[Darwinist]

I thought this was interesting on many levels, because this is something that I think happens on this forum a lot. Although Vail is talking mainly about the current social dialogue on Iran in the media, I think it applies to many other topics as well, such as illegal immigrants and even the neocons on the other side of the isle.

It also goes a long way towards explaining how eager people seem to fall into the same adversarial pattern of behaviour towards Iran as was done towards Iraq in the run up to that war...

Pay special attention to the bolded part, which I think is the most important one, and also holds the key to solving the problem.

http://www.jeffvail.net/

Schema, Neural Circuitry, and Creating an Enemy From Iran

In 1932, Frederic Bartlett developed the concept of "schema." Take the classic school-game "telephone" (which I used to illustrate the introduction of error in information processing in Chapter 9 of "A Theory of Power") , but now, rather than passing a verbal message, consider passing along a picture. The first person in a chain is given a very unique drawing of a human face--say something that Pablo Picasso may have drawn--and told to quickly copy the drawing and pass their copy on to the next person. Each person down the line is only given the sketch of produced by the prior person, not the original drawing. What happens is that the "uniqueness" of the original drawing is lost. Unlike the relatives "flat" linguistic topography of a verbal message, the errors in information processing introduced in this exercise trend the developing image toward a norm for what humans consider to be a generic face. This generic face is an example of Bartlett's "schema." It is an example of when the errors introduced into information processing converge on an ontogenically established norm (because of a "valley" topography of our neural circuitry) rather than diverging randomly.

Another example of schema is the categorization of enemy/friend. This schema has been defined by our ontogeny and hardwired to a large degree into our neural circuitry by observed similarities between "us" an "them" (a theme that, on a side note, was borrowed from Robert Anton Wilson by the writers of the series "Lost"). This creates an interesting epiphenomenon in our modern connectivity society: talking about any group that is different than "us," especially talking about those differences, leads to the schematic categorization of "enemy." This is even true to the point that talking *about* any group, rather than *with* that group is autonomically interpreted by human brains as instruction to categorize that group as "enemy." Of course, the context of "enemy" varies, from social competitors to military opponents, but the basic categorization preempts rationality.

So, if--hypothetically--you want to polarize the American people against Iran by identifying them as "our" enemy, all that is necessary is to leverage the neural circuitry underlying this schema by starting a discussion about them. It really doesn't matter what we say about "them," as long as the entire discussion is framed in the context of "us" and "them." Long hard-wired neural circuitry that we all share, that preempts rationality, and that *did* work quite well for us on the African savannas assures that "they" become the enemy.

[piedra]

Nice article you got here, unfortunately the current lunatics in charge of both countries won't help a lot in solving problems by a diplomatic way. And how many years will the stigma as been the evil force willing to destroy americans will last in the conscience of americans thanks to stupid tv commentators such as O'Reilly or any other right wing propaganda.

[JSN]

the biggest problem is the fact that current american ideology needs an enemy to face down. it's dangerous and unsustainable.

[causeiambetta]

Originally Posted by Darwinist

I thought this was interesting on many levels, because this is something that I think happens on this forum a lot. Although Vail is talking mainly about the current social dialogue on Iran in the media, I think it applies to many other topics as well, such as illegal immigrants and even the neocons on the other side of the isle.

It also goes a long way towards explaining how eager people seem to fall into the same adversarial pattern of behaviour towards Iran as was done towards Iraq in the run up to that war...

Pay special attention to the bolded part, which I think is the most important one, and also holds the key to solving the problem.

i've always believed that humans, on a fundamental level have evolved friend or foe recognition that favors the familiar over the unfamiliar

[GermanBJJ]

I have discussed this before but having an enemy is a post-WII American necessity. Despite being miles ahead of any competitor, we must convince ourselves our safety and economy are on the verge of being oppressed.

It is impossible to feel like one is fighting for freedom or greatness when there isn't a least a perceived enemy to fight against.

[kingstu]

Originally Posted by GermanBJJ

I have discussed this before but having an enemy is a post-WII American necessity. Despite being miles ahead of any competitor, we must convince ourselves our safety and economy are on the verge of being oppressed.

It is impossible to feel like one is fighting for freedom or greatness when there isn't a least a perceived enemy to fight against.

I once read a science fiction book where a character in the book said that the natural social organization of human beings is a tribe. I find this to be completely true which is why we tend to distrust those who look different. In a tribe everyone looks very similar and it closely related biologically.

[TIMELESS TRUTH]

Originally Posted by piedra

Nice article you got here, unfortunately the current lunatics in charge of both countries won't help a lot in solving problems by a diplomatic way. And how many years will the stigma as been the evil force willing to destroy americans will last in the conscience of americans thanks to stupid tv commentators such as O'Reilly or any other right wing propaganda.

The call for global jihad is an american idea?
Why do they need martyrs then?

[Darwinist]

Originally Posted by kingstu

I once read a science fiction book where a character in the book said that the natural social organization of human beings is a tribe. I find this to be completely true which is why we tend to distrust those who look different. In a tribe everyone looks very similar and it closely related biologically.

You don´t have to read a science fiction book to hear that - many social scientists are seeing it the same way.

By the way, do you remember what author that was? Robert Heinlen?

[JSN]

Originally Posted by kingstu

I once read a science fiction book where a character in the book said that the natural social organization of human beings is a tribe. I find this to be completely true which is why we tend to distrust those who look different. In a tribe everyone looks very similar and it closely related biologically.

if you mean race then alot of egalitarian groups are racially-close (really most societies %-wise are period), but for most societies there are taboos on inbreeding, and (usually the) women are sent out of their tribes to marry most of the time.

[TIMELESS TRUTH]

Originally Posted by JSN

if you mean race then alot of egalitarian groups are racially-close (really most societies %-wise are period), but for most societies there are taboos on inbreeding, and (usually the) women are sent out of their tribes to marry most of the time.

The taking of multiple wives and marrying pre-pubescent girls to adult men is common practice in tribes also.