Safe Discrimination
I was watching a stand-up comedian on TV when he opens with “There’s only one group of people that it’s safe to make fun of“. Naturally I immediately think of the Amish and Nihilists. Unfortunately he chooses Caucasian males and I change the channel but it got me to thinking, as a species are we just naturally prone to discriminate? Is an us versus them mentality genetic?
Look at the popularity of comedians who do racial comedy. Or just think about hockey fans. Maybe it’s not that we’re inherently evil or abusive, we might just be competitive.
We seem to have a need, or at the very least a tendency, to organize into groups (races, teams, nations, gangs), identify other yet similar groups (with whom we have more in common than not), and seek to crush, defeat, or humiliate them to prove our superiority and make us feel better about who we are. Sometimes I wonder if it’s the only source of pride we ever feel but then I remember golf.
The point is, if this is a natural vice we should find safe, responsible, and unhurtful ways to get it out of our systems. So I propose we put all of our hate and hyper competitive-ness into slagging the Amish on the Internet and Nihilists everywhere.
Think about it, the Amish will never know because in finding out about it they would cease to be Amish and the Nihilists just wouldn’t care and if for some reason they did they would likewise cease to be Nihilists. I’ll get the ball rolling…
Separate schools for Nihilists! Amish people suck!
There, doesn’t that feel better?
If that’s not enough to sate your blood lust you could always turn on fictional groups. Personally I have a genuine hatred for hobbits and I’ve never been too fond of Leprechauns.
