I wish to warn readers in advance that this is going to be a very heavy post. Dealing with the tragedy of Sandy Hook properly requires an acknowledgment of its seriousness as well as its lasting impact.
The reason I haven’t written about it earlier is that I felt as if everything had already been said. Of course, as I dug around more these things began to change. I believe that this calls attention to some deeper cultural issues, especially revolving around Asperger’s and Autism.
Opening the Floodgates
There are of course many different things that arose from what happened at Sandy Hook. The gun control debate, the disquieting notion that this is not an isolated incident but now added to a list of mass shootings, the dark shadow cast upon our culture of violence, and so forth.
I will, however, focus on the Asperger’s-centric parts of the issue. While I have my own viewpoints about these other issues, fact of the matter is that this blog is meant to discuss Asperger’s.
I remember reading a Facebook post on Adventures In Asperger’s quoted as follows:
“You know why our parents didn’t have school shootings & all this
bullsh*#? It’s because back then we could beat the sh*t outta the
weird withdrawn f*#king sh*tbags!”
As the blogger had noted, this post has received likes from his friends. He continued to voice his concern for his Asperger’s affected children, and the media’s handling of the situation.
I am equally concerned. However, I wish to address this in the context of a systemic problem, rather than its own issue. All in all, this plays into social justice and functions as an example of the hostile attitude towards those on the spectrum.
Breaking Down The Broken Down
Let’s begin by unpacking what exactly happened. What motive was there for posting information about his diagnosis? After any given school shooting or massacre, information about the perpetrator is gathered and released. But why call attention to Asperger’s?
We want to know why Adam Lanza did it. Just what goes on inside the head of someone who commits such an act? So naturally, the media is going to look is for anything mental health related.
However, this overly simplistic view is more respective of 1950′s understanding of the human brain rather than the understanding we are capable of today. As such, Asperger’s is lumped into the “mental illness” category. There is no vetting to figure out whether or not it’s even relevant to the case, because honestly it’s hard to vet something when you’re looking for the juiciest scoop.
Word About Words
But what of the conflation of Asperger’s and “mental illness”? Let’s stop and analyze that for a moment. Despite the old saw “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”, real world evidence points to the fact that words are more powerful than we tend to believe.
Framing Asperger’s as a mental illness rather than what it actually is, a pervasive developmental disorder, is key when it comes to how it’s handled. The phrase “pervasive developmental disorder” is a rather large gobbledygook of words that sounds quite technical, and lacks the emotional charge of “mental illness”.
More importantly, using the term “mental illness” allows us to separate ourselves from Lanza. Certainly we are not capable of such an act ourselves. We can take comfort in that, because it’s very easy for us to imagine ourselves on one side of the moral chasm and the school shooter on the other.
The Moral Gradient
But I’ve done my homework on this sort of issue. I’ve read about the Stanley Milgram and Stanford Prison Experiment ran by Philip Zimbardo. In fact, I’ve read Zimbardo’s “Lucifer Effect” cover to cover.
Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect and head of the Stanford Prison Experiment.
Source: Wikimedia Commons photo by user “Jdec”
It’s an uncomfortable fact, but a lot of things go into any given shooting. Reducing it to a game of “find the crazy” is simply an exercise in fooling ourselves. We have a wealth of human atrocities to know that we are indeed more malleable than we like to think.
But alas, it’s so easy to boil it down as such. This is why even in the face of such powerful reminders, we are given the same fable of “he’s just crazy”, and we keep buying into it.
The Dangers of Dehumanizing
So why do I call attention to this at all? Because as the aftermath of the incident has demonstrated, this has dangerous long term consequences. The behavior such as the above Facebook post enabled and fed by the media is a process that Zimbardo terms “dehumanization”.
Example of propaganda involving dehumanization. Linguistics such as slurs, in addition to caricature, are meant to influence the reader’s viewpoint on the Japanese.
Dehumanization is the systematic stripping of human qualities from a person or group. We can see it throughout history with the Holocaust, when Jews were branded as “vermin”. In Rwanda, the Tutsis were labeled “cockroaches”. This is not a trite detail, but a necessary linguistic element. It is much harder for humans to harm others if the reminder of the victim’s humanity remains ever-near.
