We are more alike
than we are different.
Why do we hate?
Image credit NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D globes, animation).
Precisely because we are more alike than different, if we follow the mimetic theory of René Girard.
Rivalry happens– and this has been well documented in behavioral science– precisely because two people (or groups) desire the same thing. One person’s desire for it becomes “catching,” as it were, fueling a desire the for same thing in another. But since that desire is linked with wanting it entirely for oneself, the first response to this desire is to try to get it for oneself rather than behave cooperatively.
That’s oversimplifying the theory (which is more nuanced than that), but this is the gist. Similarity of desire for limited resources generates a situation of rivalry.
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
Hi, Taylor — Thank you for answering. It makes sense — but it is so sad. I guess the flip side is compassion and empathy, which, I believe, are just as innate as rivalry. It’s a very interesting theory. Thanks!
Beth