Us Versus Them — The Attitude that is Ruining the World

Currently, there is a collective thought that is ruining the world. This mentality is Us Versus Them. That’s fine for movies, novels, and even sports. The former require plot and character development. The latter is for fun, but there are some people who take their team losing to a whole other level. I have ‌witnessed this at a hockey game. When the home team loses, the atmosphere becomes depressing. However, it’s just a game. Nonetheless, this attitude is not suitable for real life.

What do I mean by a mentality of Us Versus Them? You know this has been happening since the beginning of time. Lately, however, it has become increasingly dangerous.

The Far Right in the United States

In what way? If you live in the U.S., you don’t have to look further than your backyard, the internet, or Fox News.

I’m referring to the far-right activists who believe their freedoms have been eroded by mask mandates and Covid, which prevents them from going to a restaurant or getting a haircut. They are the same people who are anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. Most of the information they trust on the Internet is fake and comes from Russia, but they don’t know that.

However, the Alt-Right movement began much earlier. It also began before Donald Trump was elected. I know he exacerbated this idea once he became president and milked it to death. And he’s still doing it after losing the last election. In the United States, you already have a division between those who are Democrats and those who are Republicans. We have an Us versus Them mentality because of this.

Yet, these Alt-Right people think that there are only two types: those on the left and those on the right. But what about those people who are neither? Yes, there are people who don’t care about politics and don’t want to be on either side of the issue. These people are also sick and tired of arguing with the Alt-Right about their beliefs. And yet, it is the Alt-Right within the United States who are causing this political division among friends and family members.

But the United States is not the only place with this mentality. Just look at your neighbors to the North.

The Far Right in Canada

Before the Convoy in January, I knew there were people on the Alt-Right political spectrum in Canada.

How do I know that there were people like this? Well, most of Canada’s influence comes from the United States. That’s why you got a husband of one of the first convoy organizers too stupid enough to know that his first Amendment Rights are only useful in the United States, not Canada. We got the Charter of Rights here. By the way, we had another convoy that doesn’t know what they are protesting. But this time around it was bikers, and the Ontario Provincial Police was prepared for this.

The small political minority of the Canadian Alt-Right thought there would be 50,000 people at the first convoy, when there were only a few hundred. This group of people did not realize that the Canadian government is more like the British Parliamentary system than the American one. A year ago, we had a minority government elected, so they believe Justin Trudeau has all the power in our government.

Minority government means Justin Trudeau won re-election, but he did not get the majority of the seats he wanted. Other than the Liberal Party, there are other parties in power right now. There is also the Conservative, the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Green Party, and the Bloc Quebecois. In addition, the Liberals just struck a deal with the NDP that will keep Trudeau in power for the next five years. I forgot other things about that deal. That’s how minority governments are.

Since I mentioned other parties, Canadians are part of a multi-party system. Alt-Right activists often think in black and white terms. Them against all the lefty “sheeples”. Yet they are the uneducated sheeples who forget that there are people who did not vote for the Liberals or Conservatives. There were people who voted for all the other parties I mentioned. There are those who are in the middle of the political spectrum of beliefs, not just Conservatives and Liberals. Some people do not believe in politics at all. Otherwise, not everyone who voted are lefties.

The Alt-Right people in Canada also believe in Fox News (Yes, we get U.S. News here too), Rebel News (They think Trudeau owns the Canada Revenue Agency. The CRA is not giving them media status because they don’t know how to check their facts before posting anything. This explains why they are currently censored on the web), anything under the Postmedia Network, and another one that I can’t remember.

In addition to the Us versus Them mentality the Alt-Right has in both Canada and the United States, they also believe that Big Pharma and Justin Trudeau pay influencers and others on social media to say scientific facts about Covid, to get vaccinated and to mask up. These are the same people who pay famous Alt-Right influencers money on their Patreon accounts. Look at what the first Canadian Convoy made on those crowdfunding sites. Most of those payments came from the United States, which are now frozen because Trudeau passed the Emergencies Act in Canada. It is still unclear what happened to all that money. My guess is that the money was used to pay legal expenses for one of the organizers.

The War in the Ukraine

Sadly, the war in Ukraine is the last example of the Us Versus Them Mentality. I know that war is where you always get this mentality. Yes, you get it from Ukraine, which is fine with me. I don’t blame the Russians for this conflict either. I bet most of them don’t want a war. This is more Putin’s mentality.

