Category / Identity

The Same But Different

We collect and congregate in groups of the similar. There are borders between us. So many borders. And we can’t even see. Borders we build without realising we’re building. Borders not just of place, though they exist too. We build borders of colour. Borders of religion. Borders of other.

Aspects of our identity mark us and keep us separate from other. Corralling those marked the same together. Fencing off those marked different. Race, religion, gender, politics. And on and on to the lesser markers such as accents, the logos you wear, the side of the street you live on.

We clump together like beads of rainwater streaming down a window pane, pooling on the ground. Drowning in sameness. Accepting no challenge to our identity. Clinging to it tightly, fearing it could be ripped from us.

We repel otherness like water repels oil. Sometimes specs of oil gather on the surface and we see the water polluted, unclean. We see others gathering in our bubble of sameness and look on them the same. But we must remember that we are neither oil nor water. Oil and water can not mix. We can. Oil and water rush away from each other through compulsion. The only compulsion that pushes us away from each other is ourselves. Us. Our identity. Words we have gathered to say to the world this is me. This is who I am. What I am. We use these words to separate.

Oil and water can not mix but we can. People of differing identities can come together to create new people. Our identities are arbitrary words assigned or chosen. They do not prevent black and white from coming together to create new life. They do not prevent Christian and Muslim from joining. We are human. All of us. Regardless of the words we use to identify us as individuals. We are all human. The words do not matter.

We need not be fenced in. We can become explorers of a larger world. We can be more. We must simply accept that we are all one. One great whole with parts that are the same but different.

by Colin Brosnan

Anti X Bias

Every now and again there’s a news story about someone accusing someone else of an anti x bias. Where x could be pretty much anything but is usually something related to religion, politics, or other topics with strongly held opinions.

People with a strongly held view are very sensitive about it. It is often so strongly held that it is part of that person’s identity.

Being sensitive about a topic means a person accusing others of an anti x bias do so because x is their thing and they notice any slight against it. Other topics, say l, m, n, o, and p may also have been discussed in the same manner but the person is unable to see that. Or they see any criticism of x as an attack on x and can’t take it or accept it.

There are situations where the anti x bias is real and not imagined, though I find it is usually imagined.

Last month, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, was released to lots of bad reviews. For most movies that would be that. But BvS is a comic book movie, based on DC comics, with a huge fan base. Some of these fans accused the reviewers of being bought off, by rival comic book studio, Marvel, to give the movie a bad review. Very strongly held opinions. Very sensitive about those opinions.

No doubt any of us are capable of being sensitive about the opinions we hold. But if we find ourselves accusing others of a bias against something we hold dear, perhaps we should first determine if it is ourselves being sensitive. Not an easy task when we see something as part of who we are.

by Colin Brosnan

Shared Circles

There are distinctions between each of us. Some distinctions we share with others. We take people with shared distinctions and draw a circle around them, marking them as a group. Circles can be based on almost anything. Geography, gender, race, religion, politics, profession, and hobbies are just some categories of circles we draw around people. As individuals we sit in many circles.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day when being Irish is celebrated around the world. A circle drawn based on nationality.

Where some circles are celebrated others are condemned. There is currently a flood of refugees and migrants into Europe. People from other parts of the world seeking a better life. Yet, circles have been drawn around them – refugees, migrants – and the circles have been condemned.

It is not easy to look from the circle we sit within and understand the people in a circle we do not share. Yes, there are distinctions between us but those distinctions need not cause fear. A distinction may be based on arbitrary circumstance yet beside that circumstance we have much in common. We sit in many circles. It is inevitable that when we sit in many circles some will be shared with those sit in the circles we fear.

Look for the circles we share not for the lines that separate us.

by Colin Brosnan