The Insidiousness Revealed
Let’s look at that Facebook post yet again, this time with highlights for emphasis:
“You know why our parents didn’t have school shootings & all this
bullsh*#? It’s because back then we could beat the sh*t outta the
weird withdrawn f*#king sh*tbags!“
If we examine the structure of this monstrous claim, we can begin to see elements of dehumanization. People are referred to as “weird withdrawn fucking shitbags.”(Uncensored this time for demonstrative purposes).
And of course, this is piggybacked onto an implied solution: Corporal punishment. If parents were able to hit their children again, this problem would simply disappear. Forgive my own incredulity, but I’m honestly not buying that.
Let’s remember this: The proposed solution to a problem of violence is more violence. That’s a bogus argument if I ever saw one. What really happens when you hit a child? That stays with them, and that becomes part of what is taught, that you solve your problems with violence. I asked my father why he never hit me, and that was his response, that he didn’t want to teach me to solve problems with violence.
Instead, I would propose that we further examine our culture, its methods, and its implied values, and ask what exactly we are teaching in terms of behavior. Much like dealing with sexism and racism, we have to deconstruct the prejudice against those on the spectrum in order to get anywhere. This prejudice is also known as “ableism”, and it remains a constant reminder for those on spectrum, now amplified by the fallout from Sandy Hook.
Links:
http://www.adventuresinaspergers.com/2012/12/a-scary-time-for-aspergers-parents.html
One key message I took from Zimbardo’s “Lucifer Effect” was that anybody can get caught up in a situation, and the path of courage is to stop once you notice it. This makes it very important to listen to people who are in a lot of pain, because they could make tragic choices. Further ostracizing them won’t help, so I certainly agree that picking on them further won’t. I’d like to apply social psychology to reduce bullying more than filter for people who might hurt others.
essays on Asperger’s at bobyamtich.com
I wholeheartedly agree! Thanks for your comment!
I completely agree. Having studied social psychology a good bit it is a sad but true fact that social pressures and situations have more control over our behavior than we realize. Milgram had regular people doing what they thought may kill another human simply for a ‘learning experiment’ (that was the cover for the experiment).
Another key piece from social psychology that plays into to this is the fundamental attribution error. That is the tendency of individual to over evaluate the role of internal, dispositional or personality qualities that drive behavior in others. While at the same time under evaluating the role of situational explanations in others. This leads most people to believe that the behavior of other people is driven primarily by factors internal to that individual so if their behavior is abnormal then the individual is assumed to have some type of abnormality. Essentially it leads us to blame the person and stop there instead of looking for other causes.
Hey Tracey,
I really like your comment. Would it be ok if I referred to it in a post that I’m writing in response to this post? I want to comment on the dangers of the fallacy that you write about, and the dangers of the opposite fallacy in which people conisder themselves to be purely self-directed but view others as being purely driven or determined by external factors. If you like I could show you the post before I post it.
All the best,
Natalie
Natalie,
I just saw your reply here and yes you may use what I have said in a post if you would like. Sorry it took so long to reply and I hope you see this here since wordpress won’t allow me to directly reply.
Thanks Tracy!
I agree too, it is easier to just go along, but having the courage to stand up and say, NO, that is not right and I’m not going to be involved is more difficult. When I have done this I then become ostracized in large groups, but when one on one the others will usually be more empathetic about your request and soon stop talking to you about these subjects. You should see my post about Asperger’s and such not being a mental illness but neurodiverse
As the mother of a young man on the Autism Spectrum navigating the expectations and assumptions of the world he lives in I thank you for this post.
I totally agree. How is teaching children that it is okay to be violent going to make them less violent? Great post.
I have a friend with Asperger’s, and he is one of the smartest and kindest people I’ve met. He’s obviously a little shy with new people, and reserved, and he has his occasional mood swing, but which “normal” person doesn’t go through any combination of those? Thank you for posting this. There’s a lot of work to be done for awareness on this subject, and I commend you for this write up.
That was a really interesting read. Zimbardo was my favorite psychologists when I studied psychology at A level because I found his work so interesting. Beating kids certainly wouldn’t help if anything it would makes things worse. I’m glad this was freshly pressed (congratulations), I think everyone should read this!
Nice post.
Though I think mental health needs to be evaluated when dealing with the problem of violence in our society. I share your concerns about dehumanizing those with mental illness. I don’t want people to start blaming all individuals they label as mentally ill and then act against them either legally or individually. The last thing this country needs is more stigma for mental illness to drive people away from seeking help when they need help.
