{"id":113434,"date":"2018-06-25T15:31:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T14:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=113434"},"modified":"2018-06-25T15:31:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T14:31:11","slug":"theyre-different-from-us-the-profiteers-of-prejudice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/06\/theyre-different-from-us-the-profiteers-of-prejudice\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re Different from Us\u201d: The Profiteers of Prejudice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1% could use their influence to challenge bigotry. Too often they don’t.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

18 Jun 2018 –<\/em> \u201cThey\u2019re Different from Us.\u201d It\u2019s a favorite\u00a0mind game<\/a> of the\u00a01% when they want to stifle broad opposition to their agenda. By\u00a0manipulating our understanding<\/a> of what\u2019s happening, what\u2019s right, and what\u2019s possible, this psychological appeal takes advantage of prejudice to promote distrust and division within and across communities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: public domain<\/p><\/div>\n

Today\u2019s elites know that solidarity with the disadvantaged and mistreated is jeopardized whenever differences like race<\/a>, gender<\/a>, and religion<\/a> are emphasized and exaggerated. That\u2019s why so many one-percenters\u00a0highlight these differences while downplaying similarities in the concerns and aspirations we all share. If this ploy works, it divides groups that might otherwise form a more united and more potent resistance. When such coalitions fail to materialize, the winners are the defenders of extreme inequality who\u2019ve long ago forsaken the common good.<\/p>\n

What makes these they\u2019re-different-from-us appeals psychologically effective is that we tend to view ingroup members\u00a0more favorably<\/a> than outgroup members. When we\u2019re persuaded that someone belongs to the same group we do, we usually perceive them as more trustworthy, we hold them in higher regard, and we\u2019re more willing to share scarce resources with them. In part, this positive bias reflects our belief that these individuals have a lot in common with us. Even if we\u2019ve never met them, we imagine that their values, attitudes, and life experiences are probably similar to our own. However, if we see people as members of a different group instead, then we don\u2019t care as much about their welfare and there\u2019s a greater chance that we\u2019ll view them as potential adversaries<\/a> rather than allies. Such divisiveness is exactly what the 1% want.<\/p>\n

The ambitions of one-percenters don\u2019t require that they all hold explicitly racist or prejudiced attitudes about Hispanics, African Americans, Muslims, or other groups\u2014although some, like President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, obviously do. But even those who don\u2019t can still take advantage of the fact that bigotry in the United States continues to divide individuals and groups whose collective futures could be brighter if unwarranted suspicions gave way to mutual respect and support. Law professor Ian Haney\u00a0L\u00f3pez has\u00a0described<\/a> this approach as strategic racism: \u201cpurposeful efforts to use racial animus as leverage to gain material wealth, political power, or heightened social standing.\u201d Journalist Naomi Klein has similarly\u00a0noted<\/a>, \u201cWhite supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia have been the elite\u2019s most potent defenses against genuine democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today it\u2019s clear that the leadership<\/a> of the Republican Party and many titans of corporate America are comfortable supporting\u2014or at least acquiescing to\u2014a litany of racist and discriminatory White House policies. Their reward includes billionaire tax cuts, windfall profits, deregulation of their industries, and other favors reserved for them alone. For some this is perhaps a devil\u2019s bargain; for others, it\u2019s undoubtedly considered a win-win situation. Consider three examples in turn.<\/p>\n

GOP leaders and party loyalists have largely accepted Trump\u2019s promised\u00a0termination<\/a> of the Deferred Action for Childhood<\/a> Arrivals program (DACA), his\u00a0pardon<\/a> of the infamous Arizona \u201ctent city\u201d sheriff Joe Arpaio, the ruthless\u00a0dragnets<\/a> of immigrant communities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and the immoral and\u00a0traumatizing<\/a> separation of young migrant children from their parents<\/a> arrested at the border. Actions like these find cover in anti-immigrant sentiment among the U.S. public. Meanwhile, the draconian policies are a\u00a0boon for\u00a0private security contractors<\/a> and even more so for\u00a0for-profit prison<\/a> corporations, their executives, and wealthy investors who eagerly add to their net worth from the expanded use of these detention facilities.<\/p>\n

The same dynamics are readily apparent in the unequal treatment of Black Americans\u00a0in our criminal<\/a> justice system. In particular, they are far more likely to be the\u00a0targets<\/a> of stop-and-frisk operations, are\u00a0arrested and prosecuted<\/a> for minor offenses at higher rates, and are given longer\u00a0prison sentences<\/a> for comparable crimes. At the same time,\u00a0research<\/a> shows that white Americans become stronger supporters of mass incarceration when they believe that Black Americans are the ones who are being disproportionately affected. Again, such racial biases among the public help protect the revenue streams of a variety of\u00a0companies<\/a> that provide services to prisoners\u2014telecom, food, healthcare\u2014as well as those that benefit from\u00a0below minimum-wage<\/a> inmate labor.<\/p>\n

In a similar way, defense and homeland security contractors are among the\u00a0businesses<\/a> that land enormous paydays because many Americans hold distrustful, prejudiced, and they\u2019re-different-from-us views of Muslims and Muslim Americans. Indeed, some see all members of the faith as potential terrorists. That\u2019s made it politically palatable or even advantageous for Trump and other party leaders to call for the\u00a0tracking<\/a> of Muslims and a\u00a0travel ban<\/a> on predominantly Muslim countries.\u00a0Fox News personalities simultaneously feed both our country\u2019s Islamophobia and the television network\u2019s bottom-line by insisting that\u00a0all terrorists<\/a>\u00a0are Muslims and that\u00a0sharia law<\/a> may someday replace the Constitution across the United States.<\/p>\n

In all of these instances, the conclusion is simple. When the 1% encourage prejudice and discrimination<\/a>\u2014or when they merely fail to use their enormous influence to challenge racism and bigotry\u2014they\u2019re prioritizing the preservation of their tremendous material advantages over the creation of a more equal and more decent society. Making matters even worse, their efforts to cultivate distrust and disunity often succeed in spurring disadvantaged groups\u2014of all backgrounds\u2014to start blaming each other, rather than directing their sights at a key source of their shared travails: the plutocrats themselves.<\/p>\n

If we want to focus on the kind of differences that truly matter, we should turn our attention to the striking divergences between the documented\u00a0policy preferences<\/a> of the 1% compared to the rest of us. In a nutshell,\u00a0Americans in general are much stronger supporters of a higher minimum wage, labor unions to strengthen workers\u2019 rights, affordable healthcare for everyone, a more progressive tax structure, higher taxes for high-income earners and corporations, government<\/a> initiatives to decrease unemployment, and a stronger social welfare safety net for those facing adversity. These are all worthy and achievable goals<\/a>. The first step is to recognize and reject the manipulative \u201cThey\u2019re Different from Us\u201d mind game that\u2019s designed to divide us.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Roy Eidelson is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a> and was a member of the American Psychological Association for over 25 years, prior to his resignation. He is a clinical psychologist and the president of Eidelson Consulting<\/a>, where he studies, writes about, and consults on the role of psychological issues in political, organizational, and group conflict settings. He is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility<\/a>, associate director of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at Bryn Mawr College, and a member of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology<\/a>. Roy can be reached at reidelson@eidelsonconsulting.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 psychologytoday.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18 Jun 2018 – The 1% could use their influence to challenge bigotry. Too often they don’t. If we want to focus on the kind of differences that truly matter, we should turn our attention to the striking divergences between the documented policy preferences of the 1% compared to the rest of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":110813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}