Human Tribalism

If we truly seek to be enlightened and “civilized” as a species and as a society then there can be no such a thing as “undeserving” or “non-deserving” populations.  Every human being regardless of race, gender, religion, creed, nationality, sexual orientation, etc. deserves to be respected and shown the same rights as every other member of the species.  I feel the sad truth is that since globalization is a relatively new phenomenon, the human species is still mired in its typical tribal view of the world.  The continued prominence of the “us” and “them” viewpoint with the only differences being the extent of people included as “us”.  Intentionally or not, we all subscribe to this notion, defining ourselves through seemingly limitless qualifiers that only serve to highlight how “we” are different from “them”.  Unfortunately, throughout our history, when a less mainstream group of people prove to be threatening or undesirable in some way to the dominant culture they are typically ostracized, marginalized, or outright victimized, as in the case with the Roma population in Italy.  In most instances the threat is usually invented to some extent as a scapegoat for some larger societal failure. For instance, many people in modern U.S. society blame minorities for high crime rates, homosexuality for the failure of marriage or immigrants for economic hardships.   There always seems to be a need for a “them” to blame for life’s disappointments and imperfections. Occasionally this can erupt, dramatically and disastrously, as occurred in the blaming of the ills of German society on the Jews by the Nazis, resulting in the Holocaust. 

As enlightened individuals we know that there are no inherently lazy, criminal, or deceitful races or populations. Therefore would it make any sense that populations such as the Romas would choose to be “non-deserving”?  Would any group of people want to have higher than average unemployment or crime rates?  Would any parents want to see their children drowned and left indifferently for hours on a beach because they were born to a specific sub-culture?  Non-deserving populations do not exist, only intolerant and hateful individuals who wield too much influence and power.  I can only hope that this is the explanation for the shameful views of the more than two-thirds of the Italian population who want to see the Romas forcibly expelled.