PS I am not using mental illness negatively toward those with pervasive developmental disorders but rather I am using it to broaden the group I am talking about. I have worked with developmentally disabled individuals and mentally ill individuals a great deal in the past. Most are like you and me, they are good people just trying to get by in life.
Very well said. During law school, while studying Medicare and healthcare law, I remember having to learn the often still mysterious aspects of the autism spectrum. And having grown up with several family members that struggled with these type of disorders, I know that so many of us are guilty of making judgments on issues that we know nothing about. I appreciate your encouragement to deconstruct the prejudice that so many Americans unwittingly possess. Keep it up!
I know your blog is about autism, but I totally agree with your points on “finding the crazies”. I get so frustrated that schizophrenia is always a media culprit, but they don’t even get the diagnoses right (TV, books, movies, news). Having read parts of the DSM for my thesis I get frustrated with how Aspergers and Autism get lumped into the categories. I feel like mental illness is a distorted of how people view themselves (grandiose, narcissistic, etc.). But from what I understand Autism doesn’t work like that.
Keep writing to clarify information on Aspergers and Autism.
We’ve heard oft-repeated speculation that people with Asperger’s lack “empathy” for others, and therefore may be more likely to act violently. Linking autism and Asperger’s with lack of empathy is misinformed and dehumanizing, I believe. But I don’t know enough about autism and Asperger’s to fully debunk the lack-of-empathy theory. Can anyone shed more light on that?
A legitimate question.
As someone with Asperger’s on the autistic spectrum, I would state that I have formed valuable relationships with others and as such am able to form empathic bonds.
The two problems I notice are difficulty with theory of mind and difficulty recognizing nonverbal social cues.
Theory of mind is the notion that other people may think and feel differently than you. Sometimes people with Asperger’s may not be able to grasp theory of mind as easily. One example was in the novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time”, where the autistic main character is given a box of candy with a pencil inside. Upon figuring out it’s a pencil, the instructor asks him what his mother would guess if she saw the box. He said “a pencil”, not understanding that his mother did not know the contents as he did.
As for nonverbal social cues, very few people realize how much of our communication is by nonverbal expression such as facial movement, body language, and so on. People on the spectrum often have trouble reading that information. I remember times where I didn’t understand people wanted me to stop talking and instead monopolized the conversation. After I figured it out, I felt really bad though – something that someone with no sense of empathy would not do.
Usually it’s phrased as “lack of demonstrated empathy”, and I think the problem is more along the lines of how direct you have to be. For example, if someone tells me they’re sad, I will understand and empathize.
As an additional note, it is very abnormal for people with Asperger’s to act violently, often they end up being the victims of bullying rather than victimizers. What happened in Sandy Hook was the exception, not the rule.
This is helpful. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at forming (and keeping) friendships and relationships, but I nevertheless think I have lot of empathy for others. I think the problem might be that I don’t project empathy, so people don’t know I have it.
“Theory of mind” sounds relevant. I can empathize with a person if I’ve experienced the same thing they’re having trouble with. But if another person is suffering from a pain that I’ve never experienced, I have a difficult time imagining what that pain might be like.
Being oblivious to social cues is definitely a problem!
It’s stereotypical for anyone to be “figured out” by a mere diagnosis, and even considered violent, especially when that ‘disorder’ is more prevalent/recognized, with 1 in 110 the about rate of children today born with ASD.
Agreeing on “the exception, not the rule,” someone else’s actions based on some relation of a label is worse than trying to define the individual on that label. Regardless, the rates of these violent crimes are still small.
Nothing is really “figured out” when anything and everything is overgeneralized and almost deliberately confused.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders also are deemed violent by some because of outbursts. They are not violent people but frustration can get the better of them just like everybody else. When it does they may react poorly and since they don’t always understand the implicit societal norms their reaction may seem worse than another persons. It can include violent behavior like hitting or biting or what not. But they are not really violent. It is more a kin to a temper tantrum.
