our assumptions from piling up.

We don’t live in the same sorts of places and our kind of people wouldn’t accept them if we did. If we do actually know any of them, they fly under the radar (since we would immediately reject them on the basis of what we’ve read, heard, or supposed about them). Everyone knows what they are really like. We know because all intelligent people agree that’s what they’re like. And we’re not going to listen to their ideas or beliefs either because those kinds of ideas and beliefs are wrong because all intelligent people know they are wrong. We read it in the newspaper or on the Internet.

C.R.’s still smarting from being referred to as “people like you,” that is, “those people,” last week.  As is someone who recently disclosed his mental illness to his coworkers and has now become an “untouchable.”  Someone said to him, “Oh, you’re one of those people!”

It made us think—who are those people?  Really?  Are those people the ones with mental illness? Are those people the ones who see the world differently than we do–for whatever reason? Are those people the ones with a different religious, cultural, or political outlook? Are we truly open-minded about other outlooks and are we willing to listen?

Are we skin-deep in our commitment to diversity? Are we victims of faux multi-culturalism? Is there fall out from blindly embracing surface-attributes? Are we neglecting opposition that might promote further insight–maybe even change?

Lots of questions for a blazing hot summer Sunday.

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    Last reviewed: 18 Jul 2010