It’s The Other’s Fault
I have some Fruit Snacks posts in progress, but this is something that has been sitting heavy on my soul, so I decided to take a detour and share it with you. I’ll return to Fruit Snacks soon.
It’s The Other’s Fault
As soon as someone is “The Other” you can do, say, or think whatever you want. Because they aren’t you. They aren’t like you. They aren’t on your team. They’re The Other.
If you are good, The Other can easily be bad.
You don’t even have to understand The Other if you don’t want to. It’s fair to make assumptions. You don’t have to question your stereotypes, wonder if they’re true, or where they came from. You can accept “facts” that suit your narrative about The Other without investigating whether or not they are actually facts. You never have to ask any deeper questions about The Other, their experiences, or any of the narratives around them.
If someone else gives you negative info about The Other you can accept it automatically, without any critical thinking.
If you are more powerful than The Other you have even more right to be right about them, whether or not you are right.
If the other is among you, you are justified in ignoring or separating from The Other, or using your own leverage against The Other - because The Other is in your space. The Other is affecting your life - whether The Other actually is or not. You can determine The Other is dangerous. That makes it easier to separate.
The Other can be a handy scapegoat too. If you can draw a line between any problem and The Other, then it’s obviously The Other’s fault. This is very convenient and saves you a lot of time, since you don’t have to research or understand any kind of complex sociological systems or history surrounding The Other. It doesn’t even matter if the line you drew is accurate or justifiable. You just have to draw it. Correlation is enough, even if it’s not real.
Eventually, if you blame enough things on The Other, you can justify almost anything - camps, lynching, reservations, segregation, worse…
But receive the word of the Lord:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
-Revelation 7:9-12