Beware Resurgence of Deadly Diseases, Part 2

This work has been released into the public domain by its author, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

By Kathie MM

In my last post , I described causes, contexts, and symptoms of a major form of social pathology—racialopathy. Racialopathy is a subtype of a much broader  social pathology—ethnicopathy. In all cases, the carriers of the disease tend to be the group with greater power within a social context, and the victims of the disease are the less powerful groups.

In the United States, the carriers tend to be extremely rich white men (who pass the pathology on to many others, male and female) and the victims tend to be men, women, and children of color—the designated scapegoats for social unrest.

Evidence for ethnicopathy abounds elsewhere, and has taken “non-racial” forms; a few examples:

White Christians (Catholics) versus White Christians (Protestants), which played out violently long before “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland .

Black (Hutu) versus Black (Tutsi) in Rwanda .

Muslim (Shi’a) versus Muslim (Sunni) in the Middle East (and elsewhere) .

Buddhist nationalists versus Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar .

Although these examples of ethnicopathy involve gruesome amounts of violence, ethnicopathy, like racialopathy, can take less violent forms—for example, disparaging,  stigmatizing, and denying rights to “the other.” These less blatantly violent forms of oppression may be a form of “ethnic cleansing,” as when White authorities in the US, Australia, and Canada seized indigenous children to “educate” them for productive work (often virtual slavery).

In the last few generations of your family, have there been any examples of ethnicopathy?

If so, did they get resolved? If so, how?

Have you ever participated in any activities designed to reduce racialopathy and ethnicopathy?

If so, what is your view of the success of those activities?

Check in again after the holidays for suggestions as to how to tackle this epidemic–and please send your own ideas and experiences!

 

Beware Resurgence of Deadly Diseases, Part 1

From Typhoid fever; its causation, transmission and prevention. 1908. Authors: Whipple, George Chandler, and Sedgwick, W. T. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14740561216/ No known copyright restrictions.

by Kathie MM

You have probably read about the resurgence of long-suppressed infectious diseases such as malaria and typhoid fever. Drug-resistant forms of malaria are reaching epidemic levels in Asia and drug-resistant forms of typhoid  are doing the same in Africa.

Bad news. But there is even worse news in the U.S. and other Western nations. An old and deadly type of pathology appears to be approaching epidemic proportions, but efforts at prevention and cure are miniscule.

Causes, symptoms, and contexts of  racialopathy:

Causes of racialopathy: Various forms of fear, often linked to misinformation, miseducation, greed, and power-mongering; transmutations of fear into hatred not unusual.

Racialopathy pathogens: Fear of loss of power, of presumptive superiority, of ability to define and enforce “rights,” of assurance that only you and people like you have the “true” religion, the best customs, the valid beliefs, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Racialopathy social contexts: Racialopathy pathogens flourish in particular social contexts and emotional climates that vary depending on political, economic, and psychological conditions; for example, are relationships characterized by cooperation and tolerance or by and divisiveness? Is the dominant mood of the times friendly and optimistic or is it hateful, punitive, and distrustful?

Symptoms of racialopathy: Hatred of people based only on the color of their skin; threatening, cursing, or attacking others based solely on their “otherness.”

Prevention of racialopathy: Inoculations–measured exposure of vulnerable individuals to those feared “others”–can be helpful as can changes in the social climate (often accomplished in democracies through elections and other political processes).

Experiences with racialopathy:

— Have you ever been stricken with racialopathy? How did you treat it?

— Are you a caregiver for a victim of this dread disease? How do you deal with it?

— If you have this problem in your family, have you found it to be contagious?

For  ideas on prevention and cure, tune in for upcoming posts.