THE PRIDE CUL-DE-SAC

A Brief Essay by Justin Alexander

(1) The first step on the path of maturing as a human being is the acquiring of a sense of self -- learning the distinction between Self and the Others around you.

(2) The necessary precept of the tribe also necessitates our ability to identify ourselves as a member of a larger group, creating a sense of Us versus the Other.

(3) This sense of community has resulted in many good things -- its the basis of cooperation and civilization. However, it also a darker side: The origin of all prejudice lies in the instinctual elevation of the individual's immediate community (Us) above other communities (Other).

(Some of this is an outgrowth of our natural competition as a species. But part of it is an unhealthy tendency to elevate oneself not through personal achievements but by denigrating others: The poor pale-skinned southern farmer can feel good about himself because he "knows" himself to be superior to those with dark skin. The abusive husband mitigates his own failures in life by destroying his wife. And so forth.)

(4) Cultural or systemic prejudice sets in when the other becomes subjugated -- either physically or ideologically -- into accepting the elevation or "superiority" of the other group.

(5) The natural first step in attempting to liberate the oppressed and create a proper equality between two separate communities, therefore, has been to increase the pride of the oppressed group. Blacks must first be willing to have pride in themselves before they can fight for their rights. Women must have pride in themselves before they can leave the feminine mystique of "housewife".

(6) However, there is a trap. First, and most obviously, the search for pride can often tap into that same instinctual elevation of the individual's immediate community. Thus, it's not enough for women to claim their rightful place as human beings... all men must become rapists. It's not enough for the slaves to be set free... the slavers must be made the slaves.

(7) The more insidious trap, however, is that be emphasizing the need for pride, the civil rights movements deepen the sense of identity in the community. But it is the very distinction between communities which allows the racists or the sexists to flourish.

When there is a legitimate basis for the community, the possibility of prejudice against that community is unavoidable and must simply be guarded against with constant vigilance. For example, a Jew or a Catholic or a Republican all have a legitimate community.

But what about those communities which only exist because of prejudice? Why, for example, are all those with dark skin grouped together into a single community whereas all those with blue eyes or red hair are not similarly grouped together?

These illegitimate communities are, fundamentally, part of the problem. Ironically, however, they have also been made part of the solution: By creating a sense of pride in a community which, by all rights, shouldn't exist, the illegitimate community is perpetuated and the fundamental foundation on which all prejudice is built remains intact.

At some point, therefore, it follows that the illegitimate community must be discarded entirely and the foundation ripped away. But here the trap snaps shut: In order to fight back against prejudice, the civil rights movement has fostered a sense of pride in the illegitimate community. In doing so they have turned that community into a force capable of effecting societal change... but it has also led them into a cul-de-sac. Such a movement can effect great change, but -- like a man trying to pick up the board on which he is standing -- it will find itself fundamentally stymied in attempting to rip away the foundation in which the prejudice it fights takes root.

The question then becomes: How do you escape from this pride cul-de-sac? How can a community voluntarily -- and positively -- disassemble itself?