My Thoughts on "Us and Them" Mentality...and What Follows

I've been thinking about this topic for a while now. Last semester I had a class on criminal corrections in which I began thinking about the topic in this way. I also had a U.S. history class and the idea seemed relevant there while discussing slavery in antebellum America. Currently, I am in an abnormal psychology class and the idea recurs while reviewing the diagnosing and labeling processes that go with mental health issues. In each case there is a situation of "us" vs. "them." I'd say it is a clearly defined issue of "us" and "them," but I don't think there is anything clear about it. Some definitions may be appropriate at this point (definitions which I am defining from my own mind, no direct reference to anything, just a compilation of ideas from all that I've learned recently).
The Us perception of Us
We are something special. We are not capable of devious, underhanded, criminal or un-virtuous behavior. We are the moral superior. We are in control of all of our thoughts and actions. We know what is right and we never deviate from it.
The Us perception of Them
They are immoral, dirty minded, shiftless, lazy and godless. They are sick and twisted in their actions, only surpassed in their deviance by their actions. They are victims of their sensual nature. They are different than us; different in upbringing or something, but just plain different. They are all that is wrong with society, a plague to all of us.
My own personal perception of Us
We are them.
My own personal perception of Them
They are us.
What do I mean by that? Are we all simultaneously capable of deviousness and virtuousness? Are we in control of our thoughts and actions, as well as subject to our base desires? Yes. Emphatically yes. There is nothing done by one person that cannot be done by another. We all have the capacity for amazing creation or awesome destruction. The failure to realize this dichotomy may be one explanation for some of the troubles we see in society today.
The reason this is a problem is that when we view other people as them, and seek comfort in being part of us, we create a deep-set separation between each other. If they are over there, they can't be over here. If they can't be over here, then we must not be the same. If we are not the same, and I am good, then they must be bad. If they are bad, they don't deserve the same things which I, being good, deserve. If I am human, they must be something less...

The rest of this post can be found in the Ajax's Whimsical Revolution ebook for Amazon's Kindle. The book is a compilation of my favorite posts, 78 to be exact, of which this is one. If you don't have a Kindle e-reader you can download the free Amazon Kindle app for PC or Mac.