Othering is a really interesting concept. On one hand, it is a very real thing in a community that is impossible to avoid and is sometimes even uncontrollable. On the other hand, it is completely avoidable in many cases. In high school, I wasn’t subjected to othering to any degree that affected me. Between all my activities I was friends with almost every guy at my high school, and I don’t believe there were any groups I was restricted from due to social stigma or pressure. However, my high school happened to be really open and there wasn’t much othering in general, we weren’t particularly cliquey. It is very possible that I just happened to not be outside of any big social groups, but I chose to believe that it’s because I was very social and talked to everyone. It is true, however, that this would not be the case in other areas no matter how outward I was. I’m sure I would be a sore thumb in a highly Christian neighborhood in suburban Texas. I’ve seen examples of othering happening at Dickinson itself. While it hasn’t happened to me, I’ve seen examples on the track team of people who don’t abide by the normal social standards of the team being socially isolated. A lot of the time it falls within the wishes of the individual but it is an example nonetheless. When it comes to examples like this it is mostly harmless, making friends and such that doesn’t cause much harm, if any, however, there are more pervasive examples that do cause harm and that are constants. Things like racism, sexism, and homophobia are all just more extreme examples of othering, all of course terrible things in society. Othering in totality is almost never good, but it not always bad. It is a very natural human thing to occur and there is not way to stop humans from doing it anymore than it is possible to stop someone from liking any one person more than another. The only thing you can do is try to limit the extend to which we as a society other and keep it on the personal level instead of a systematic level.

The examples are different in the middle east, but really its the same thing. Many people face racism because of their religion or origin, face persecution based on nationality, and some face acts of violence. But, just as it is a systemic thing that doesnt effect each individual everyday in the US, it is the same in any of these countries. Racism, violence, and persecution is an everyday occurence in the US, however it is not everyones experience. People in any middle eastern country will face everyday othering as well, every kid knows what it is like to be excluded from a group, sport, or other activity. While the examples of differences are vastly different, they are also vastly different within different regions of one country, and the themes stay the same everywhere one goes.