Also when somebody has sensory integration problems certain sensory stimulation can completely take over their consciousness. It is as though a sound is so horrible that you can see it and feel it and hear and it is everything and you can’t hardly think (though it can be any sense). This can lead to violent outburst but the intentionality isn’t really there. Say it is a sound that is overwhelming their sense well then they are going to try and escape, now say you are blocking the door. Well they might shove you out of the way, not to be mean but because of the urgency of escape. That can be taken as violent when it has no violent intention behind it.
I guess all I am saying is that some will see violence attached to autism spectrum disorders when it isn’t really violence in the same sense as they think. And when many people have little to no experience with autism or aspergers then they will decide that violence goes with autism and aspergers.
I read the post you reference as “we” being other kids–kids who bully those not in the mainstream. Scary post either way, as you have to wonder where all that anger comes from. And I agree, it’s misdirected at the Aspergers piece of this. I guess my question still is–why did Ryan’s mom keep guns in the house? Why does any parent, particularly if worried about a child’s mental stability (or not, for that matter)? I think stories since have proven there was a lot more going on with this boy, but unfortunately the horse was already out of the barn with the Aspergers bit. Well put–thanks for sharing.
Reblogged this on One to Six/Healing and Help for Mental Health and commented:
Well written and thought provoking. Kudos to your efforts on advocacy and social justice.
Good post and comments, thank you all.
When I see that type of post on someones facebook I wonder if that is really them or if it is some alter ego, or some type of provocateur or what. Hopeing that it can not be a real person.
I’m reading a book right now, The First Idea, that totally discards the old “Cogito, ergo sum” canard in favor of an emotional basis for language and intelligence. Trumps Chomsky, which is hard to do, and deals with autism spectrum disorders in some detail.
Wonderfully written and congrats on being being freshly pressed.
The only way things change is when enough people agree that “How it is” is not what is wanted. Kudos to you for creating the space for these issues to be examined, pondered upon and discussed.
Like candidkay, I read the offensive post you referenced as kids beating on their quite/different classmates. The whole “weird withdrawn” aspect of it scares me. It’s not just targeting kids with Asperger’s, but introverted children as well. Beating is no cure for Asperger’s, nor will it cause an introvert to become an extrovert. In fact, violence and bullying against these kids probably makes them more likely to commit violence. I was shocked by the report of the shooting at first, but after I heard the shooter was an awkward and withdrawn child, I though “Oh, that’s why. He probably wanted retribution on his childhood bullies and this was a form of that for him.” Kids can be mean. They prey on any difference and attack it with a total lack of sensitivity. I was bullied as a child, I know. Adults should teach them not to do this, not present bullying as a cure.
Obviously, I’m not an expert, and no amount of bullying condones the murder of anyone’s bullies, let alone children. It’s just one factor that makes sense to me and I wonder why it’s not being considered along with mental health and gun laws.
http://ramblingrickblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/got-aspergers-a-speculative-confessional-of-sorts/
Excellent post and thank you for your words. More people should take the time to think before they post.
Very well written and thoughtful.
I had read other comments on the shooters alleged diagnosis, among others the articles by John Elder Robison directly afterwards. This was interesting and intelligent, i had not heard of the Lucifer Effect. I will research about it.
I feel the weight of the debate has shifted to (purely) gun control soon after, but I hope that the press’ greedy picking up of possible ‘mental’ causes right after, as well as the answer by both parents of kids with asd, as much as people who advocate mental health issues in the us will eventually stir the debate on how the public eye views those who are concerned by either. and are obviously NOT automatically violent.
My husband has mild Aspergers I think. He is the most wonderful person I have ever known in every way.
My husband has mild Aspergers I think. He is the most wonderful person I have ever known in every way. My blog is Blogging While Independent
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.
I enjoyed your post very much and wouldn’t have found it otherwise. I appreciate the even-handed tone of your writing on a very difficult subject.
I reblogged. Our desire to explain and point a finger at why can be trivializing and ignore the interrealted issues leading up to, and allowing a climate for certain events to occur. Excellent Post.
Great post. I wrote something similar where I stated these individuals need more compassion. Our society is so quick to want revenge that it loses sight of what makes a person capable of such atrocities. Alienation is one of the key elements, and that comes not from the disorder itself, but our reaction to those who have it, like the Facebooker above who obviously did not get the sh*t knocked out of him enough, because he’s full of it.
Anywho, your post resonated well with mine, and was probably better written
Great job!
Sincerely,
Julien Haller
Reblogged this on Winterqueen129's Blog.
