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!