An enormous problem with this is Putin’s knowledge of how propaganda works to his advantage. Russia seems to regress back to the Soviet era, when that government was more like Big Brother. It’s illegal for Russians to protest against their own government without getting arrested and jailed for 15 years. In contrast to what’s going on in both Russia and the Ukraine, the Alt-Right in North America is crying that they’ve lost their freedom over Covid mandates. Which do you think is more serious, a war between two countries or some mandates that we all have to follow?

Yet, there are Alt-Right North Americans who don’t want to support a democratically elected leader (calling them dictators, for some reason), and support an actual dictator who is the aggressor in this war. Now you know who is really behind the misinformation about Covid.

A Russian diplomat just said that Ukrainian President Zelensky is a Fascist Nazi, and it doesn’t matter if he is Jewish or not. That statement is false. It is Putin who is the real fascist, racist, and anti-Semite dictator who wants to turn Russia and the Eastern block countries back into the good old days of the Soviet Union. He wants power and he will do anything to stay in power. This includes cheating in elections. He would even kill those who oppose him. Yet, Putin is the one who tells his own people these lies so that they can be proud of him.

Why is the Us Versus Them Mentality Bad?

It is hard not to feel this Us Versus Them mentality, whether you lost your job and blamed your boss, or you had a fight with your spouse. We’ve all been there, but let me explain why this way of thinking is wrong.

Let me explain: we all want to belong somewhere and not feel left out. When a member of a tribe gets expelled, they would be left alone and soon be devoured by a sabertooth tiger. Therefore, we become so afraid to be alone that we seek out a group that will accept us no matter what.

I know there is now one member of the convoy who regrets being a part of it because he is now broke. Despite this, he wanted to belong to a community that accepted him. However, he regrets joining it now.

We all categorize ourselves and others into various groups regularly. Age, race, religion, gender, political beliefs, and sexual orientation are just a few examples of how we divide ourselves into groups. However, this herd mentality can get out of hand‌.

January 6th, 2021 is the best example of this. That’s when some Alt-Right (many of whom are members of QAnon) people stormed and took over the White House in Washington D.C. It is all because they were upset that their leader Donald Trump did not get re-elected.

The Us Versus Them mentality poses a more psychological threat. A big part of it is the current society we live in. Since the 1980s, our society has become more individualistic and less communal. It is more of a selfish way of thinking and not thinking about what is best for the community.

The Alt-Right movement is pushing the belief that Covid doesn’t exist. And that democratic governments and Big Pharma are doing this to control everyone around the world. They are so afraid to wear a mask to protect themselves from others, believing that it is their god given right to breathe. Despite that, they still want to go to every restaurant or other public place without a care in the world.

Because of these restrictions, these same people don’t want to stay at home being bored all day long.

However, the scariest part of all this negativity about Covid is that the White supremacists are taking advantage of this by getting more people to join their cause and putting on a party (without masks or social distancing) like there is no tomorrow.

But as you can see, some of these Far Right activists are dangerous because they want all the power in the world, and want to get back to the good old days of oppressing others. And worst of all, even though they are a minority right now, they are growing in numbers as more and more people join in this mentality.

Since I want to keep this argument short, I am not ignoring the rights of women and the LGBTQ, either.

Everybody, regardless of their political affiliation, is taking this Us Versus Them mentality too far, and we need to stop it. This mentality should only belong in novels, movies, and sports.

Otherwise, live your own life as you see fit. Do not impose your opinions on others. This will cause a rift in your relationship. Let them be as they are. We should not discuss politics over dinner or online (which is going to be difficult).

Another thing to consider is that there should be a law that says if a religious authority figure wants to change a law based on their beliefs, they should be banned from doing so. Religion should have no role in politics. No matter how many Christians sign a petition to change a law, religion should never be involved in any way.

Christian Whites in Canada (Some but not so much) and the U.S. (Where it is an enormous problem) always forget that there are many other religions in both countries. Not only are they Jewish, but they are also Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan, and more. White Christians are only interested in what is best for themselves and not for other communities.

These are the reasons why the Us Versus Them mentality has become extremely dangerous lately.