Reblogged this on the tao of jaklumen and commented:
My son is on the autism spectrum- no formal diagnosis yet, but the school evalutions suggest he is high-functioning, perhaps on the threshhold of Asperger’s. I am not sure if I have any similar sort of neurology (although I was mercilessly teased about being a “little professor”– a mindset sometimes associated with Asperger’s). I am “mentally ill”, though, with a diagnosis of bipolar mood disorder.
I continue to be dismayed how the press and society continue to frame social debates by struggles of control, and how they use mental illness to marginalize. There is no real talk about reforming mental health care. I do not say that lightly! I got the treatment I desired, but I fought with a lot of putzes, schmucks, and a broken system to get it.
Really interesting read, I totally agree that this society is in the habit of treating violence with violence eg: the death penalty, This news story was so sad and has become world wide. I believe that more supports need to be set up, not for the victims, but for the offenders.
As someone who has a close relative with Asperger’s, I was pretty upset with the demonizing of those with Asperger’s right after the shooting, and worried for my relative and the possible social ramifications on him. (I should hope this disclaimer is obvious, but the condition does not excuse the action–my family holds this relative responsible for his decisions, and usually, he’s a very reasonable individual, and events such as Sandy Hook sadden and anger him.)
I think a lot of it really is that people look for a fall guy (or easy reason) very quickly after any tragedy because they just want the problem “solved”. I don’t believe that corporal punishment would have solved this. Clearly, it was not just because of Asperger’s–not SOLELY due to a lack of ability to empathize–that Adam Lanza carried out this tragedy. There were other things going on in his life, and factors not entirely (or, indeed, at all) related to him that allowed for this to happen. We need to focus on his entire life and not just a diagnosis to understand this and prevent the same thing from happening in the future.
My relative did go for behavioral therapy for several years and, much like Dylan, who commented above, simply has trouble with theory of mind and recognizing (and sometimes expressing) social cues. He knows right from wrong, and even angriest, has found ways to cope that do not involve violence. He’s a little different, sure, but difference in and of itself does not make him (or any one of us) dangerous.
Thank you for writing this. It can be difficult to live with someone who has Asperger’s, but it can be even more so to watch them struggle when people hurt them. It’s a little isolating when it does happen to my relative (however infrequent that is lately), so coming across people who understand is always heartening.
Thank you for a wonderful and important post! It really resonates with me.
I also wonder what effects removing Aspergers and lumping it in with Autism Spectrum Disorder will have. I guess it remains to be seen. Anyway, great post!
Thank you for this piece. You highlight well the power of linguistics on a society and generation which has led to discrimination of minority and vulnerable groups, disabled, ethnic, homosexual. Are we not in pursuit of the truth anymore? Will we believe a medical diagnosis by someone that wants to sell papers? Makes as much sense as getting conservation tips from Shell and BP. This is exactly an example of policy via press release and how propaganda is not an archaic notion.
Thanks for your post. I think the one lesson to take away from this tragedy is that we should work to prevent dehumanization not encourage it. If we all recognize that every other human has value, is in fact as real a person as we are, we will be moving in the right direction. People with Aspergers and others on the Autism Spectrum are all very, very real people. They are not more or less likely than any other person to do something like this. None of the reactions to this tragedy have felt like they were based on truth or heading toward “true solutions”. It is possible that there are no solutions, but your post has a ring of truth in it that so many other news stories and post are missing. Thanks again.
My youngest son is an asperger’s boy, so I appreciate this article very much. And I’m glad I stumbled across your blog.
Not to water-down your post or over simplify but I think in a general sense society has no desire to learn or understand about special needs unless it directly impacts them. As a mom of two kids with special needs (minor things in the over all scheme of things) I regularly feel isolated and set apart from family and friends who almost don’t want to be reminded that we all don’t look or act the same way. I have noticed over the years that my circle of friends has changed and it is now really only those extremely close to me our other special needs parents/families because the outside world acts as if being around us will somehow make them susceptible to whatever others have.
The WWII propaganda poster is a great example …
Bravo , great post prompting intelligent discussion. The big shame for us all is the media has such an influence over mainstream opinion and that honest truth is sublimated for assumption.
