who do you think you are? no really.

Sorry for being so lame on gaia - i forgot to post and update some of these thoughts last month!

Fascinatingly sad how we humans are torn into camps, mentally divided by politics and culture. Looking back to my last blog on an ideal more united We, this take on a We is fed by recent readings of comments to western journalists' blogs (BBC and NPR in Sichuan area). Reports are of human suffering in the aftermath of natural disaster, the 12 May earthquake in Sichuan province China. Yet most of the discussions in comments to blogs are of political nature. in these times high-strung emotions are pouring out gut-reaction comments, dividing chinese and western observers, in the region and on the internet.
(Quote from a NPR blog comment hyperlinked above:)

"That is typical Western cynical, self-righteous, self-important, anti-Chinese, nothing-you-do-is-ever-good-enough-for-me, no-matter-what-I-am-better-than-you attitudes towards not only the Chinese government, but also the Chinese people and the Chinese culture. How utterly ugly it is to know that some Westerners reflect the whole devotion to rescue work as a "show"?!

As if it isn't in Chinese values and Chinese human natures to put priority on saving lives! As if whatever Chinese people and Chinese government do are for the purpose of pleasing Westerners?! How self-important that is! No wonder the Chinese netizens don't have good responses to the Westerners and the Western media.

Some Westerners need to get over their sense of superiority and the fact that they don't own cultural hegemony around the globe. They need to learn how to look at the rest of the world as equal human beings and apply absolutely the SAME standards when judging themselves and others."

Sent by Lucas Li | 5:03 PM ET | 05-16-2008

Why do we unquestioningly assume we (the I, me) are better at doing such-and-such than someone else? are we really such good models for others? Why don't we for once flip this around and start assuming Others to be right and better, not ourselves... in the same breath if everybody is holding similar assumptions...well? here we come to a grinding halt clashing with Others, on a large national scale and in our daily world. Recently in a quick chat with a friend he got very upset at me for making a personal comment about him. Instantly the discussion turned to Judgement and trying to stay clear of judging.  i see the Other saying writing or doing something that is not Me. And then i jump to anti-Me or anti-We suspicions. Hey but wait a second: who came up with that suspicion? oh, me? .... . i made a quick assessment = mental judgement of the situation. My friend spoke it out loud and then walked away.

So we have a choice. We can decide to give good or bad meaning to this saying writing or doing  (again, this goes both ways, eg anti-Chinese and anti-American perceptions). How is it that, instead of gift-ing the benefit of the doubt, divisive who-do-you-think-you-are comes to my mind first so often? and that the mind tells this impulsively in actions or heated comments soon after...

How do we get away with thinking of ourselves as good and better at something, than our neighbours and partners? And why don't we go for the preventive benefit of the doubt, (yes, with a little more work to be done), rather than the reactive explosions of the ego? what is this - a law of nature?

NB. And who am I, to write here like this? How can i step outside the box when facing outrage or personally offensive behaviour? hmmm, i'll keep trying  ;-)