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Perception and Identity Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by xxxxx, United Arab Emirates Nov 11, 2005
Peace & Conflict   Opinions
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Many people across the globe are worried about the conflicts and disputes that are currently taking place, such as America’s war on terrorism, Israel’s occupation of Palestine which resulted in numerous massacres and freedom bombers, and the continuous disagreements in the Arab world.
For centuries cultures have dealt with racism, stereotypes, discrimination, wars, and conflicts. Hence, racial and gender discriminations, violent treatment of Jews in Second World War, terrorism/ peacemakers, etc.
Why do people do this to each other? A question frequently asked by many citizens, and arguments about what’s the origin of our disputes and conflicts are raised in political forums and debates, most importantly between people of different cultures.

Some argue that most disputes and conflicts that exist are the result of cultural differences. The counter argument is that cultural differences are a natural phenomenon, and the result of conflicts goes back to many factors such as greed for power and dominance, struggle for resources, maintaining of status, and other economic and social disputes that develop across time. I would say that along with other reasons that it’s the result of ruptured human interpretation of other cultures. That’s why it is important to study human diversity and intercultural interactions to minimize conflicts and wars.

The individual and state

Every individual is part of an organic whole, in which individuals are born into families that exist in societies governed by the state. However, each country has its own political regime, such as libertarian, authoritarian, communism, or other. All of these political regimes are ideologies formulated across time as a result of colonialism, war, philosophers’ ideas; in other words, culture. Interestingly, all these factors and more are sectors in the human perception.Philosophers like Plato, Machiavelli, and Hegel had a similar perception of the state, which should be in control of individuals in a society by deciding what’s best for its individuals.

All these philosophers came up with ideologies in order to organize their community. According to their perception, absolute control by the state was the right thing to do. For instance, Plato came up with the concept of “philosopher king,” meaning that philosophers and leaders had the right to rule because they are the wise men of the society.
As for Hegel, a German philosopher who influenced Hitler in his ideology “ideational dialectic,” believed that the motor for historical progress is a clash of ideas/ideologies, the thesis and antithesis. Final product of this clash is a synthesis which again develops into thesis and antithesis:
• Capitalism (thesis): free market economy with no government intervention.
• Socialism (antithesis): the government controls the economy.
• Final result (Synthesis): Free market economy with minute government intervention.

These ideologies influenced many events in history which were based on human perception. However, when these ideologies are placed in there wrong context, they will create a misconception and conflict. For example, as Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm argue in their book Four theories of the press, to Hegel freedom is for the individual to know that “he is not free but his actions are determined by history, by society, and above all by absolute idea [ideational dialectic] which finds its highest manifestation in the state”

Schramm et al further argue that Machiavelli, an Italian philosopher who wrote a famous book The Prince, states that security of the state “is achieved by a realistic, no moralistic policy [by the] ruler or the prince.”
Plato, Machiavelli, and Hegel came from an era and place where there cultural background, surroundings, and philosophers’ influence shaped their perception, and helped them in creating the aforementioned ideologies.

Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, both a philosopher and a statesman, would definitely refuse Hegel, Machiavelli, and Plato’s view of freedom. Jefferson believed that an individual citizen can make a mistake in decisions, but a majority can make the right decision without state’s intervention. To Jefferson, quoted in Schramm et al, “the most effective [freedom]… is the freedom of the press. It is therefore the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”

Perception and culture

According to Cushner & Brislin in Intercultural interaction: A practical guide, “The process by which we come to believe that there is a right way to think, express ourselves, and act is called socialization.”
Once individuals have been socialized, they are barely conscious that other realities can exist. The result will be the presence of ethnocentrism, the tendency of people to judge others according to their beliefs, and to view their ideas as always right or the correct way to perceive the world. Singer suggests that the higher the similarity of perception the better the communication and vice versa.





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