This post was worth the time you took to think about and digest what happened and what it means to you (my own post, which happened more in the moment, is linked below). I struggle with the labels and terminology people use to describe those who function outside of the very fuzzy boundaries considered “normal.” Even before I had a child on the spectrum I felt that “normal” was not nearly so important as “content.” I don’t know what Sandy Hook and the new DSM V will mean for the Asperger’s label, but think that, somehow, we are going to have to continue to reinvent the vocabulary for talking about mental illness, if we can get people to really talk about it at all.
http://iwouldnthavemissedit.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/is-it-easier-to-blame-autism-than-guns/
congratulations on featured in Freshly pressed.
Thanks for an insightful post. As a Father of an Asperger’s son, I can relate. I tell my son all of the time, Don’t be concerned with what other people think of you, but what you think of other people. But I think you already know that.
I have Asperger’s, too, and I have felt the stigma towards my awkwardness for most of my life. I am proud to say that I worked through it to the point where most of my symptoms are unrecognizable. In the process (through experiencing great depression and suffering, and then writing about it), I raised myself above the bullies in my environment and their stereotypes. I think others with autism need to speak up about their struggles and be like Temple Grandin.
Autism doesn’t make people crazy or stupid. It’s the way we with autism are perceived and treated by people who ARE crazy or stupid that drives many of us to depression or worse. We need to be heard. We need more advocates like you to call out these stereotypes in a dignified (yet public) way.
Thank you for writing this article. You deserve it. I’m also extremely happy you were “Freshly Pressed”.
If you want to see how I overcame (and made sense of) my circumstances, here’s my website: http://thewrittenblit.com/
Have an incredible day,
Andrew Blitman
Reblogged this on The Written Blit and commented:
A must-read!
Hello there, Andrew, I apologize for taking so long to reply.
Thank you very much for reblogging. I never expected such a positive response to that post!
With the whole Sandy Hook thing, i kept wondering why the kid’s mother didn’t bother with locking the guns up properly. Or even why she had them around at all if she viewed her child as a potential threat. Asperger’s got the blame instead, sadly, and I know some wonderful people with it. I suppose we will never know the family dynamics that caused the tradegy. oh,. congrats on the freshly pressed!
I think a lot of these events are more predictable when viewed in hindsight. It was probably thought that it was okay to do.
I must admit, I am genuinely floored by the positive press I got from this. I expected to get torn to shreds, or at best forgotten.
I’m just glad that people are reading and getting useful information out of it!
I have a theory about the shooter. A theory based only on what was reported in the media. I think the mother doted on this boy because he had special needs. She was planning on moving to whatever town he was going to be attending college in. That is not normal. Not only had the dad left, but the older brother had moved out of state. I think dad and older brother may have wanted out of a very dysfuntional family. Mom may have doted on the shooter so much that he never had any consequences to his actions. As a result, he ended up a sociopath or a psychopath.with no empathy for others. Only a theory, but Aspergers obviously isn’t a reason for that kind of behavior.
Sadly, we don’t have a lot of information offhand. Authorities haven’t released any new findings at this point.
When it comes to sociopathy and psychopathy, it’s pretty clear that there’s a genetic element to it. One cannot simply become sociopathic, although I’m willing to bet the environment does have an impact of how a sociopath behaves.
Additionally, a sociopath is more likely to be a serial killer rather than a school shooter. If a sociopath kills(most do not), it’s usually very slowly over time rather than a single rampage.
Very interesting and thought provoking post. Interesting because I just diagnosed a kid with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (NOS) today although I think he may have qualified for Aspergers. The thing is, Aspergers is not likely to be in the new DSM-V and so I factored that in to my decision. I didn’t want to diagnose him with something that is likely to not even be diagnosable in the next six months. Maybe it wasn’t the best decision, but PDD-NOS leaves room for more flexibility and testing later.
That’s very true. I can’t say I blame you for taking that position.
I don’t think it was necessarily a good move to propose eliminating Asperger’s from the DSM. While it is technically more correct in the “autism spectrum” umbrella term, I wonder what additional linguistic side effects will arise.
I suppose only time will tell.
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Reblogged this on humanitysdarkerside and commented:
Falling into the trap of we/them thinking is so easy. This article demonstrates some of the dangers inherent in that worldview. While we all do it to some extent, trying to look beyond our own backyard could open our eyes to a new and wonderful world. I can hope.
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