The Kindness of Strangers

I can’t begin to describe how nice it felt to get this.

Groupness

“Groups first develop hostilities, then invent cultural traits to distinguish themselves or use existing differences to explain the hostilities. Hostility to anyone outside the group, however it’s defined, is the norm for creatures of our kind…The word “groupness” was originally coined by Henri Tajfel, a social psychologist who did experiments…to show how little it took to trigger the formation of in-groups among people. Almost any slight difference, no matter how abstract or trivial or even imaginary, will set off the process — and the hostilities.”

Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things, Laurence Gonzales, pp. 88-89 (WW Norton, 2008)